I rarely do these things -- and never post them. This one, on the other hand, is just too good to leave unposted.

Posted by: Greg at 05:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This statement, coming out of a Leftist doesn't even raise an eyebrow. After all, it is so typical of what we hear from that edge of the spectrum.

"They want to kill me and my children if they can. But if they just kill me and not my children, they want my children to be comforted -- that while they didn't protect me because they cut my taxes, my children won't have to pay any money on the money they inherit," Begala said.

Next time his brother Chris is on KSEV, someone will have to ask how long Paul has been stark raving mad.

Posted by: Greg at 03:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why isn't this news in the US?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing whether two United States citizens arrested recently planned to carry out an attack on the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles and a synagogue in the area.

The suspicion arose after local police officers arrested the two, aged 25 and 21, on the suspicion that they carried out armed robberies. In a search conducted in one of the suspect's apartment, in southern Los Angeles, officers found a list of more than twenty addresses, including that of the Israeli consulate in the city (identified on the list as the Zionist consulate) as well as the address of a synagogue.

Now maybe this is nothing -- buyt maybe not. How many folks run round with a list that includes the "Zionist consulate" while robbing gas stations? Whas this the method of getting the money to purchase materials?

Oh, and by the way, this detail makes it in late in the article.

The two suspects are known felons who recently converted to Islam.

Uh-huh. Yeah. Anyone surprised?

Posted by: Greg at 03:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Traffic is WAY down today. Is everyone reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? I should be getting a copy in a couple weeks, when given where i am on the hold list for the Harris County Public Library.

I'm hearing good things about it.

Posted by: Greg at 09:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When you hold a sensitive position, your words and actions can be used as a grounds for termination. That is true if you work for the CIA. It is true if you work for a police department. It is true in the military. And it is also true if you are an airport screener.

And that brings us to the case of Bassam Khalaf, AKA "the Arabic Assassin" in the rap world. He just was fired as a luggage screener at one of the airports here in Houston. He wants to make this a matter of ethnicity, but it isn't. The lyrics to one song talks about commemorating the 9/11 attack with another such attack on September 11 of this year.

HELL YEAH THE WAR IS ON AND YOU KNOW IM STEADY F**IN EM UP
FILL THEM UP WITH LEAD IN THEY HEAD LEAVE EM DEAD BLOODY RED
THE I GO AND TOSS THE BODY OF INTO THE F***IN TRUNK
NIGGA WHAT YOU DONÂ’T WANT IT WITH THIS ARABIC
IM A CRASH A F***IN PLANE IN YO BUILDIN BITCH
9/11/05 BE READY TO DIE I SHOW NO MERCY FOR MOTHERF***IN HO ASS TRICKS

Sorry, dude -- just like you don't joke about bombs at the airport, you don't make such public statements and then screen luggage at an airport. It makes you a security risk.

Not only that, but his lyrics also have hate content in them, of a nature that rivals anything that is spewed from the mouth of the Klan or the neo-Nazis. Consider lyrics of "Hellsent".

"I PUT VIRGIN MARY ON HER KNEES AND MADE HER SWALLOW MY SEMEN . . . . I HUNG A NUN ON THE CROSS LIT A FLAME THEN I TORCHED . . . . I HUNTED DOWN JESUS STABBED THAT N---- AND F---IN DUMPED HIM IN THE DITCH . . . . I WENT FROM F---IN CHURCH TO CHURCH BURNIN ONE AFTER ANOTHER BEFORE I LEFT I GRABBED THE PRIEST AND BEAT THE S--- OUT THE MOTHERF------ THEN I WENT UP TO A PLAYGROUND SAW A LITTLE GIRL AND KIDNAPPED THAT B----- TOOK HER TO MY HOUSE OPENED HER MOUTH AND MADE HER SUCK MY D---"

And that is just an excerpt. The rest is worse. And just as we don't let members of known hate groups work high-security jobs, we cannot let this clown do so either. Frankly, I'd like to see them lock you up pending a full investigation of your activities and conduct after that terrorist threat.

And let's be honest here -- this firing is reasonable. His words make him an unacceptable security risk. I would lose my job as a teacher if I were posting kiddie porn stories -- I think an airport screener who posts this sort of crap needs to be fired for precisely the same reason.

(HT Debbie Schussel & Michelle Malkin)

Posted by: Greg at 07:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is certainly a scary notion -- though it may be entirely coincidental. Still, the connection to a senior Labour MP obviously needs to be investigated.

Suicide bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan was given a guided tour of the House of Commons last year - raising the disturbing prospect that Parliament was on the hit list of targets.

Khan, 30, was a guest of Labour MP Jon Trickett, whose wife Sarah is head of a school where the bomber taught.

During the visit in July he also met International Development Minister Hilary Benn, whose constituency includes the school, and was shown areas of Parliament which are off-limits to unaccompanied members of the public.

They included Portcullis House, the new extension where many MPs have their offices and where security has been exposed as worryingly lax in recent years.

More interesting is that the terrorist had been a schoolmate of Truckett's children, and had been a guest in the MPs home, having been known to the family for over 17 years. That makes this development even more frightening.

And then there is this bit.

The Labour Party said Khan's group had been fully screened by the House of Commons Security system and was accompanied at all times throughout the visit.

Do I understand correctly? Were they screened IN ADVANCE? Were there know alarms set off by this individual's activities and associations? If not, why not?

Posted by: Greg at 05:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is tragic. It is my profoundest hope that the thief sees this story and is moved by some shred of decency to return this decoration.

Sammy L. Davis was awarded the nation's highest military honor for his bravery and skill during a ferocious Vietnam War firefight that killed about 30 of his comrades.

Davis has kept that Medal of Honor close to his side ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson presented it to him in 1968.

But Friday morning, Indianapolis Police Department officers said, Davis discovered the medal had been stolen during a break-in of the trunk of his car in the parking lot of Wingate Inn Airport, 5797 Rockville Road.

Davis, 58, a retired Army sergeant, is one of only two Hoosiers to have received the medal awarded by Congress.

"A piece of American history has been stolen," said IPD Sgt. Steve Staletovich.

Davis said: "Whoever has it, I can personally forgive you if you return it. Please turn it in. I would even give you a hug."

The thief also took 40 harmonicas Davis plays at military ceremonies, police said

This great man wants nothing more than the return of an important piece of history, so that it may be treated with the honor and dignity it deserves.

Who is Sammy L. Davis? How did he come to receive the nation's highest military decoration?

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Battery C, 2d Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division.
Place and date: West of Cai Lay, Republic of Vietnam, 18 November 1967.
Entered service at: Indianapolis, Ind.
Born: 1 November 1946, Dayton, Ohio.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Davis (then PFc.) distinguished himself during the early morning hours while serving as a cannoneer with Battery C, at a remote fire support base. At approximately 0200 hours, the fire support base was under heavy enemy mortar attack. Simultaneously, an estimated reinforced Viet Cong battalion launched a fierce ground assault upon the fire support base. The attacking enemy drove to within 25 meters of the friendly positions. Only a river separated the Viet Cong from the fire support base. Detecting a nearby enemy position, Sgt. Davis seized a machinegun and provided covering fire for his guncrew, as they attempted to bring direct artillery fire on the enemy. Despite his efforts, an enemy recoilless rifle round scored a direct hit upon the artillery piece. The resultant blast hurled the guncrew from their weapon and blew Sgt. Davis into a foxhole. He struggled to his feet and returned to the howitzer, which was burning furiously. Ignoring repeated warning to seek cover, Sgt. Davis rammed a shell into the gun. Disregarding a withering hail of enemy fire directed against his position, he aimed and fired the howitzer which rolled backward, knocking Sgt. Davis violently to the ground. Undaunted, he returned to the weapon to fire again when an enemy mortar round exploded within 20 meters of his position, injured him painfully. Nevertheless, Sgt. Davis loaded the artillery piece, aimed and fired. Again he was knocked down by the recoil. In complete disregard for his safety, Sgt. Davis loaded and fired 3 more shells into the enemy. Disregarding his extensive injuries and his inability to swim, Sgt. Davis picked up an air mattress and struck out across the deep river to rescue 3 wounded comrades on the far side. Upon reaching the 3 wounded men, he stood upright and fired into the dense vegetation to prevent the Viet Cong from advancing. While the most seriously wounded soldier was helped across the river, Sgt. Davis protected the 2 remaining casualties until he could pull them across the river to the fire support base. Though suffering from painful wounds, he refused medical attention, joining another howitzer crew which fired at the large Viet Cong force until it broke contact and fled, Sgt. DavisÂ’ extraordinary heroism, at the risk of his life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.

