The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Is Britain Too Decadent to Survive? by Gates of Vienna, and Apologists Among Us by Normblog.  The full results of the vote are here.

And there is another opening on the Watcher's Council. See this post for further information.

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The death toll continues to rise in Egypt.

The most recent reports indicate that the death toll is now over 80, and that it is expected to rise further.

The attack, Egypt's deadliest terror hit ever, appeared well coordinated. Two car bombs, possibly by suicide attackers, went off simultaneously at 1:15 a.m. just more than 2 miles apart. A third bomb, believed hidden in a sack, detonated around the same time near a beachside walkway where tourists often stroll at night.

A total of 83 people had been confirmed dead, said Dr. Saeed Abdel Fattah, manager of the Sharm el-Sheik International Hospital where the victims were taken. Among the dead were two Britons, two Germans and an Italian, he added, and Czech officials said one Czech tourist was also killed. Rescue workers were still searching for victims at some attack scenes.

Several hours after the attacks, a group citing ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the explosion on an Islamic web site. The group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, al-Qaida, in Syria and Egypt, was one of two extremist groups that also claimed responsibility for October bombings at the Egyptian resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan that killed 34. The group also claimed responsbility for a Cairo bombing in late April.

The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.

According to reports, there may be more dead in one of the hotels.

The death toll could rise, rescue workers said. The lobby of the 176-room Ghazala Gardens hotel in Sharm's Naamah Bay, the main strip of hotels, collapsed into a pancaked pile of concrete. After hours of clearing through piles of rubble and scrap metal, emergency workers called off rescue efforts, at least temporarily, there around midday.

This could get much uglier, depending on what is found in the rubble.

May God have mercy on the soulds of the dead, may he heal the injured, strenthen the resue workers -- and fling the perpetrators headlong into the very bowels of Hell.

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After all the discussion last Tuesday about Judge Edith Brown Clement, President bush nominated Judge John Roberts tot he Supreme Court. What happened?

Mentioning the little-known Judge Edith Brown Clement as front-runner for the Supreme Court vacancy was not a ploy to obscure the eventual selection of Judge John Roberts. She was the real runner-up, after evoking mixed reviews from conservatives.

President Bush was very much impressed with Clement during his interview with her, and sources say he gave her a White House tour. However, anti-abortion activists were not happy, contending that she has no record on their issue. Clement's supporters say she is very well thought of by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and that she would follow his lead on the court. Princeton Professor Robert P. George, a social conservative and prominent Catholic layman, is a strong Clement backer who vouched for her.

Given Bush's early inclination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with another woman, the reason why he passed over Clement is not clear. Sources close to the selection process speculate that the president may have suspected that Clement's supporters were too vocal in publicly promoting her.

Sounds reasonable to me -- although I suspect that the president simply decided to nominate the superior candidate.

And I say that as one who was on the Clement bandwagon.

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I noted a few days ago that London's Guardian newspaper had an honest-to-God (or should that be "honest-to-Allah") terrorist supporter working for it, and writing columns in support of terrorism. Well, the paper has finally done the right thing, and dumped trainee journalist Dilpazier Aslam.

Trainee journalist Dilpazier Aslam had his contract with the Guardian terminated today.

The move followed an internal inquiry into AslamÂ’s membership of the political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir.

A statement said: “The Guardian now believes continuing membership of the organisation to be incompatible with his continued employment by the company.”

“Mr Aslam was asked to resign his membership but has chosen not to. The Guardian respects his right to make that decision but has regretfully concluded that it had no option but to terminate Mr Aslam’s contract with the company.”

The inquiry followed a piece written by Aslam for the Guardian’s comment pages entitled “We rock the boat”.

The statement added: “The Guardian accepts that it should have explicitly mentioned Mr Aslam’s membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir at the end of his comment piece.”

A correction will appear in the paperÂ’s Corrections and Clarifications column.

The paper also went into a deeper explanation of its association with this jihadi wannabe, and the group of which he is a member.

Now normally I get upset when employers fire people over their religious and political associations (though, for the record, I recognize the moral right of a private employer to fire for any reason -- including race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, etc). But this case falls into the exemption from my outrage. Decent people do not associate with members of certain organizations -- The black panthers, the Klan, the Nazi Party, NAMBLA, the Jewish Defense League, and the like. Aslams's group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, falls into this catgory. So far from feeling a need to condemn the Guardian, I applaud it -- and hope that it eventually the paper drops its own anti-Semitic, terrorist-apologist editorial line.

(Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin)

UPDATE: Ripclawe at Narcissistic views on News/Politics points out that the Guardian can't seem to get its story straight about what they knew, when they knew it, and why the got rid of Aslam. And Princeton Progressive Review's Asheesh Siddique engages in a gratuitous attack on Michelle Malkin (questioning her mental health and grouping her with Aslam as an extremist) while reluctantly agreeing with her.

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What else can you do when you believe that a person is about to set off a homicide bomb? Even leftist London Mayor Ken Livingston admits as much.

Mr Livingstone said: "If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them, and therefore overwhelmingly in these circumstances it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy."

Speaking of yesterday's operations, he said: "With each of these attacks, we have responded more rapidly and effectively and I'm glad it went as well as it did."

That does not, of course, stop complaintes from the usual suspects.

Muslim community leaders said they were taking calls from fellow Muslims who are afraid they may be targeted simply because they are carrying the wrong bag or wearing the wrong clothes.

The Muslim Council of Britain urged Scotland Yard to explain why police shot dead the Asian man who has been described as a "suspected suicide bomber". According to an eyewitness report the man was shot with five bullets. Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said: "There may well be reasons why police felt it was necessary to unload multiple bullets into this man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear.

"It is vital that police give a statement about exactly what occurred and explain why this man was shot dead rather than arrested and brought to trial."

Mr Bunglawala said Muslims were nervous and feared reprisal attacks.

He said: "I have just had one phone call saying, 'What if I was carrying a rucksack?' We are getting phone calls from quite a lot of Muslims who are distressed about what may be a shoot-to-kill policy."