God bless you sir. May your your medal be returned quickly and with full honor.

Posted by: Greg at 05:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I hate to write the headline above. It is my great joy to know a number of Muslims who I love like they are my own family. They are good people. They are animated with a sense of decency that I fully believe is part and parcel of Islam. But even as I acknowledge that part and celebrate it, I cannot help but recognize the darker side of that faith. It is that darker, metastasized form of Islam that threatens Western Civilization, and which must be excised like the cancer that it is. But we have thus far lacked the will to do so, for fear of denigrating Islam and offending Muslims.

Diana West notes the problem and its genesis in the multicultural ethic that has taken hold of our society. All cultures are equally good, we are assured. It is a polite lie that we have all paid lip-service to, not wanting to be seen as racist or religiously bigotted. But in doing so we have given the terrorists who threaten our culture the very cover they need to operate in our society, to injure and kill our fellow citizens. West states that it is islam that has become a threat to our way of life.

Notice I didn't say "Islamists." Or "Islamofascists." Or "fundamentalist extremists." I've tried out such terms in the past, but I've come to find them artificial and confusing, and maybe purposefully so, because in their imprecision I think they allow us all to give a wide berth to a great problem: the gross incompatibility of Islam — the religious force that shrinks freedom even as it "moderately" enables, or "extremistly" advances jihad — with the West. Am I right? Who's to say? The very topic of Islamization — for that is what is at hand, and very soon in Europe — is verboten.

A leaked British report prepared for Prime Minister Tony Blair last year warned even against "expressions of concern about Islamic fundamentalism" (another one of those amorphous terms) because "many perfectly moderate Muslims follow strict adherence to traditional Islamic teachings and are likely to perceive such expressions as a negative comment on their own approach to their faith." Much better to watch subterranean tunnels fill with charred body parts in silence. As the London Times' Simon Jenkins wrote, "The sane response to urban terrorism is to regard it as an avoidable accident."

In not discussing the roots of terror in Islam itself, in not learning about them, the multicultural clergy that shepherds our elites prevents us from having to do anything about them. This is key, because any serious action — stopping immigration from jiahd-sponsoring nations, shutting down mosques that preach violence, expelling their imams, just for starters — means to renounce the multicultural creed. In the West, that's the greatest apostasy. And while the penalty is not death — as it is for leaving Islam under Islamic law — the existential crisis is to be avoided at all costs. Including extinction.

Dare i draw some dangerous parallels here? The Catholic Church has recently gone through a great time of trial as it has dealt with the sins of a relatively few priests and their superiors -- should we have refrained from naming the problem for fear of offending Catholics? Fundamentalist Mormon sects have forced young girls into polygamous marriages to men old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers -- should the problem be ignored for fear of offending members of the LDS church who shun these practices but might take offense at the examination of the roots of their faith?Should we turn a blind eyeto Israeli spying on the US and the groups that facilitate it out of a fear of stirring up the anti-Semitic "dual loyalty" canard? I think the answer to those questions is clear -- why do we treat Islam differently in the face of the terrorist threat which is daily exposed on our shores and in Great Britain?

The time has long since come for us to quit the monkeying around and to take up the serious business of defending our country and Western Civilization from the enemy among us. We must act in a manner that allows to most effectively find the terrorists. who would kill us. I've noted this before.

The time has come (and is, indeed, long past) to begin intensive monitoring of mosques and Muslim institutions, organizations, and "charities" in this country, for they are the places in which the enemy operates. And if that inconveniences innocent Muslims who are loyal to this country, that is just too damn bad, for the enemy operates among them.

There is much in islam that we can admire and commend as good. But we must not let the silly notions of multiculturalism allow that which is evil in Islam overcome and destroy us.

Posted by: Greg at 07:47 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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So -- do I take the four year free ride to college, or do I take the $380,000 contract to play in the rookie league?

Memorial High star Koby Clemens, the eldest son of future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, has reached an agreement to sign with his father's Astros. Clemens will receive around a $380,000 signing bonus.

The Astros confirmed the signing in an announcement this afternoon. Clemens had signed a letter of intent to play at his father's alma mater, the University of Texas. But he now appears headed to Class A Greenville, Tenn.

Earlier today, Astros general manager Tim Purpura withheld comment on the signing other than to say, "this is a kid with good ability, a good arm. And the pedigree doesn't hurt."

Clemens, the eighth-round pick, was the 254th selection overall in the first-year player draft early last month. Koby, a stellar pitcher who will give up the mound and focus on third base or catching, hit .523 this year as a senior. He also had 10 home runs and 14 doubles with 55 RBIs.

I'm curious, though -- what do they pay the guys good enough to go in the first round?

Posted by: Greg at 05:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones. Julius Caesar Act III, Scene 2

Seems like an appropriate quote upon the passing of Arthur A. Fletcher.

Arthur A. Fletcher, who was widely regarded as the father of affirmative action, has died. He was 80.

Fletcher died of natural causes Tuesday at his home in Washington, D.C.

As the assistant secretary of Labor under President Nixon in 1969, Fletcher devised the first successful enforcement plan for affirmative action, known as "the revised Philadelphia Plan."

It required employers doing business with the government to set timetables for hiring minorities and was later amended to include women.

It became the blueprint for affirmative action programs.

Word is that Mr. Fletcher was denied a place in heaven so that a deserving member of a historically under-represented group could be admitted.

Posted by: Greg at 03:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This observation from a man who never had any.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Thursday that President Bush is "losing credibility with the American people" because of his policies regarding the war in Iraq and the controversy involving Karl Rove.

Howard, given the way in which you flopped in the primaries after raising all that money, I think you are the last man who should be commenting on anybody's "credibility with the American people".

Posted by: Greg at 03:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Congress needs to keep out of this matter.

The U.S. Congress should pass legislation defining the legal status of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay to avoid more damage to the United States' image abroad and reprisals against U.S. soldiers, senators said on Thursday.

But the Pentagon said existing laws allow the indefinite detention of people the United States has deemed enemies in the war on terrorism, and that legislation could be too restrictive and was not needed.

"The truth is due to no one's fault Guantanamo Bay is a legal mess," Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), a South Carolina Republican, said at a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing.

With the Pentagon under fire for the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, Graham is working on legislation with fellow Republicans John Warner of Virginia, the Armed Services Committee chairman, and John McCain of Arizona to clarify the legal standing of people the administration calls "enemy combatants" who can be held indefinitely.

Human rights groups and a number of European countries have said that term has no standing under international law, and the detainees should have the rights of prisoners of war.

Actually, these are "unlawful combattants" under the terms of the geneva Conventions, and they have no rights whatsoever. At best, they have no more rights than a prisoner of war, who can be held until the end of the conflict in which they are cancelled. That means until the War on Islamist Terror Groups has come to an end -- most likely decades from now.

There is one thing that Congress could authorize that I would support. Congress could pass a law that simply says that we will treat terrorists as the contemporary equivalent of pirates -- "the enemy of all humanity" -- and treat them in the same manner as pirates have traditionally been treated.

You know, hanging by the neck until dead.

Posted by: Greg at 03:11 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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China has already planned to nuke the United States in the event we seek to help preserve the freedom of Taiwan in the face of a Red Chinese war of aggression against that island nation.

China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on Thursday.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

Gen Zhu was speaking at a function for foreign journalists organised, in part, by the Chinese government. He added that China's definition of its territory included warships and aircraft.

“If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond,” said Gen Zhu, who is also a professor at China's National Defence University.

“We . . . will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds . . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”

While some analysts have downplayed the statement, I cannot believe that such a rigidly controlled organization would include someone making these comments as a "loose cannon." We need to stop the Unocal deal, be prepared to take aggressive action to prevent this scenario from being carried out.

Posted by: Greg at 03:03 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Straight from the horses mouth. I find this to be almost beyond belief, in light of some the speculation that has surrounded his plans since last fall.

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, denying rumors of his retirement, said Thursday he will continue heading the court as long his health permits. "I'm not about to announce my retirement," he told The Associated Press.

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"I want to put to rest the speculation and unfounded rumors of my imminent retirement," Rehnquist, 80, and ailing with thyroid cancer, said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press. "I am not about to announce my retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits."

Rehnquist released the statement hours after being released from an Arlington, Va., hospital after being treated for two days with a fever.

What does this mean? Is the thyroid cancer responding well to the chemotherapy? Does the Chief Justice simply want to "gut it out" for as long as he can? Will we have a sad spectable like the final year of Justice William O. Douglas, with a justice too ill to remain on the court trying to hang on just a little bit longer (not that Rehnquist apears to be in anything approaching the condition of Douglas, whose stroke had left him severely impaired) and vacilating from day to day about retiring?

Chief Justice Rehnquist has long been a hero of mine. I wish him well. I wish him a long life. May God grant him the wisdom to know when he needs to leave the Court.

Posted by: Greg at 02:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Bruce Sanford, a Washington DC based First Amendment lawyer, helped draft the law that Joe Wilson and the rest of the truth-impaired Left keep claiming that Karl Rove broke. What does he think about the current situation? CNN reporter Kyra Phillips asked him.

PHILLIPS: Well, aside from maybe partisan politics, looking strictly at the law that you drafted, do you see any evidence, according to this law, any evidence of any criminal wrongdoing?

SANFORD: No, I think it's pretty clear that what Karl Rove said to Time magazine's Matthew Cooper doesn't even come close to the kind of knowing violation that is required by the act. Really, the act really requires an intent to harm national security, and that certainly can't be said in these circumstances, I think.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, we've heard a lot about the act, but let's look at it, actually read this portion of Section 421 of the act:

"... knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent, and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States ..."

So in other words, what you're saying, the reason there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing is because Karl Rove didn't do anything wrong because he didn't know that Plame was covert.

SANFORD: That's pretty clear from the notes, the e-mails that Time magazine released to the grand jury that [White House political adviser] Karl Rove said that [former Ambassador Joseph] Wilson's wife -- he didn't even use her name -- but Wilson's wife "apparently works" at the CIA.

It seems to me there's a substantial question whether she qualifies as the kind of covert agent that was envisioned by the act. There are very tight requirements for that.

And there is a substantial doubt whether the agency was taking the kind of affirmative measures to conceal her identity that the act talks about.

As Sanford notes later on, the CIA made no effort to stop the Novak column. So there was obviously no affirmative attempt to keep her identity concealed. That means the law was not broken, because she was not covered.

But then again, what does Sanford know? He just wrote the law

Posted by: Greg at 01:54 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I would love an originalist or a textualist nominated to the Supreme Court. I'll even take a garden variety strict constructionist if necessary. But I find this notion to be totally unacceptable.

A coalition of conservative activists armed with petitions Wednesday encouraged President Bush to nominate former Alabama chief justice Roy Moore to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Putting Moore on the bench "could bring about a turning point in our jurisprudence and in our culture, back to biblical morality and forward to a restoration of the constitutional design and system of liberty set forth by America's founding fathers," said Howard Phillips, chairman of the Conservative Caucus.

Phillips, a three-time nominee for president by the Constitution Party, said Moore best represents the type of judge Bush has said he prefers, one who would strictly interpret the law according to the U.S. Constitution.

Roy Moore disgraced the bench. His conduct led to his impeachment and removal from one court, and his slanderous lies since his removal show him to be a man of no character at all. He is, dare I say it, no-account white trash. I oppose this absurd proposal from the fringe, and I oppose his proposed run for governor of Alabama.

Those of us in the mainstream of the conservative movement -- the real mainstream, not the moderate/liberal RINO regions defined as mainstream by the Left -- would never abide by such an appointment, and would support the rejection of Roy Moore as unfit. Not that I have any reason to worry that such an appointment is forthcoming.

Posted by: Greg at 01:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich committed $10 million in tax dollars to stem cell research via executive oder following the defeat bills establishing such a program during the legislative session. I won't get into the stem cell debate here, but I will raise the issue of Blagojevich's response to critics.

"It's the right thing to do, and however you get there is immaterial."

I hope that scares the hell out of you.

In a constitutional system, the means are as important as the ends.

Your goal may be noble, sir -- though I disagree with it -- but your method for achieving that goal is wrong.

Posted by: Greg at 01:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Just a quick reminder about where the Islamist jihadi swine come from.

A prominent Islamic scholar who exhorted his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.

Ali al-Timimi of Fairfax was convicted in April of soliciting others to levy war against the United States, inducing others to aid the Taliban, and inducing others to use firearms in violation of federal law.

The cleric addressed the court for 10 minutes before his sentencing.

"I will not admit guilt nor seek the court's mercy. I do this simply because I am innocent," al-Timimi said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg said al-Timimi "hates the United States" and has called for its destruction.

"He's allowed to do that in this country," Kromberg said. "He's not allowed to solicit treason. He deserves every day he gets."

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the evidence supported the mandatory life sentence. The judge had earlier left open the possibility that she would toss out some of the counts.

We know that similar radical clerics and scholars operate in England. These are probably the folks who recruited the four native Muslim pigs who committed last week's London homicide bombings. Just like whoever recruited the murderers in England, al-Timimi seems to have had some success.

Al-Timimi's lawyers argued that their client merely suggested that Muslims may want to leave the United States after Sept. 11 because of the potential for a backlash against them.

But he was accused of telling a group of young Muslim men just days after the attack that an apocalyptic battle between Muslims and nonbelievers was at hand and that Muslims were obligated to engage in holy war. He told the group that defense of the Taliban was a requirement and that U.S. troops were a legitimate target, according to court testimony.

Several of the men who heard Al-Timimi's speech traveled days later to Pakistan and began training with a militant Islamic group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, officials said. Some testified that their goal was to obtain training that would allow them to fight alongside the Taliban, though none actually made it to Afghanistan.

We are finding more and more of these Islamist "religious figures" engaging in recruiting for jihad. The time has come (and is, indeed, long past) to begin intensive monitoring of mosques and Muslim institutions, organizations, and "charities" in this country, for they are the places in which the enemy operates. And if that inconveniences innocent Muslims who are loyal to this country, that is just too damn bad, for the enemy operates among them.

Posted by: Greg at 08:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You may remember that some weeks ago I wrote about the Texas Legislature's disrespect of teachers. Well, they are at it again. Those changes in retirement rules for new teacher are going to be extended to ALL teachers -- even those already in the system -- under legislation considered likely to pass during this special session on education (by the way -- there is still no education budget or revised tax scheme -- the original purpose of this special session that ends next week).

A separate bill the Senate may debate later this week would make several changes to the Teacher Retirement System, including raising the minimum retirement age to 60.

Linda Bridges, president of the Texas Federation of Teachers, said the bill "is taking us backwards in our efforts to attract and retain quality teachers."