Sorry, Bunglawala, but your co-religionists have unfortunately made Muslim lives very cheap. Jihadi swine have made it necessary for police to act in a manner that stops bombings and avoids setting off explosives strapped to the body. That means that suspects are going to die -- and they will be Muslims. I'm not celebrating it, just noting the revised reality that the terrorists in your midst have created. Until and unless you people start turning in the killers and would-be killers, this is how it will be. And until you eject the radicals from your midst, it will be impossible for the police to know who is a friend and who is a foe. I think the people of London would agree with that calculus.

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This one is already quite ugly, as at least seven explosions are reported to have killed at least 25 and wounded over 110.

Saturday's explosions at 1:15 a.m., when many tourists would have been asleep, shook windows a mile away. Smoke and fire rose from Naama Bay, a main strip of beach hotels in the desert city popular with Israeli and European tourists, witnesses said.

A police official in Sharm el-Sheik said at least 25 were killed and 110 wounded in multiple explosions targeting the Ghazala Gardens and Movenpick hotels in Naama Bay and the Old Market area nearby. Other officials in Sharm said there may have been as many as seven blasts: three in Naama Bay and four in the market.

Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting with her family, said she drove by the Ghazala Garden — a 176-room four-star resort on the main tourist strip in Naama — and it was "completely burned down, destroyed."

Khaled Sakran, a resident, said he saw one explosion from the Old Market. "I saw the saw the fire in the sky," he told The Associated Press. "Right after, I saw a light in the sky and heard another explosion, coming from Naama Bay."

"The blast shook my house, I can see the fire and lots of smoke," Akram al-Sherif, a Jordanian who was staying at a summer house less than a mile away, said.

No group has yet admitted its guilt.

UPDATE: While the official death toll stands at 31 dead and 107 wounded, South Sinai province's governor, Mustafa Afifi, suggests that the actual death toll is 49, with over 200 wounded. It also seems that there were only three bombs, with the earlier reports of seven being based upon echoes and secondary explosions. The dead include British, Russian, Dutch, Kuwaitis, Saudis, Qataris and Egyptians.

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Jonathan Pollard, whose treasonous activities on behalf of Israel served to endanger US national security for years, lost another appeal .

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Pollard waited too long to try to contest his 1987 sentence and failed to make a convincing case that he got poor legal help.

The court also ruled that it had no authority to review Pollard's request to see secret documents the Reagan administration submitted to the judge who imposed the sentence 16 years ago.

Pollard's lawyers said they needed to see the material to rebut government arguments against any new appeal or against a request for presidential clemency.

The legal challenge to Pollard's sentence was always viewed as a long shot, and his supporters have focused much of their effort on winning presidential clemency.

Pollard, who turns 51 next month, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy when he copied and gave to his Israeli handlers enough classified documents to fill a walk-in closet. He was not paid when his spying began in 1984, but acknowledged that Israel later began paying him a few thousand dollars a month.

He was caught in November 1985 and arrested after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli embassy. Pollard initially denied he worked for Israel but later acknowledged it. He claims prosecutors reneged on a promise to seek a lesser sentence in return for his cooperation.

His case has been a sticking point in U.S.-Israeli relations. The Israeli government, which granted Pollard citizenship, repeatedly has pressed for his release.

May he never be released, and may attempts by Israeli to have him set free be grounds for a reevaluation of our strategic relationship with that nation.

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It seemed that someone with the federal government had finally started thinking about how to use the desire of American patriots to help secure the border. Unfortunately, it appears that it was one man talking out of school -- and Homeland Security has squashed the idea.

Homeland Security officials backed off an idea to form a civilian border patrol, with spokespeople quickly batting down an uproar Thursday caused by the department's border commissioner the day before.

By Thursday morning, the agency produced a statement distancing itself from comments the day before by one of its top border officials that he wanted to look into forming a civilian border auxiliary.

"We are aware of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner (Robert) Bonner's comments yesterday; however, the Department of Homeland Security has not received any specific details of the idea that the Commissioner raised," the agency said in a statement.

"There are currently no plans by the Department of Homeland Security to use civilian volunteers to patrol the border - that job should continue to be done by the highly-trained, professional law enforcement officials of the Border Patrol and its partner agencies."

I guess this means that the Minutemen and fellow loyal American citizens are back to being the enemy, and the border-jumping immigration criminals, their disloyal advocates, and the Mexican government still rank higher in the eyes of the folks responsible for securing the borders and keeping out those who violate our laws.

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I am stunned beyond words that this is displayed in the offices of the California Department of Justice -- and is supported and funded by Democrat Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Absolutely unbelievable!

(Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin and Right Wing News)

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Just a quick reminder of why it is so important that this arrogant woman be ejected from the Supreme Court and rplaced with an originalist/textualist/strict constructionist judge as soon as possible.

"In all my years of my life I don't think I've ever seen relations (between Congress and the high court) as strained as they are now," O'Connor told a conference of judges and lawyers at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference in Spokane, Washington.

O'Connor is the Supreme Court justice who handles certain matters from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

She said an integral part of the democracy that the United States is promoting around the world is an independent court system.

"And yet, in our country today, we're seeing efforts to prevent that -- a desire not to have an independent judiciary. That worries me," she said.

As an example of the congressional tendency to pick apart court rulings, she cited a March decision that declared the death penalty for juveniles unconstitutional. The ruling noted the weight of international opinion and the fact that only one other country -- Somalia -- executes young offenders.

"Some citations were found very offensive by some members of Congress. I don't personally think it's a good idea to restrict freedom of speech or thought for anybody, even if they are federal judges," O'Connor said.

The reason, Sandy, for the bad relations is that you and your colleagues have strayed further and further from the Constitution in your decisions. You have wandered further and further away from the document that is supposed to be the supreme law of the land. As a result, the American people and their representatives are PISSED-OFF at you people. Yet you, having exceeded your authroity and wandered into a minefield of impeachable offenses, expect everyone to shut up and obey your commands like some sort of incarnate deity.

Let's look at Lawrence, for example. Now I agree with you that the Texas statute was a bad idea and I supported its repeal -- but did it go beyond what is permitted by the Constitution? No, it did not. The court's own decision in hardwick v. Bowers affirmed such statutes less than 20 years before. What changed? What was the basis for this decision in the Constitution? Frankly, there isn't one -- for not one of the Framers would have supported your decision. But you knew better than the Framers, and so amended the Constitution.