"The Teacher Retirement System deserves to be solvent. We need to pass a bill so that the Teacher Retirement System doesn't look like Social Security and we have to stand up here and say it's going to be bankrupt in 10 years," [Senate Finance Committee Chair Steve] Ogden said.

Well, Steve, maybe if the state quit funding the system at the statutory minimum percentage (as it has done on an "emergency basis" for the last 10 years) and took the funding level back up to its traditional level at which it was designed to function, then there would be no problem. You would not have to monkey with the plans of teachers approaching retirement -- nor would you have to engage in a practice which federal law bans in the private sector, namely changing the terms of a pension agreement for currently covered workers.

Listen we already make around $6000 a year below the national average, and you balanced the last budget (for the 2003-2004 biennium) on the backs of teachers by cutting our health insurance stipend in half (effectively a $500 annual "teacher tax" out of each of our pockets) and still haven't restored the money for the new biennium as we were promised, nor have you found the cash for an increase in teacher salaries. Retiree health insurance are more expensive because of legislative tinkering. Don't screw around with our retirement benefits as well! And I say that as a teacher who plans on being into the classroom significantly past the minimum retirement age.

But somehow, you have managed to find the dollars to fund this little measure, one that didn't make it through the regular session of the legislature.

The House and Senate haven't agreed on how to cut school property taxes, but both chambers approved bills Tuesday that would boost their own pensions.

The House used a nonrecorded voice vote Tuesday to pass a bill to raise judicial pay and lawmakers' pensions, while Senators voted on the record with two senators casting "no" votes on similar legislation.

Since 1975, legislative pensions have been calculated as a portion of a district judge's salary.

Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, said judicial salaries need to be increased to keep experienced judges from leaving the bench for private practice. But he said he cast a "protest vote" against the bill because it links a district judge's salary to lawmakers' pension benefits.

"I'm just down on that," said Janek.

Currently, lawmakers earn $7,200 a year in pay, and retired lawmakers can begin collecting pensions at age 50 if they have served for at least 12 years.

Under the House and Senate bills, a retired official with 12 years' experience would get $6,431 more a year for a total pension of $34,500. Benefits increase with each year of service.

In other words, you cannot take care of teachers and will vote for measures that cost us money and do nothing to properly compensate us for what you people keep claiming is one of the most important jobs in the state -- but you can guarantee yourself a pension from your PART-TIME JOB that is approximately equal to the state minimum salary for a full-time classroom teacher who has ten years of classroom experience! And you get to retire at age 50 with 12 years of service -- a "Rule of 62" rather thant the current "Rule of 80" that teachers must meet or the "Rule of 90" that you are seeking to impose with this new legislation. Oh, yeah -- and our benefits are equal to only about 70% of our annual salary, not 480% of our annual salary like you guys will be getting. And might I also mention that your annual pension increase approximates the dollar figure by which Texas teachers are paid below the national average.

So I have a message to Texas legislators -- SCREW YOU! You seem intent to keep on screwing me.

Posted by: Greg at 06:24 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The KKK is a terrorist group.

So were/are the Black Panthers.

The Minutemen are the equivalent of a Neighborhood Watch, reporting suspicious activity to the proper law enforcement officials for action.

There have been no reports of criminal activity -- much less violent criminal activity -- by the Minutemen.

So why does Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia make this utterly absurd and slanderous statment?

Garcia, a former Houston police officer, said HPD would monitor the Minutemen "as they would the KKK, as they would the Black Panthers."

So a peaceful group with a political agenda that engages in legal activities will be treated as terrorists by the city of Houston. Where is the ACLU ? Doesn't this constitute a violation of the civil liberties of the Minutemen?

By the way, Archbishop Fiorenza Councilmen Quan and Garcia, Mr. Rubio and all the rest of you folks who are speaking out in support of immigration criminals, you do not speak for the majority of Houstonians -- particularly not those in neighborhoods infested with these lawbreakers. Even the local birdcage liner fish wrapper daily newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, notes as much.

Though polling has shown Houstonians support the diversity brought by immigration, Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg said the city's residents are ambivalent about illegal immigration.

The day laborers the Minutemen plan to monitor are particularly unpopular in some neighborhoods. Residents and business owners complain of the crime and trash associated with the men gathering on dozens of corners across Houston. The city has tried to solve the problem by supporting the creation of day-labor centers.

In other words, the border jumpers are not welcome in Houston -- and we want you to quit using taxpayer's money to assist the immigration criminals in continuing their lawbreaking ways.

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Michelle Malkin notes that Reuters/Sky TV has reported that the head of one of the London terrorists has been recovered.

The bomber responsible for the attack on a London bus last week was killed in the blast, Sky television reported on Tuesday, quoting police sources.

It was not clear whether the man had intended to detonate the bomb on the bus, Sky said. Police would not confirm the report.

Sky said a decapitated head found near the scene had been identified as that of the bomber.

That is great. Now let's see the English follow an old tradition.

Political prisoners (labelled traitors) and serious criminals often had their heads removed and placed on public display for a period of time. For instance, in medieval England, the heads were placed on spikes along the walls of the Tower of London.

These were British nationals who made war on the United Kingdom. That qualifies as treason, by any definition. Mount this head -- and the eventually recovered heads of the other homicide traitors -- on the Tower of London.

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While perusing this week's ediition of the Carnival of Education, I came across an entry that referenced these two posts on a third blog (yeah, I know -- Tinker to Evers to Chance) about a column on the official website of the NEA dishonestly trashing homeschooling -- and the author's clueless response to criticism.

I'll let you read about the initial coulmn yourself, but let me post you excerpts from the letter critical of the coulumn and the author's response.

Homeschool parent and column critic Dominick Cancilla wrote (as part of a much longer letter that you really should read -- it is priceless):

And socialization -- don't even get me started! No matter how many play dates and group classes or field trips a homeschooler participates in, there are so many lessons that a child can only learn on a public-school playground! This is where kids learn to stick up for themselves, where they discover their place in society, and where they find out who their real friends are. I got a lot of teasing myself when I was in grade school, and the teachers didn't make a big deal every time someone called me a name like my mom would have if she were always hanging around. I learned pretty quickly that I had to take care of these things myself instead of trying to get "authority" to take care of them, and knowing that I need to look out for number one has served me very well in the business world. If I'd been homeschooled, I'd probably let people walk all over me instead of putting them in their place where they belong! And how will a homeschooler, without school-yard experience, know how to handle some idiot who cuts them off in traffic? What'll they do -- just let it go?

I recently read an article about a 13-year-old girl who was taken away from her family and put in a mental institution with no contact with anyone because she had behavioral problems in school. If that kid was homeschooled, would her parents have given her the isolation and anti-psychotic drugs she needed? And how will kids learn how to deal with cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol if they are homeschooled? Not that kids should be using this stuff of course, but if you keep kids completely sheltered from them, they're going to go nuts with the stuff when they become adults. The same is true about sex -- isn't that too important a subject to be left to parents to teach? Again, what does a parent know about sex that a teacher doesn't know much better, particularly if the parent is just going to blindly teach abstinence or have some other unrealistic expectation!

As you can see, the satirical tone of the letter just bleeds through. But I guess it was too subtle for column author Dave Arnold, who replied in part (you really have to read the whole thing):

I deeply appreciate hearing from you and receiving your fantastic comments and compliments concerning my article on the fallacies of home schooling. As you likely gathered from my article, it is a subject that is truly a thorn in my side.

Like I said -- sarcasm and satire are just wasted on some people.

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Tell me that the man doesn't sound like a raving idiot here.

The four senators who met with President Bush at the White House Tuesday morning discussed a number of potential Supreme Court nominees, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he thinks they've agreed not to name those names.

"We have a long ways to go," Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters after the breakfast meeting at the White House. He said President Bush has hundreds or thousands of names to go through and "he didn't give us any names."

Nevertheless, Reid added, "There were a lot of names discussed at the meeting, of which we're not going to talk about any of those names. I think that's an agreement that we have, and we'll stick by that."

So the president didn't name any names, but you discussed the names in the meeting. But you won't talk about them now because you may have made an agreement to keep the names that were not given but were discussed -- but you aren't really sure if you agreed not to talk about the names that were not named but were discussed.

Uhhhhh... right.

However, acting true to form, there was this detail from another participant in the meting.

[The names of women and Hispanics did come up, Sen. Patrick Leahy later told Fox News.]

This would be the same Senator Patrick Leahy whose leaking of classified material in the past has caused deaths.

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I had heard about this incident, but not seen it in print until now. I guess the blade will have to be severing some people's head from their shoulders before they accept that there is a connection.

Brian Paddick, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, slapped down a questioner who had the temerity to mention Islamic terrorism on Thursday. “As far as I am concerned, Islam and terrorists are two words which do not go together,” he said.

Lenin talked about folks who were "useful idiots." Folks who refuse to accept that there is a connection fon't even qualify as useful -- and instead act as if the terrorists we are fighting lack any common unifying characteristics (like being young Muslim men). These are the sort of folks who still insist on random checks of passengers and reject profiling.

Columnist Martin Samuel has this wonderfully British observation about Paddick and his ilk, folks who are so concerned about PR and PC that they refuse to act on the evidence right before their eyes.

This is what we are up against, at home and abroad. Faced with the Spanish Inquisition, Paddick would find no link to Catholicism and randomly pull in a couple of Huguenots who happened to be passing. Just in case.

Read all of Samuel's column -- it is worth the time.

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Glenn Alvin Reed turned down a plea bargain that would have sent him to prison for 15 years for stealing a cell phone. Taking his chances with a jury, he received a 99-year sentence instead.

Reed, 31, was convicted as a habitual criminal because he had prior felony convictions for injury to an elderly person and robbery, which bumped the minimum sentence from five to 25 years. He also had 15 misdemeanor convictions dating to 1991.

Reed testified during both phases of the trial, swearing and telling jurors he didn't care if they sent him to prison for life.

"There's things I choose to do, like, if I go in a store and choose to take a Snicker's bar," Reed testified. "If you catch me, you catch me. If not, I'm going to go home and eat it up and go on about my business, dog."

Maybe it was those comments that got him the extended sentence. Maybe it was his flipping off the retired Texas Ranger he had tried to rob a few years before (the Ranger overpowered him and took him into custody). Or maybe it was the fact that, when caught with the phone by the phone's owner, Reed than aussaulted him.

Frankly, Glenn Alvin Reed is too stupid to live, and I suspect the jury would have given him the needle to put him out of society's misery. Given that was not an option, I think 99 years is not a bad option -- especially since, if I recall the law on parole in this state, the earliest he will be eligible for a parole hearing is sometime after his seventieth birthday.

Smooth move, dumbass.

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Just caught a rerun of "Good Will Hunting" on A&E I believe it was. Despite star Matt Damon's affection for Gucci Marxists like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn (declared by Damon's character in the flick), the scene early on in the neighborhood bar where Damon's buddy Ben Affleck is being belittled by some Harvard jackass -- and then genius Damon butts in to counter-belittle the Harvard jackanape -- is priceless.

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Don't you hate it when stuff like this happens? This was the headline on a story that popped up on my homepage this afternoon.

DNC Fundraising Tops $28 So Far in 2005

Can YOU guess the typo?

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1 Wow -- a whole 28 bucks! They're rollin'!!

Posted by: Rhodey at Mon Jul 11 09:17:01 2005 (4dJtz)

2 Fortunately they got the figure right in the body of the article -- and in the story when it was sent out a few minutes later -- reading "$28M" instead of "$28".



I'll be honest -- that first figure might have spurred my Democrat wife to make a matching pledge.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jul 11 09:55:36 2005 (TlDu3)

3 Dang! I was hoping that they had missed the decimal before the 2!

Sub

Posted by: Subjugator at Wed Jul 13 02:54:03 2005 (lkCzp)

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This past week, scientists began a new round of study of the bones of Kennewick Man, the 9000 year old skeleton found in 1996 on the banks of the Columbia River. The oldest human fossils ever discovered in North America, the results of the study could tell us much about the migration of human beings to the Americas during the Ice Age.

The skull's dimensions are very different from existing and historic Native American populations, suggesting the Northwest might have been colonized at different times by people from different parts of Asia, anthropologists say.

The nine-year delay in being able to examine the bones has actually provided a kind of scientific advantage, [Smithsonian Institution forensic anthropologist Doug] Owsley said, displaying clear plastic models of the skull and portion of the man's hip bone with a stone spear tip embedded in it.

Only in the past five years has high-powered CT-scanning technology been able to produce the detailed, three-dimensional images used to create the models.

The hip model already has revealed that the tip of the spearpoint had broken off, possibly when the man tried to snap off the spear shaft. Closer analysis should determine what direction the blow came from, how bad the wound was and how long it took to heal.

The high-tech approach and painstaking analysis being used to probe Kennewick Man's past will set a new standard for working with such rare and old skeletons, Owsley predicted.

The work is being done under tight security at the University of Washington's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. But the atmosphere is electric, said C. Wayne Smith, artifact-conservation specialist from Texas A&M University.

"We've brought this massive set of resources together to be able to see the story these bones can tell us," he said. "It's very exciting every day."

Hugh Berryman, a forensic anthropologist from Middle Tennessee State University, put it another way: "This is like working with a Rembrandt. It's one of a kind."

This study is an important part of coming to understand the history of not just North America or of Native Americans, but of the human race in general. I look forward to learning the results of the study.

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It is an interesting coincidence that two of the judges mentioned as likely successors to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor are women named Edith who currently serve on the Fifth Circuit Court. They are Judge Edith Hollan Jones and Judge Edith Brown Clement. Professor Hadley Arkes comments on the merits of these two fine candidates.

Edith Jones has the sharper definition as a conservative, tagged as pro-life in her perspective, and she is bound to draw the heaviest fire. Joy Clement, in contrast, would be a harder target: Her own specialty was in maritime law; she has not dealt, in her opinions, with the hot-button issues of abortion and gay rights; and she has stirred no controversies in her writings or in her speeches off the bench. She would be the most disarming nominee, and it would be a challenge even for Ralph Neas or Moveon.org to paint her as an ogre who could scare the populace. The main unease would come in the family of conservatives: If people donÂ’t know her personally, they will suspect another Souter or Kennedy. For they have seen the hazard in relying on the assurances given even by the most reliable conservatives, who claim they can vouch for the nominee.

I would vouch for Joy Clement myself, and I would vouch for Edith Jones. But as I commend Joy Clement, I open myself to these searching questions from friends who have suffered the lessons of experience: If we know little, really, about her philosophy or jural principles, how do know that she will not alter when she is suddenly showered with acclaim from the law schools at Harvard and Columbia? Will she not be lured as she is praised in measures ever grander, as a jurist of high rank, as she “grows” with each step ever more “moderate” and liberal? Those who commend her face the risk of joining the ranks of those who offered assurance on Kennedy and Souter, and lost forevermore their credibility.

But even more unsettling than that, the willingness to go with the candidate without a crisp, philosophic definition may mark the willingness to act, once again, within the framework defined by the other side: It begins with the reluctance to admit that we have ever discussed the matter of abortion with this candidate, or that she has any settled views on the subject. In other words, it begins with the premise that the right to abortion is firmly anchored as an orthodoxy; that those who would question it are unwilling to admit in public that they bear any such threatening doubts. The willingness to accept premises of that kind, as the framework for confirmation, may account for a Republican party that has brought forth as jurists the team of Stevens, OÂ’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter.