And Roper v. Simmons, the case you cite -- it isn't that many years since you upheld the execution of older teens. What changed? one or two state laws -- but hardly enough to make the argument that such executions are seen as cruel and unusual under the Amendment VIII. As for the laws of other nations -- THEY ARE IRRELEVANT TO AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW! The laws of the EU, Peru, and Outer Mongolia are not binding upon the United States -- and neither are unratified treaties. In Roper v. Simmons, though, you treated them as having precedent value that exceets that of the US Constitution, the laws of several states, and the court decisions of those states. Yeah -- we Americans, citizens of a nation that strived to be out from under the laws of other nations -- are going to be upset that foreign law will be used to interpret the meaning of our founding document.

Now you claim that you don't think the speech or thoughts of anyone should be restricted -- but that is exactly what you seek when you make this complaint. You want to pressure your opponents into silence. All your talk about an independent judiciary ignores the fact that the judiciary is but one of three branches of the federal government, and that its role is seen as co-equal to those of the executive and legislative branches. Yes, you folks serve as a check on the other two branches, but they also are to check you. They have failed to do so in recent decades, and now that there is a move on to do so you want to stop it. Sorry, Sandy, the time has come to put the Supreme Court back in its proper place.

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See what happens when Condi gets angry.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded an apology from Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir after U.S. officials and journalists were manhandled at a meeting on Thursday.

"It makes me very angry to be sitting with their president and have this happen," Rice told reporters on her plane before leaving Khartoum for Darfur. Earlier, she told reporters she wanted an apology.

Sudanese officials shoved U.S. journalists away from the Bashir meeting and slammed the wooden doors to his palace in their faces. Some U.S. officials were also blocked for several minutes before the Sudanese agreed to allow Rice and aides in. The media was later allowed to witness briefly

Such a blatant disregard of protocol is an insult to the US, and for her entourage to be locked out is completely unacceptabel. But then again, what should we expect from a tin-pot dictator like the "president" of Sudan.

But she got results.

Sudan's foreign minister on Thursday apologized to visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the manhandling of U.S. officials and journalists in Khartoum, a U.S. official said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail had phoned Rice while she was on a plane to Darfur in western Sudan to say sorry. Rice had earlier demanded an apology.

"He apologized for the treatment of our delegation and the press corps," McCormack told journalists traveling with Rice.

Sudanese security staff manhandled U.S. officials and journalists outside a meeting between Rice and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

She says what she means and gets what she wants.

Rice '08!

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Senator James Inhofe, in the name of protecting a major local employer, is trying to stomp out its smaller, cheaper, more convenient competition.

A popular air travel route between Tulsa and Dallas would be shut down, if legislation being proposed by Senator Jim Inhofe goes through.

The True Competition Act would close Love Field to commercial air traffic and force Southwest Airlines to fly out of Dallas-Fort Worth. Inhofe says it's necessary to protect American Airlines, Tulsa's biggest employer.

But as News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg tells us, travelers don't exactly "love" the idea.

Tulsan Emily Warren is on her way to Dallas on Southwest Airlines to visit her boyfriend. It's a trip she makes frequently. And she likes Love, Love Field that is. "I would much rather go through Love. I know Dallas-Fort Worth just gets packed.

Restrictions on flights too and from Love field were implemented when DFW was opened, at the insistance of corrupt House Speaker Jim Wright. Southwest has been operating within the limits and doing so so successfully that they have been trying to get the restrictions lifted to meet public demand. As a result, Inhofe is seeking to close Love Field completely, because the competition has cut in to American's bottom line.

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Something is up on the London Tube and a bus line this morning, two weeks to the day after the 7/7 attacks. Details are incredibly unclear at this point, but it involves 3 Tube stations and 1 bus. -- exactly like two weeks ago.

Some reports of small explosions around 1230-1245 local time, other reports of strong odors ("like wiring" -- "a sour smell"). Could this be a chemical or biological attack?

No reports of major casualties yet (and hopefully none will be forthcoming, God willing) -- some reports of minor injuries.

Heck, reports are simply very unclear. BBC & Sky are calling the blasts "minor" as of 1400 London Time (0900 Easterm/0800 Central/0700 Mountain/0600 Pacific).

UPDATE: As of 1600 London time, Prime Minister Blair has indicated that this is a minor attack without substantive causalties (Thanks be to God). Australia's PM Howard slapped down those who suggested terrorism is because of Iraq -- points out the many attacks by Islamofascist jihadi swine that predated that war, including 9/11 & Bali.

The best news is the lack of evidence of chemical or biological weapons.

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Many years ago, long before he was president, John F. Kennedy owned a sailboat. Over the years it has passed through many hands.

Currently, it belongs to Gregory Olaf Anderson and Harry Crosby. Unfortunately, Anderson was convicted of drug smuggling, and authorities traced the cash back to Anderson's sale of marijuana.

Kennedy bought the Star Class sloop "Flash II" in 1934 and sailed it in races off Hyannis. He sold the boat in 1942 just before shipping out for World War II.

Anderson, who bought the boat in 1996, was arrested in Arizona in 2001 and sentenced to 18 months in prison for transporting 1,300 pounds of marijuana.

After his release, he allegedly contacted a partner with the intention of setting up another drug trafficking business, not knowing that the partner was cooperating with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

DEA agents, acting on a tip from that informant, seized the boat from a storage facility in Marblehead last year.

Kerner said his client, who owns a construction company, is confident the sailboat will fetch more than $500,000 at auction.

IGiven when the boat was purchased, it wouldn't surprise me if the money came from Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy -- who is known to have been involved in bootlegging during Prohibition. It therefore seems appropriate that we've come full circle, with the boat becoming governemnt property because of drug smuggling.

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Americans have been organizing to monitor and report border-jumping immigration criminals for some time now. Now the head of the Border Patrol is considering creating an organized civilian auxilliary.

The top U.S. border enforcement official said Wednesday that his agency is exploring ways to involve citizen volunteers in creating "something akin to a Border Patrol auxiliary" - a significant shift in rhetoric that comes after a high-profile civilian campaign this spring along the Arizona-Mexico border.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner told The Associated Press that his agency has focused on involving citizens after noting the willingness of volunteers to help federal agents catch illegal immigrants.

"It is actually as a result of seeing that there is the possibility in local border communities, and maybe even beyond, of having citizens that would be willing to volunteer to help the Border Patrol," Bonner said.

Volunteers would need training and be organized "in a way that would be something akin to a Border Patrol auxiliary," he said. "We value having eyes and ears of citizens and I think that would be one of the things we are looking at is how you better organize, let's say, a citizen effort."

Bonner characterized the idea as "an area we're looking at." Questions such as what kind of authority volunteers would be given - would they be deputized to make arrests or carry guns - haven't been answered.

"This is what we need to study," said Bonner, who was in Los Angeles to discuss port security.

You mean you've taken this long to figure out that there are folks ready, willing, and able to give you aid and assistance in doing a job for which you are under-funded and under-manned? That was the whole point of the formation of the Minutemen.

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Mohamed el-Amir, father of Mohamed Atta, wants to see more Muslims follow in his son's footsteps.

El-Amir said the attacks in the United States and the July 7 attacks in London were the beginning of what would be a 50-year religious war, in which there would be many more fighters like his son.

He declared that terror cells around the world were a "nuclear bomb that has now been activated and is ticking."

The man, who gave his age as "at least 70," said he had no sorrow for what happened in London, and said there was a double standard in the way the world viewed the victims in London and victims in the Islamic world.

Cursing in Arabic, el-Amir also denounced Arab leaders and Muslims who condemned the London attacks as being traitors and non-Muslims.

He passionately vowed that he would do anything within his power to encourage more attacks.

When asked if he would allow a CNN crew to videotape another interview with him, el-Amir said he would give his permission -- for a price of $5,000.

That money, he said, would not be kept for himself, but would be donated to someone to carry out another terror attack.

El-Amir said that $5,000 was about how much it would cost to finance another attack in London.

He spawned one jihadi pig.

He's out to recruit jihadi pigs.

Can we target this bastard with a cruise missle smeared with bacon grease and make the world a cleaner place?

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I noted last night that many folks regard John Roberts as the top Supreme Court litigator of his generation.

I've since discovered that a couple of experts share that assessment.

Consider this comment from Justice Antonin Scalia, as related by Stuart Buck of "The Buck Stops Here", crossposted at "Southern Appeal" and "Confirm Them".

For what it's worth: A few years ago, Justice Scalia said to a friend of mine that he and other Justices thought of John Roberts as far and away the best Supreme Court litigator in the country. I asked the friend why Justice Scalia said that, and (paraphrasing from my memory) the answer was something like this: "No matter how intense the questioning, Roberts is never flustered, and is always able to calmly answer any question whatsoever, while skillfully weaving in the substantive points that he wanted to make in the first place."

And then there is the opinion of the longest serving member of the current Court, Chief Justice Rehnquist himself, as related by former clerk Ted Cruz in the National Review.

In 1995, while clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, I and my two fellow law clerks asked the chief whom he thought was the best Supreme Court lawyer currently practicing. The chief replied, with a twinkle in his eye, that he thought he could probably get a majority of his colleagues to agree that John Roberts was the best Supreme Court advocate in the nation.

High praise from folks who know the court and the lawyers who practice before it. They think highly of the nominee. I'll accept their judgement as to his competence.

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Some folks are just a part of the fabric of your life. And if you were a science fiction fan growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, one of those people was James Doohan, who played the beloved figure of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott on Star Trek.

While definitely part of the "second-tier" of characters on the show, he was a fan favorite, and those who met him at converntions unanimously reported that he was a charming man.

James Doohan died today, at age 85, following a long illness.

What was less known about Doohan was that he was a D-Day hero.

At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

Unlike William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, Doohan never got tired of the association with Star Trek.

In a 1998 interview, Doohan was asked if he ever got tired of hearing the line "Beam me up, Scotty."

"I'm not tired of it at all," he replied. "Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years. It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun."

Yes, sir, it was most definitely fun.

I hope you are on duty when I get "beamed up" to join you.

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I recently had a commenter here insisting that sucide bombings were unIslamic and condemned byt islamic teaching. he even pointed to a British group for support. he insisted that this was the only legitimate interpretation of the Koran. Interestingly enough, though, this same poster (he called himself acrobat) could not bring himself to condemn death threats against another blogger who had shot-up and burned a couple of Korans as an act of political protest That made me a bit suspicious of his assertions.

Well, guess what -- while some groups seem to be unambiguously condemning suicide bombings as unIslamic, others are hedging their pronouncements.

Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group met in Birmingham on Sunday and issued a binding religious edict, or fatwa, condemning the suicide attacks that killed dozens on three London subway trains and a double-decker bus as the work of a "perverted ideology." The group's governing council said the Quran forbade suicide attacks and called such terrorism a sin that could send the perpetrators to hell.

Three days earlier at the London Central Mosque, 22 imams and scholars also condemned the July 7 attacks and said the four British Muslim suspects should not be considered martyrs because innocent civilians were killed. But the Muslim leaders stopped short of condemning all suicide bombings.

"There should be a clear distinction between the suicide bombing of those who are trying to defend themselves from occupiers, which is something different from those who kill civilians, which is a big crime," said Sayed Mohammed Musawi, the head of the World Islamic League in London.

Underlining the sensitivity of the issue, Musawi's contention that attacks are justified against "occupiers" came only after a spokesman for the leaders read a carefully worded statement condemning the London attacks. Even so, none of the other scholars and imams at the event expressed disagreement with his stance.

So, who do we believe -- those who say that such attacks are never justified, or those who say they are justified. And given that other Islamic leaders have rejected the notion that there is such a thing as a civilian as unIslamic, who are we to believe?

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When I woke up this morning, I was shocked to see that my post on the two Ediths was getting a lot of hits while I slept. With about 200 hits by 0900, I figured I might get 500-600 hits for the day.

I had a workshop to attend across town this afternoon, so I had no computer access until around 1800. I was shocked by what I found.

Day -- Tuesday

Date -- July 19th 2005

Page Loads -- 4,761

Unique Visitors -- 3,872

First Time Visitors -- 3,738

Returning Visitors24

I've since discovered that Google had me ranked #2 for searches on Judge Clement for much of the day, and high for Judge Jones. And the Supreme Court Nomination Blog had my trackbacks on both the ladies and several other candidates.