If the administration finally comes forth with the name of Edith Jones, that will be taken as the clear sign of a willingness to break from those debilitating premises that signal, in advance, the eagerness to back away from an argument. But on the other hand, Edith Clement may be the stealth candidate who, for once, delivers to the other side the jolt of an unwelcome surprise. She may be the disarming candidate who truly disarms before she goes on to do the most important work that a conservative jurist at this moment can do

In other words, Judge Jones would be a candidate with a clearly defined philosophy who would be a direct challenge to those on the lLeft who do not want a "conservative extremist" (as defined by the Left, meaning not a supporter of Roe), while Judge Clement would be an easier candidate to get by the Left but might be a more difficult candidate to sell to the Right because of her lack of a clear public position on the issue of abortion.

Professor Arkes also points out that there is an additional, symbolic reason for replacing O'Connor with a conservative woman.

When the Court begins to explain again the grounds for protecting children in the womb, that account may produce a more lasting resonance if the explanation comes from a woman. At the same time, we could only run the risk of feeding the worst clichés in our politics if the only woman on the Court was Ruth Ginsberg, and if the Voice of the Woman on the Court spoke only in the accents of the Left. The commentators who have been clamoring these days for “balance” on the Court have not exactly been clamoring for a balance between women. And yet it would be no descent into a low politics to show that a woman’s perspective may express itself in an attachment to the moral tradition and to a conservative jurisprudence.

I agree. To let an ultra-liberal former ACLU attorney be perceived as the "voice of women" on the court is a political mistake. Worry about making that precedent setting appointment of a Hispanic later -- select a good conservative woman now. And I'll be happy to take either Edith.

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London will have this neat archaological display from the Middle Ages on permanent display in a new office building in the city. Rather than raze the ruins or stop the development, the remnants of a medieval charnel house will be on permanent display to the public.

A rare, medieval charnel house will go on public display for the first time in 300 years this month in a visually striking reminder of the past beneath our feet.

The 14th century bone store has been preserved and incorporated in the heart of a multi-million-pound office and retail development.
Dan Cruickshank in the Spitalfields charnel house

Visitors and office workers will be presented with the stark contrast of a vaulted crypt dating back almost 700 years set immediately beneath the glass front of the new headquarters of the law firm Allen & Overy.

Now how, exactly, is this to be accomplished? How do you have a modern office building and a historical site dating back several centuries coexisting together?

The Spitalfields charnel house in central London will be visible from above through ground-level glass panels and from the side via a Norman Foster-designed sunken courtyard containing a small yew tree.

It provides a remarkable window into the history of a site that was the burial place of wealthy inhabitants of Roman Londinium, one of the country's largest hospitals dating back to the late 12th century, a cemetery that has yielded the remains of more than 10,000 medieval Londoners and the market founded in the 17th century.

The 700-year-old building has been removed from English Heritage's buildings at risk register, a list of the nation's most vulnerable grade I and II* buildings and monuments published annually.

Steven Brindle, an English Heritage ancient monument inspector, said: "This is a remarkable design achievement. I really like the metaphorical way it allows an appreciation of the juxtaposition between the past down below and the modern up above."

Yeah, I'll say it is one heck of a juxtaposition. I especially like, though, the observation of the senior architect for the project.

John Drew, a partner at Foster and Partners, and senior architect on the project, said: "I often wonder what it would be like if the ground in London was transparent and we could see the remains of the city's 2,500 years of history beneath our feet.

"I find it rather exciting that someone can be just walking across the square and suddenly find themselves on the glass panels, looking down at 700 years of history."

We Americans do not really appreciate what often lies beneath our feet, because our country is so young. The earliest of the English settlements is only 400 years old, and much of the country is much younger. Little is left of the pre-Columbian period, becaause most of the indigenous people were nomadic or did not build long-lived structures. That means we don't think much of what came before us. the British (and most Europeans), on the other hand, are acutely aware of their history -- and it resonates with them. That is why preserving this charnel house was so important to them.

The medieval bone store was rediscovered in 1999 during excavations by the Museum of London archaeology service for the new development planned at the site.

Working on advice from English Heritage, the Spitalfields Development Group instructed the architects Foster and Partners to incorporate the structure into their scheme.

Dan Cruickshank, a historian and local resident, said: "To ponder the charnel house, below which bodies remain interred, is to confront the beliefs of medieval Londoners. This is a beautiful house of the medieval dead, where bones were preserved against the Day of Judgment when the righteous would enjoy paradise while the damned were consigned to hell."

And so the living and the dead will coexist together in one space. If I ever get to London, this is someplace I would like to see.

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I was browsing over at Bad Example and read a neat post about the meme Harvey got tagged on by GBFan of SpottedHorse. He tagged Mike the Marine of From the Halls to the Shores. The lists are interesting -- you ought to go take a look.

Here is GBFan's challenge.

What ten events would you care to witness if you could travel in time and observe them.

Rules: First my version of the Prime directive you can only observe you cannot change anything no changing of the time line. You can interact to a point ie stand in a crowd or talk to people you cannot do anything that will change time. So sorry no going back and putting a bullet into Hitler's head in 1929 or offing OBL back in the 80's. You can stay as long at an event as you like remember this is a Sci Fi Meme.

Now, for this history teacher's list of 10 times and places I would like to visit in history -- in no particular order.

1) Jerusalem -- about 33 AD -- How could I possibley not include the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Word Who Became Flesh For Our Salvation?

2) Constantinople -- 1054 -- I'd like to be able to observe the events that brought about the Great Schism between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East. So much of it seems to be personal rather than theological -- but was it?

3) Japan -- 1595-1605-- The events that led to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate by Tokugawa Ieyasu are fascinating. By starting the observaation while Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the Taiko) still lived, one would have be able to observe the political and military intrigues that led to the establishment of the shogunate that would rule Japan for the next two-and-a-half centuries at the height of samurai culture.

4) Egypt -- 1360-1325 BC -- Why those years? Akhenaten and Tutankhamun reighned at that time, the two most fascinating and mysterious pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty. One a religious radical, the other the boy king whose death and tomb remain mysterious. And can you say "shinxes and temples and pyramids -- oh my"?

5) Rome -- 50-40 BC -- Caesar vs. Pompey. Caesar and Cleopatra. The assasination of Caesar. Octavian and Antony vs. Brutus and Cassius. Octavian vs. Antony. Ain't Rome grand?

6) London -- 1599 -- During my time as an English teacher, I grew to love Shakespeare. I would love to be able to see a performance -- especially the opening -- of any one of several of Shakespeare's plays. Given that 1599 saw the first productions of Henry V, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It, as well as possibly The Merry Wives of Windsor, it seems like it would have been a very good year.

7) Athens -- 433 BC -- The Age of Pericles was in full bloom by this time, and the Parthenon was finally complete. I'd also have to take in a performance of Sophocles' Antigone.

Philadelphia -- 1787 -- How could I not include the Constitutional convention. Many of the greatest minds in America were there, shaping a document which is still the foundation of American government.

9) Tibet -- November, 1950 -- The enthronement of Tenzin Gyatso as the 14th Dalai Lama may well be the last such ceremony to ever take place in Tibet.

10) St. Petersburg -- 1720-1725 -- This monument to Tsar Peter the Great was rising on the shores of the Baltic Sea, part of his attempt to transform Russia into a European power. The final five years of Peter's life were ones in which he made great strides towards his goal.

Well, now you see what sort of things interest the "history geek" in me. I'll pass this one on, in the hopes that some folks will pay attention and respond. Are you up to the challenge, Jim (Snooze Button Dreams), Crystal (Crystal Clear), Dolphin (Where The Dolphins Play), and Mike (Mover Mike)?

Posted by: Greg at 09:11 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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There is a lot of sick stuff out on the Internet -- but this goes beyond all decency.

Terrorists have posted a DYI video for homicide bomb belts -- just like Hamas uses to perpetrate genocide against Israeli Jews.