YIKES! What woulda happened if I had been Instalanched?

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Judge John Glover Roberts of the DC Circuit has been appointed to the US Supreme Court by President George W. Bush.

NAME - John Glover Roberts Jr.

AGE-BIRTH DATE - Jan. 27, 1955, in Buffalo, N.Y.

EDUCATION - BA, Harvard University, 1976; JD, Harvard Law School, 1979.

CAREER - Nominated by President Bush on Jan. 7, 2003, to U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; confirmed by Senate on May 8, 2003; principal deputy solicitor general, U.S. Justice Department, 1989-93; private practice, Washington, D.C., 1986-89, 1993-2003; associate counsel to President Reagan, White House Counsel's Office, 1982-86; special assistant to attorney general, U.S. Justice Department, 1981-82; law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist when he was an associate justice, 1980-81; law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 1979-80.

FAMILY - Wife, Jane; son, John, and daughter, Josephine.

QUOTE - "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. ... There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."

Two things I would like to point to in this brief profile.

First, the quote from the confirmation hearing is not what it appears to be. As a lower court judge, Roberts lacked the capacity to overrule Roe. As a member of the Supreme Court, it would be within the scope of his authority to engage in a fundamental reexamination of a case which even its supporters admit is a train wreck (7-2 as to the result, but no decision garnering majority support as to the source of the right -- in other words, "we say it is a right, but we can't begin to authoritatively say why.") Whether Roe is eventually affirmed or overturned, there needs to be a significant rethinking of abortion jurisprudence.

Second, some might note that Judge Roberts has only two years of judicial experience on the DC Circuit. This is not a problem. A number of justices have never served as a judge prior to their nomination to the high court. Others have had only minimal judicial service -- including Justice Thurgood Marshall, the greatest Supreme Court litigator of his generation (I've heard similar statements made about Roberts tonight), whose time as a judge on the Second Circuit consisted of only about three-and-a-half years judicial service before he resigned to become Solicitor General.

Not a bad pick, all things considered. While I might have preferred a different candidate, I am inclined to give Jufge Roberts my full support, barring some truly troubling disclosure during the confirmation process.

A great listing of blogs about the Roberts nomination can be found at Blogs For Bush.

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And sadly, we lost another honorable man this evening -- one who has been maligned for decadees, but who deserves our honor as a hero.

General William Westmoreland has died.

Westmoreland died of natural causes at Bishop Gadsden retirement home, where he had lived with his wife for several years, said his son, James Ripley Westmoreland.

The silver-haired, jut-jawed officer, who rose through the ranks quickly in Europe during World War II and later became superintendent of West Point, contended the United States did not lose the conflict in Southeast Asia.

"It's more accurate to say our country did not fulfill its commitment to South Vietnam," he said. "By virtue of Vietnam, the U.S. held the line for 10 years and stopped the dominoes from falling."

He would later say he did not know how history would deal with him.

"Few people have a field command as long as I did," he said. "They put me over there and they forgot about me. But I was there seven days a week, working 14 to 16 hours a day.

"I have no apologies, no regrets. I gave my very best efforts," he added. "I've been hung in effigy. I've been spat upon. You just have to let those things bounce off."

Later, after many of the wounds caused by the divisive conflict began to heal, Westmoreland led thousands of his comrades in the November 1982 veterans march in Washington to dedicate the Vietnam War Memorial.

He called it "one of the most emotional and proudest experiences of my life."

Be sure to read this oobituary. It is a fitting tribute to the man -- and that is, in and of itself, a surprise, given it comes from CNN.

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A London-based, Saudi-owned newspaper has spoken out against those who argue that Islamist terrorism is the fault of the West.

Arabs and Muslims must stop using the United States as an excuse for terror, a London-based Arabic paper said Monday.

In an editorial, Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, which is Saudi owned, said it was time to stop using President Bush as an excuse for terrorist acts such as the July 7 London blasts and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

It said many opposed U.S. and British foreign policy, "but they don't crash planes into buildings or blow up cars, buses and underground trains in London."

It said it was time to stop blaming others when "we all know there is a rise of extremism in our societies," and criticized Arab and Muslim "so-called intellectuals" appearing on Arab television channels after the London blasts.

"They make you think that George Bush and Tony Blair themselves went to Leeds and led a group of youth in London and pressed the explosive buttons," it said.

It called for "speaking in one voice to accept responsibility and start looking for ways to get out of this chaos that will affect all of us...if we don't do away with 'George Bush made me do it,' we will not achieve progress in wiping out extremism."

Now if we can only do away with the dhimmi-wannabes in the West who claim that this terrorism is the fault of George Bush, Tony Blair and the actions of the West, then we will have made real progress in getting rid off our extremists, too.

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I blogged about the theft of Sgt. Sammy L. Davis' Medal of Honor the other day. It has been recovered.

Indianapolis Fire Department divers found Sammy L. Davis' medal on the city's south side, but police declined to release details of where or how the medal was recovered, saying the information would jeopardize an ongoing investigation.

Authorities identified Gaetano Barbieri, 35, as a suspect in the medal's disappearance and a rash of vehicle break-ins. He was arrested Friday on charges in at least two cases, but as of Monday, he wasn't charged in connection with the medal's disappearance, police said.

That it took divers to recover the nation's highest military decoration seems to indicate that this creep dumped it. I hope his fellow inmates treat him appropriately.

Davis, a Mooresville native who lives in Illinois, said by phone Monday that he was grateful that the medal was recovered.

"It's been very hard the last four days not knowing where the medal was (or) if it would ever be recovered, but thanks to the efforts of many, a great burden was lifted off my of soul," Davis said.

Public safety officials will return the medal to Davis during a ceremony in Indianapolis on Thursday, Rinehart reported.

Thank you, Indianapolis, for treating this hero with the respect he deserves.

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Burning of Rome.

Czar murdered.

Man whose name is synonym for traitor born.

Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.

Ted Kennedy takes Mary Jo for a drive and leaves her to die so he can sober-up and cover-up.

And it all happened today!

Makes you sort of wonder about Intel, though.

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Will tusks disappear from elephants?

ELEPHANTS in China are evolving into an increasingly tuskless breed because poaching is changing the gene pool, according to new research by zoologists.

Up to 10 per cent of Asian elephants in China now have a gene that prevents them from developing tusks, up from the usual level of 2 per cent, academics at Beijing Normal University said.

Zhang Li, an associate professor of zoology, said: "The larger tusks the male elephant has, the more likely it will be shot by poachers.

"Therefore, the elephants without tusks survive, preserving the tuskless gene in the species."

Since only male elephants have tusks, there are now four female elephants for each male in China, up from the ideal ratio of two, Prof Zhang said.

Similar changes in elephants' tusk development and gender ratios have been reported in Africa and India, but China was not thought to have been as badly affected.

And for those of you who want to comment on evolution, go ahead. But let me note one simple fact for you -- this is, at best, a microevolutionary change, not a macroevolutionary one. After all, they are still clearly ELEPHANTS.

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How cruel are we to the terrorists housed at Gitmo? You decide.

Abdullah M. was missing a leg when he got to Gitmo. In due course, he was fitted with a prosthetic leg and given occupational therapy to teach him how to use it. In the Orwellian inversion that dominates "world opinion" and requires us to prove we're the good guys, he was interrogated and -- after convincing our guys that he really wasn't a terrorist fanatic -- released and repatriated to Afghanistan. Now sought for involvement in the kidnapping of Chinese engineers and a bombing of the Islamabad Marriott, Abdullah is walking around on the artificial leg we evil Americans paid for.

Yep, that's right -- we did what the Lefties want and let the guy go, and he went right back to his terrorist ways. All while wearing an artificial leg we bought and paid for as part of our humanitarian treatment. I bet he walks around on that leg with his fellow terrorists, telling them how evil Americans were. If that were th case, Americna troops wouldhave left his jihadi butt on the ground to bleed out. This is why these people cannot be released until hostilities are over -- if then.

And, of course, there is this simple division of prisoners.

They are divided into separate mini-camps. Those who follow camp rules, basic stuff such as "don't throw feces on the guards," get to wear white uniforms and live in a semi-communal environment. In the minimum-security camp, I saw groups playing soccer and volleyball. One guy was jogging around in his issue slip-on sneakers. Others, who are less cooperative, get fewer privileges. Medium security camp inmates wear tan uniforms and are kept in cells, allowed out often to exercise. Everything is done in ways calculated to respect Islam.

Inmates' Korans -- in the medium security camps, hung from the steel mesh walls in surgical masks -- are accompanied, in every cell and exercise area I saw throughout Gitmo, by little black arrows painted on bunks and floors, showing the direction of Mecca. Many prayer rugs were in evidence, as were chess sets, playing cards, and -- in the minimum-security camp -- prescription sports glasses. In the maximum-security building, the Korans sit in the narrow windowsills. Interrogators will even interrupt interrogation sessions to allow detainees to pray. One interrogation I observed passed through the 4:30 p.m. call to prayer. The detainee, engaged in conversation with his interrogator, ignored the call and kept talking. To these faux-religious thugs, Islam is apparently less important than a cold Diet Coke.

Notice the fundamental difference in treatment from that received by those "detained" by our enemies -- they get to wear orange jumpsuits and have their heads cut off on videotape.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are I Despair. by The Sundries Shack, and Al Qaeda Attacks: A Flash Presentation by Winds of Change.Here are the complete results. .

Two announcements for you.

If you want to be nominated for this week's vote, see this post by the Watcher regarding link whorage.

And if you want to join us on the council, go here for details about an open seat.

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How do the Democrats view the American people? As bumbling idiots who don't need to be told ther truth if it gets in the way of accomplishing the aims of the Democrat party.

Check out this bit frm the New York Times Magazine.

The facts of the filibuster fight hadn't necessarily favored them; in reality, the constitutional principle of ''checks and balances'' on which the Democrats' case was based refers to the three branches of government, not to some parliamentary procedure, and it was actually the Democrats who had broken with Senate tradition by using the filibuster to block an entire slate of judges. (''An irrelevancy beyond the pay grade of the American voter,'' Garin retorted when I pointed this out.) And yet it was their theory of the case, and not the Republicans', that had won the argument.

Isn't it good to know that the Democrats hold you in such high esteem, America?

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Reenlistment rates are up -- and look at the response of the Left.

Comments from Americablog. I'll highlight some of the truly relevant parts.

Bit surprised that there are that many dipshits re-enlisting - but not really.

Anyone who would re-enlist would do so strictly for selfish reasons; to put one's life on the line for a War ran by a bunch of facist thugs for profit is insane. Of course, I don't like Judges, I don't like cops, and I don't particulary like the military (or should I say the types that join).

Brave ain't got shit to do with it -- they're over there 'cause they have to be there, and then there are others for whatever selfish reason, go after money, etc...

Though I support the troops I embrace the freedom fighters first, since we are the illegal invaders stealing oil, and running a War for profit. So long as there is chaos the theft continues. May the freedom fighters drive the imperialistic facists from their country -- and since the entire Planet thinks Bush is more of a threat than 10 bin Ladens, there is absolutely no way we can win in Iraq.

But that is what the facists want, chaos. That way, they can continue pumping 1 billion a week out of the ground while no one's looking. They are pigs, ever one.
Montiel | 07.18.05 - 10:50 am | #

AND

Wow. I guess we should be honored. The Navy recently offered our high school senior daughter $150K to pay for her intended BSRN degree. Not a chance in hell that they'll get her, as long as Bush is in office and this illegal war is going on.

The services are desperate for intelligent, skilled people.

Mainly because the intelligent, skilled ones are skedaddling out of that quagmire as fast as they can.

It's the ones who still really need the money to survive and feed their families in this BushCo downward spiraling middleclassworld that are re-upping.
kgirl | 07.18.05 - 11:05 am | #

You get the impression, I think.

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I don't often blog on "Letters To The Editor", but this one from today's Houston Chronicle hit it right on the head.

Looking in the wrong direction

On the same day that immigrant rights activists warned the Minutemen that they will be watched for illegal activity, a Honduran MS-13 gang member was accused of murdering 28 men and women.

Perhaps these so-called activists should be looking elsewhere for illegal activity.