The 26-minute tape gives a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to pack the belt with shrapnel and high explosive, and then detonate it on board for maximum loss of life.

In a grim reminder of the blast that devastated the Number 30 in London's Tavistock Place on Thursday, the film's final section shows the device being blown up in a specially arranged "test site", with rows of metal targets designed to simulate passengers on a bus. A voice-over explains exactly where the would-be bomber should sit on the vehicle in order to maximise the blast. A second test-bombing shows how the same bomb will impact on a crowd of people in a street.

Yeah, that's right -- it even offers tips on how to position oneself to do maximum damage to one's fellow passengers innocent victims.

The voice-over notes: "When the person who will be wearing this explosive vest goes on the bus, and wants to blow himself up, he must be facing the front with his back toward the back.

"There is a possibility that the two seats on his right and his left might not be hit with the shrapnel. However, the explosion will surely kill the passengers in those seats." The video is among dozens of terrorist self-teaching aids circulating on jihadi message boards and websites, alongside manuals on the manufacture of poisonous chemicals and bacteria, urban guerrilla warfare tactics, and the use of rocket-propelled grenades and missiles.

Find every server where it is hosted, every site that links to it, and prosecute the hell out of the owners for their involvement in terrorism -- or deal with them in the much more effective manner used by the Israelis.

Terrorists are the enemies of all humanity -- treat these latter-day pirates as such.

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The Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is the oldest synagogue in North America. Dating to colonial times, it was visited by George Washington in 1781. It is now being restored as part of a $10 million project designed to palce the building in a historical context.

The oldest existing Jewish house of worship in North America, the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., holds more than two centuries of history within its brick walls. George Washington visited, and throngs of tourists still include it on their itineraries.

But age has crept up on the building, dedicated in 1763. The walls are deteriorating with mold, white paint chips litter the ground, a brass chandelier is slowly corroding, and a poor ventilation system can make the sanctuary uncomfortable.

Now, an extensive restoration is under way, the first in decades, as part of a $10 million campaign that includes money to build visitor facilities. The synagogue has been temporarily closed and sheathed in a white covering. The restoration is expected to conclude in December.

"Two hundred and fifty years is great for the building to have lasted," said Michael Balaban, a former Hebrew school teacher and leader of the Touro Synagogue Foundation. "But if we don't start to act now, we certainly won't get another 250 years out of the building, let alone another 50."

The history of the synagogue starts with a group of Sephardic Jews who arrived in 1658 in Rhode Island -- a colony founded by Roger Williams and his followers on the principle of religious tolerance. They established a congregation, and the synagogue was built a century later -- designed by Newport architect Peter Harrison, whose other notable buildings include King's Chapel in Boston.

George Washington visited in 1781 and later delivered a written proclamation guaranteeing that bigotry would not be tolerated in the new nation.

Touro stands as one of the great symbols of religious liberty in this country, and also as a symbol of our nation's Judeo-Christian heritage. May it continue to serve as a reminder of the people of faith who built this country and made it great.

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While I disagree with the UCC repudiation of Scripture and traditional Christian teaching on sexual morality at last week's General Synod, I cannot and will not support this sort of barbarism.

A small fire and anti-gay graffiti were found Saturday at a church belonging to the United Church of Christ, a denomination that endorsed same-sex marriage last week.

The exterior of St. John's Reformed United Church of Christ also included a message that United Church of Christ members were sinners.

A member of the congregation discovered the graffiti when he stopped by to mow the grass. He found a small fire within the sanctuary. The fire was put out in a few minutes, Lt. Tim McCray said.

And yes, I think hate crime charges are appropriate.

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If this has been done, it must be treated as the rejection of standards of humane treatment for captured combattants by the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

A purported Taliban spokesman said Saturday that the group had beheaded a missing American commando, but he offered no proof. The U.S. military said it was still searching for the Navy SEAL.

The man is the last of a four-member elite commando team missing since June 28 in Kunar, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued, and two were found dead.

"This morning in Shagal district, in Kunar province, the Taliban killed the American soldier and cut his head off," Mullah Latif Hakimi, the purported spokesman, told The Associated Press in a telephone call. "We left the body on a mountainside in this area so Afghan or U.S. soldiers there can find it."

Upon confirmation of this attrocity, thee will no longer be any moral basis for meeting any Geneva Convention standards for the Gitmo detainees -- and those standards have been met and exceeded byt the United States up to this point.

Islamism Delenda Est.

UPDATE: The body of the last of the lost unit has been recovered.

The body of a U.S. Navy SEAL has been found and recovered in Afghanistan, a senior defense official said Sunday.

This would account for the fourth member of a reconnaissance team that disappeared two weeks ago in Afghanistan. Only one of the four survived.

The body of the SEAL was found near the other two bodies and all three had died in a shootout with insurgents, according to an initial assessment from the field, the senior official said.

This senior official said that "no way" had the SEAL ever been in captivity, contrary to Taliban claims that he had been abducted.

I thank God that the Taliban claim was untrue -- and pray that these honored dead are soon avenged.

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This story is absolutely mind-blowing. The meeting that took place today in Houston absolutely shocks the conscience. At the risk of giving offense, the only parallel I can think of would be a meeting of local and federal law enforcement to make sure that the Klan and other racists were kept safe from the Freedom Riders during freedom summer. After all, those involved in this meeting clearly view those who would see our nation's border secured, sovereignty respected, and laws enforced as being (to borrow a phrase from the racists of the Civil Rights era) "outside agitators" seeking to stir up trouble.

The Minutemen, a group of American citizens opposed to immigration crime, are planning on monitoring the activities of immigration criminals and those who hire them this October here in Houston because local law enforcemnt have been ordered to do nothing that might frighten the border jumpers. There have already been the expected whining and threats against the Minutemen emanating from the supporters of border jumping. Naturally, the local law enforcement establishment is gearing up -- to harrass the patriotic Americans and aid and abet the immigration criminals and their employers and supporters co-conspirators.

Law enforcement officials in Houston began meeting today to discuss strategies for keeping the peace when the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps sends observers to the city in October to patrol for illegal immigrants.

"The city of Houston is a very diverse city," said Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt. "There is a great deal of harmony here, and we are not going to stand by and let some outside agency or organization come in and disrupt that harmony. We will do whatever is necessary to keep the peace in the city of Houston."

The Minutemen, a civilian organization initially set up to patrol the Mexican border, has announced plans to send observers to watch day laborers and videotape them.

At the same time, immigration rights organizations have announced that they will form an organization to counteract them.

Excuseme, Chief Hurtt -- these are going to be men and women with cameras, notebooks, and radios. What trouble are you expecting of them, given their history of non-violence? Are you planning on allowing the immigration criminals and their co-conspirators to walk away scot-free from violent actions against American citizens engaged in legal activity, while arresting and harrassing the non-violent citizens? What exactly is your problem with American citizens coming to Houston and protesting violations of American laws and sovereignty?

Of course, a certain politician with a small brain, big mouth, and bigger ego was instrumental in calling this meeting and establishing its direction.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who organized today's meeting of law enforcement officials, said she is concerned that the Minutemen's plans to expand their activities to a diverse city like Houston could become confrontational.

"I will say, as a member of Congress, I do not claim the Minutemen are criminals," said Jackson Lee, D-Houston. "I do claim they are acting in an unauthorized way and may be characterized even as militia. When that occurs in a population, what you have is a mixture of confrontation that makes the jobs of these law enforcement indivudals more difficult."

After all, Queen Sheila has previously demanded that the Minutemen be told they are not welcome in the state of Texas.

Unfortuantely, this conspiracy to violate the rights of American citizens is not limited to local law enforcement. Representatives of the federal government were also present to help plan for the suppression of the rights of those opposed to immigration crime. Note, please, that the local head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement attended this meeting, which is designed to ensure that immigration criminals are permitted to continue breaking immigration laws in the face of opposition by American citizens.