SALOMON FUENTES
Houston

Exactly right, Mr. Fuentes -- though i won't happen. There is no political capital to be gained by the Democrat politicians who support immigration crime in going after MS-13. After all, that would mean arresting members of the gang, many of whom are here illegally, and admitting that the Minutemen are right in saying that such border-jumpers are a threat to the United States.

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According to Bill Gertz, Plame's cover was blown twice -- by the CIA itself.

Mrs. Plame's identity as an undercover CIA officer was first disclosed to Russia in the mid-1990s by a Moscow spy, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In a second compromise, officials said a more recent inadvertent disclosure resulted in references to Mrs. Plame in confidential documents sent by the CIA to the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Havana.

The documents were supposed to be sealed from the Cuban government, but intelligence officials said the Cubans read the classified material and learned the secrets contained in them, the officials said.

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Why does the AP keep repeating this lie?

At least 40 anti-immigration groups have popped up nationally, inspired by the Minuteman Project that rallied hundreds this year to patrol the Mexican border in Arizona.

Sorry, folks, these groups are not "anti-immigration", any more than folks who oppose prostitutes working their neighborhood street corners are "anti-sex". These groups are anti-crime, pro-law, pro-border, and pro-sovereignty groups. Most members are all for LEGAL immigration on terms set by the United States. They simply oppose those who are jumping the border without following the requirements of American law.

And then there is stuff like this.

In Morristown, a Southern industrial town of 25,000 with a small but burgeoning population of Latinos, some see the Volunteer Minutemen's spiel as race baiting.

"The same sort of dogmatism that racists used against blacks in lower Alabama and across the South, I am seeing the same patterns here," said Thom Robinson, who heads the area's Chamber of Commerce. "They are using it as a racially divisive thing."

Santos Aguilar, executive director with Alianza del Pueblo, a regional Hispanic support group in Knoxville, said he fears the volunteers are "spreading a lot of misinformation and are terrorizing the ethnic community in the area."

What sort of dogmatism? A dogmatism that says that law-breaking is a bad thing? A dogmatism that shows a connection between illegal immigration and increased crime, increased taxes, and other social problems, based on government statistics? And would Mr. Agilar care to give some examples of the "terrorizing" that he is talking about? Are there aremed assaults and lychings, or is it just a generalized fear that some of the immigration criminals may be caught and sent back to their countries of origin? Frankly, I WANT these people to have to live with the latter sort of terror -- just as I want every other criminal to live with the teror that htey will be arrested and punished for their crimes. Of course, the only dogamtism that is really seen here is found in the accusations of racism put forth by Aguilar and Robinson, who are spewing open-border dogma.

And then there is this sort of dogma as well.

Guatemala native Noel Montepeque, who owns a company that provides a variety of blue-collar jobs to Hispanics, said the tone has changed since the first migrant farm workers passed through the area in the 1990s.

"Now they are getting afraid of the many Hispanic folks coming in," Montepeque said. "And we are coming to stay."

No, we are not afraid that you are coming to stay. We welcome you, and we have no objection to you becoming a part of our community. But we do want you to come here legally, and to follow our laws once you get here. And we would appreciate it if you would assimilate into our society like the generations of immigrants before you, contributing to the mosaic of culture that is American culture, rather than demanding that we cater to your culture.

Like I said -- we don't oppose immigration. But we do want it to happen the right way.

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Let's hope we get more such condemnations -- and that the "rank-and-file" Muslims start turning in thosse who are in violation, whether they are neighbors or family membrs.

The Sunni Council denounced the bombings as anti-Islamic and said the Koran, the Muslim holy book, forbade suicide attacks.

"Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell," said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman. "What happened in London can be seen as a sacrilege. It is a sin to take your life or the life of others."

The council said Muslims should not use "atrocities being committed in Palestine and Iraq" to justify attacks such as those in London that killed 55 when suicide bombers struck in three Underground trains and a double-decker bus, the fatwa declared.

"We equally condemn those who may have been behind the masterminding of these acts, those who incited these youths in order to further their own perverted ideology," Mr. Qadri said.

Now I won't get into the moral equivalency argument there, something that I fundamentally reject.

This may be a good start -- if it is followed through on.with full cooperation in rooting out every last pro-terrorist Islamist.

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Last week, The Guardian published a column by "trainee journalist" Dilpazier Aslam that in effect justified terrorism and extremism as a response by the "sassier" second and third generation Muslims in the UK to the war in Iraq.

Now it comes out that Aslam is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamist group that is banned in virtually every country where it has ever operated, including "repressive" societies like Germany and the Netherlands. The organization remains legal in the UK -- but it supports the overthrow of Western liberal democracy in favor or the establishment of a radical Islamist system dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Aslam himself has written as much.

In 2001 Mr Aslam wrote in the group's in-house journal, Khilafah, that: "The establishment of Khilafah [an Islamic state] is our only solution, to fight fire with fire, the state of Israel versus the Khilafah State".

So it is clear that Aslam is a supporter of the sort of terrorism that took place on 7/7, and that he is a member of a radical organization dedicated to pursuing the same goals as the terrorists. And so the response of The Guardian has been to fire him keep him on the payroll and justify it on the basis of its dedication to diverifying the newsroom with more minority voices.

Incredible!

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Sometimes a piece of writing stands on its own. This New Hampshire Union-Leader editorial is one such piece.

Joe Wilson, unraveled:
Did he say anything that was true?

THE MORE that is revealed about the leaking of CIA employee Valerie Plame's name, the more her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, is discredited.

For the past two years Wilson has suggested that the White House exposed his wife as a CIA agent in retribution for his having "debunked" President Bush's statement, made in his 2003 State of the Union address, that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger. Left-wing activists have trumpeted this charge until it has echoed from every mountain and hilltop in the land. Last week's revelations in the case show the charge to be entirely unfounded.

Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper's now famous e-mail exchange with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political strategist, shows that Cooper initiated the contact with Rove, not the other way around, and that Rove did not reveal Plame's name. The New York Times reported on Friday that, contrary to Wilson's spin, Rove did not contact columnist Bob Novak to divulge Plame's name. Novak called Rove, and it was Novak who told Rove that Plame recommended her husband for the Niger trip. Rove simply responded that he'd heard the same thing.