Other law enforcement officials meeting today included Harris County constables, Russell Robinson, assistant special agent in charge for the FBI in Houston, and Scot Hatfield, assistant special agent in charge for the Bureau of Immigration of Customs Enforcement in Houston.

"I think collectively we can come up with a solution to this problem as it becomes a problem," said Robinson.

Of course, there was the routine assurance that the law enforcement agencies will make sure that everyone's rights are respected.

Harris County Precinct 6 constable Victor Trevino said law enforcement will be on hand to protect everyone's rights.

"I think what is important for us is to keep the peace," he said. "And we have to ensure our community that we will be there to respond for them."

In context, though, this was nothing short of a pungent load of steaming crap. The entire purpose of the meeting was to deal with the "problem" of American citizens opposing crime, not the actual criminal activity of the border jumpers and their employers and supporters co-conspirators. Rather than devote their manpower to cleaning up even a fraction of the estimated 400,000 immigration criminals in the Houston area, they are instead seeking to hinder those who call attention to the problem. No wonder 10% of the local population is composed of immigration criminals, and more stream across the border every day. Those who should be acting to uphold the law would prefer to hinder those who call attention to the problem and the willful negligence of those who are charged with protecting the border and enforcing the law.

Posted by: Greg at 05:45 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I'll be having a guest blogger joining me for a time. His name is Rhodey, and he is a great guy. He is a long-time blogger, but in need of a temprary home. He is one of the folks whose blogging I have truly admired since I entered the blogosphere, and was the first blogger I would go to when I fired up Netscape each day when I got home from work.

I'll let him decide what else to say about himself.

Posted by: Greg at 02:39 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Law-abiding American citizens have been threatened by groups supporting illegal immigrants, who are seeking city and state action to prevent these citizens from exercising their constitutional rights. On the other hand, these groups, along with Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, have conspired to provide suport to the immigration criminals.

The local Catholic archbishop and immigrant rights activists want to roll up the welcome mat before the Minutemen arrive to patrol for illegal immigrants in Houston.
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The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an organization working to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, announced this week that it would send observers to watch day laborers in Houston beginning in October. Previous plans called for placing patrols only along the Mexican border.

But Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza said the Minutemen would not be welcome in Houston.

"We stand against any attempts of outsiders to come into Houston to abuse and intimidate our immigrant communities," Fiorenza said in a statement issued Friday.

Separately, immigrant rights organizations announced that they would fight fire with fire by forming an organization to counteract the Minutemen.

"For every Minuteman patrolling, we will have at least 10 people patrolling them," said Maria Jimenez, a longtime local activist now associated with the Central American Resource Center, or CRECEN.

Of course, it is the right of every American to travel anywhere they want in this country. On the other hand, these border-jumping immigration criminals have no right to be in Houston or anywhere else in the United States. For these groups and individuals to support the criminals and seek to exclude the citizens is obscene and sinful. And speaking as a Houstonian, I would like to tell Archbishop Fiorenza that the border jumpers are the outsiders who are unwelcome in our community.

What is more, the anti-American snakes are peddling the same old "vigilante" lies that we heard before the peaceful Minuteman activity in Arizona.

Some of the immigrants say they worry about the potential for violence. At the CRECEN news conference, representatives noted that many Latin Americans have had bad experiences with vigilantes back home, and they drew direct parallels with the Minutemen.

"In the countries we come from, these groups outside the law are known as death squads" or paramilitaries, Aguiluz said.

As is well-documented, not a single arrest or act of violence was committed by those involved in the Arizona border monitoring activity. The Minutemen were, in fact, responsible for getting medical aid for a number of distressed border jumpers, in addition to helping to raise the number of apprehensions by the Border Patrol in the region. The group functioned in the same manner as a neighborhood watch. To compare them to "death squads" is obscene.

Speaking as a Houstonian, I support the planned Minuteman action in Houston. Furhtermore, I condemn Archbishop Fiorenza and the cretins from CRECEN for their defamation of the Minutemen. It is you who are unwelcome in Houston.

Posted by: Greg at 01:37 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I nearly had a stroke when I came across the opening paragraph of E.J. Dionne's column today.

Should a temporary majority of 50.7 percent have control over the entire United States government? Should 49.3 percent of Americans have no influence over the nation's trajectory for the next generation?

Translation: "Should the mere fact that the people of the United States have elected a Republican President, a Republican majority to the Senate and a Republican majority to the House of Representatives give the Republicans the right to govern? Does the fact that in 2006, 2008, and every other even-numbered year brings the American people the opportunity to set a new course and vote differently than they have in the last several elections mean that the winners of those past elections should not be permitted to govern? Does the hope that the American people might eventually come to their senses and start voting for liberals again be sufficient reason to deny the President and the Senate majority their Constitutional perogatives today?"

Now for those of you who think may be spinning the words of Mr. Dionne in an unfair and unreasonable light, let me offer this additional excerpt to you.

Consider that since 1992 the Republican presidential vote has averaged only 44 percent and the vote for Republican House candidates has averaged roughly 48 percent. In 2004, with large margins in some of the largest states, Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate received nearly 5 million more votes than their Republican opponents.

Bu, of course, such cummulative results are not how the system works, and that they are therefore irrelevant? One could, of course point out that only two Democratpresidential candidates since the death of Franklin Roosevelt have received a majority of the presidential votes cast -- Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter -- and the Democrat candidate has averaged only 46.14% of the vote during that period. In the last 10 presidential elections, the Democrat candidate has averaged 44.56% with only one achieving a majority (Carter, with a mere 50.1 wedged between a pair of GOP landslides). The last five presidential races have seen not a single Democrat win a majority of the vote, and they have averaged only 46.89% of the total vote. As for the Senate, since the 1980 election the American people have given the Democrats a Senate majority only four times -- and not at all since the 1994 election. It would appear to me that the current configuration of government is more than a mere temporary phenomenon. Rather, it seems to be part of a broader realignment of American politics. One might wonder, however, why it is that Dionne had no problem with the ideologically left-wng appointments of Breyer and Ginsburg by Clinton -- but I suspect we all know the answer.

Now do I believe that principled opponents of an eventual Bush Supreme Court nominee ought to be ignored? No, I do not. However, it is clear that most of the left-wing groups already girding for battle are not doing so based upon principle. They are proclaiming their opposition to the eventual nominee before he or she is even named by the President. In light of the obstructionist tactics of the Democrats over the last four years, it is clear that the issue is raw politics, not principle.

And given that George W. Bush was elected after campaigning on a clear platform of nominating a certain type of judge, it strikes me as a betrayal of the will of the American electorate for there to be any sort of nominee put forth other than one with a judicial philosophy that tends towards strict constructionism in the originalist or textualist mode.

Update -- Further interesting commentary from Right Wing Nut House, Mandelinople, Discriminations, The Shape of Days,.

Posted by: Greg at 08:31 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I guess you have to be a member of one of the "protected classes" to get equal protection under the law. COuld you imagine if this had been a mosque, or a black church, or one of the churches of the Metropolitan Community Church (founded as a gay denomination)? These idiots would be tossed in a hole so deep they would be looking at Hell from below.

But hey, this was only a Catholic church, so I guess it really doesn't matter. Right?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Four teens have been charged with vandalizing a church in Chili. Monroe County Sheriff's deputies say the boys allegedly urinated in the holy water, smashed wine bottles against the walls, left bicycle skid marks on the carpet, emptied the fire extinguishers and burnt cigarette holes in the Saint Pius the X Church in Chili. The damage is estimated at $17,000.00.

Charged are 18-year-old Dan Seklar, 17-year-old Richard DeCarolis, 16-year-old Michael Street and a 15-year-old who is being charged as a juvenile. All are charged with burglary and criminal mischief, both felonies. The boys have been released to their parents.

Nah -- nothing hateful here. Everybody just move along.

Posted by: Greg at 02:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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