This is important because Wilson claimed to have been sent to Niger by Vice President Dick Cheney, and that his wife had nothing to do with his selection. Both claims were later proven untrue.

The icing on the cake was Wilson's own admission, made Thursday, that "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity."

So not only was Karl Rove not calling reporters to disclose the identity of Plame, whose name he did not then know, she was not even a covert agent at the time, as has been incessantly claimed.

That the sources for these revelations were Time magazine, The New York Times and Joe Wilson himself will, of course, have no effect on the wingnuts who peddle Karl Rove conspiracy theories. But then, those who believe in a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy were never heavily influenced by the facts anyway.

I wonder what the next attempt by the Democrats to overturn the results of the last two elections will be?

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An Egyption-born academic who heads the London-based Al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies has this to say about the 7/7 attrocity committed by Islamist jihadi pigs.

Al-Siba’i continued: “If Al-Qaeda indeed carried out this act, it is a great victory for it. It rubbed the noses of the world’s eight most powerful countries in the mud. The victory is a blow to the economy.”

When asked about the killings of civilians by Islamists in Iraq, he denied that victims could be divided into combatants and non-combatants. “The term civilian does not exist in Islamic religious law. There is no such term as civilians in the western sense. People are either of Dar al Harb [literally, house of hostility, meaning any non-Islamic government] or not.”

And here I had been assured that Islamic law unambiguously opposes terrorism.

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Seems to me that this city council in South Carolinan has too much power and too much time on its hands. They are clearly so drunk with power that they don't remember that their power derives from the governed, and that they are not nobles dictating to serfs.

A new ordinance is being considered in Anderson to keep certain types of furniture off porches.

The Anderson City Council is working on a new ordinance that would ban traditional indoor furniture from being kept outside on a porch.

Mayor pro tem Bea Thompson said the old unsightly furniture on the porch would fall in the same category as other nuisances like having a broken down car in the yard or an old run-down home.

Thompson said this is a part of the city's overall plan to make the community beautiful.

Council members said that before the ordinance can pass, it must be fine-tuned.

The council is working on a detailed list as to what inappropriate furniture would be.

The city plans to enforce the ordinance on a complaint basis only. Violators could face fines of more than $1,000.

"Your house could look a little bit better your whole neighborhood could look a little bit better if you didn't have that couch, or if you had the appropriate porch furniture. Don't store refrigerators or stoves on your front porch," Thompson said.

Thompson said the council hopes to pass the ordinance next month.

And while they are at it, they will also impose a 24 hour curfew on ugly folks and fat chicks wearing midriff-baring tops. After all, that would certainly make the neighborhood look better, too.

Personally, I think that a recall election would improve the area even more. Put in some folks who understand the proper role of government.

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Who says that Tom DeLay is a damaged, unpopular incumbent? In the last three months, he has raised over $800,000The fund raising by DeLay, R-Sugar Land, is the best three-month tally in his 22-year congressional tenure.

He and Lampson won't square off until November 2006.

"He has an incredible level of support in the district and a large, active grass-roots organization, but we're going to need to keep this fund-raising pace to defend the district from the labor bosses, trial lawyers, and liberals who are backing Nick Lampson," DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said.

I'll agree with Flaherty on this one. I've never seen the grassroots more supportive of DeLay in my time in this district.

Opponent Nick Lampson raised around $500,000 in two months -- $100,000 from political action committees. Lampson, a former congressman from another district whose major connection to the 22nd district is the fact that his grandparents lived here some time ago, is unchallenged for the Democrat nomination after the state and national power brokers ran off his only opponent. Gordon Quan, a popular Asian-American Houston city councilman who actually lives in the district was running even with Lampson in the polls, but was not favored by the power elite that control the Left's campaign cash.

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Now I wouldn't do what these guys did. I don't find it productive. At the same time, I don't see any great need for anyone to give much respect to a book that is used to justify jihadi terrorism, any more than I believe we should give much respect to a book promoting another vile ideology. But hey, this is America. If flag burning is legitimate political speech, so is shooting up a copy or three of the Koran.

That said, I don't think Chris over at AnarchAngel should have been surprised to get some negative reaction to this event. He admits as much, and says he is even surprised to have gotten so little negative reaction.

But this shows the fundamental difference between the culture of freedom that is part and parcel of Western Civilization and the hate-filled, anti-freedom system that the Islamist jihadi swine would impose on us through their acts of terror. A fatwah has been issued against Chris and his family.

A Fatwah has been issued against me by a known terror group. Corresponding groups have responded indicating that I will be eliminated shortly.

They have my name, address, telephone numbers, and the names and addresses of my friends and loved ones.

The FBI has been unable to tell me of any actionable threat, however they beleive that the threat is real. They have warned me to take the standard anti-terrorist precautions, suitable for Bogota or South Africa not Phoenix.

They are also contacting the people on the list that was distributed, including my mother, my stepfather and step siblings, and the people who worked on Team Infidel with me.

The thousands of hits I've been recieving from the JP domains with blocked referred information are anonymizer proxies used to hide the identities of those viewing my site.

As my resume is public information, my employers or former employers may also be targeted.

There is concern that staff at my former employers has fed them my personal and private information as well.

The FBI agents I spoke with clearly indicated that althoguh they had nothing direct or specific to an individual (and thus couldnt justify protective custody), they are very seriously concerned about this threat.

Hang in, Chris. We stand with you.

And to all you Islamist jihadi swine -- you will not silence us all. If you go after us for speaking out against you, we will continue to speak. You cannot get us all. But we can make sure that there is not one of your kind befouling the shores of the USA or any other part of the Western world if you continue to attack us -- and that it will be 25,000 years before Mecca, Medina, or any other Islamist "holy city" can be approached without degrading your DNA even further.

And remember -- we did not choose this battle, jihadis; you did. It ends with your capitulation or your death, and at this point I don't particularly care which.

As for all the non-jihadi Muslims out there -- we await your loud and outspoken unambiguous condemnation of this threat of murder in the name of your religion.

Additional commentary at:
Resistance is futile!
Forward Biased
Mudville Gazette
The View From North Central Idaho
Neanderpundit
Eternity Road
Owlish Mutterings
Nation of Riflemen Forum

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