I've been linking to Open Trackback posts a lot lately, in the hope that folks will come here and read more than just the linked post. But as I have thought about it, I have come to the conclusion that I need to reciprocate. I am therefore introducing my very own Open Trackback thread.

You know how it works -- you link to this post and send a trackback, and your post will display here. I think I've worked out the issues of displaying trackbacks -- if the Munuvian gods will allow the trackbacks through (I had a problem there for a bit).

So link away -- I won't set a maximum number of items you can link with here, but I would hope that you would consider exercising prudent judgement on the matter. No porn, please, and no advertising -- just interesting stuff.

So let the games begin!

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Posted by: Greg at 06:00 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I got the following in my email tonight.

Congratulations! Just a brief note to let you know we named Rhymes with Right as our "Site of the Day" on Politics1.com.

In the course of publishing Politics1, we regularly visit LOTS of campaign and politically-related websites. Some candidates, campaigns and groups truly get the concept of using the Internet as a tool to effectively convey messages, promote increased citizen involvement, enhance voter education, and effectively and innovatively use technology to advance their causes. We created this award to recognize deserving sites from all states, and at all levels of campaigns, ranging across the ideological spectrum. The criteria is certainly subjective ("I'll know it when I see it," to quote the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart), as we look for any one or a combination of the following: good content, sharp design, clever humor, creativity, innovation in organizing, use of new online tools, etc. The award is not about endorsing candidates or causes -- but rather about simply recognizing those campaigns and entities that effectively use the Internet as a political tool. This is why we selected your site for recognition.

In addition to being featured today on our homepage -- and we currently draw approximately 250,000 page views per week -- you'll also be permanently enshrined on our Site of the Day page at http://www.politics1.com/sotd.htm (and in our blog archives).

Warmest regards,
Ron Gunzburger
Publisher, Politics1.com

I'm speechless -- or at least as close as this short, fat, balding, middle-aged, white guy ever gets.

I really didn't expect this honor, and I appreciate the compliment. I guess this means I must be doing SOMETHING right.

Posted by: Greg at 05:59 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Based upon the charge in this case, you have to ask.

Airport baggage screeners found a human head with teeth, hair and skin in the luggage of a woman who said she intended to ward off evil spirits with it, authorities said Friday.

Myrlene Severe, 30, a Haitian-born permanent U.S. resident, was charged Friday with smuggling a human head into the U.S. without proper documentation.

Customs and Border Protection officials found the head Thursday, after Severe arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on a Lynx International Airlines flight from Cap Haitien, Haiti, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.

"It still had teeth, hair and bits of skin and lots of dirt," Gonzalez said.

Severe told authorities she had obtained the package in Haiti for "use as a part of her voodoo beliefs," ICE Special Agent Erick Hernandez wrote in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.

"Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits," Hernandez wrote.

Severe, who also was charged with failing to declare the head and transporting hazardous material in air commerce, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said.

Severe remained held Friday in lieu of a $100,000 bond. She is due back in federal court March 2.

The "failure to declare" charge is also amusing -- I have this vision of the guy at the Customs checkpoint when he sees the "severed human head" on the Customs form.

Posted by: Greg at 03:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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But instead, German authorities have brought a case against this German who engaged in a bit of speech against Islam.

BERLIN - A German businessman who printed the name of the Koran on toilet paper and offered the rolls for sale to mosques and media will face trial for disturbing the peace.

The man, identified only as Manfred van H., is scheduled to go on trial Feb. 23 at a court in Luedinghausen in western Germany, Jochen Dyhr, a spokesman for judicial authorities in nearby Muenster, said Thursday.

The businessman last summer printed sheets of toilet paper with the sentence "Koran, the Holy Qur'aen" and sent them to about 15 mosques, television stations and magazines.

In an accompanying letter, authorities say, he asserted that Islam's holy book is a "cookbook for terrorists" that calls for acts of violence.

He proposed that a "memorial to all victims of Islamic terror" be set up, financed by sales of the toilet paper - an offer that prosecutors say he also posted on the Internet.

The businessman's offer led to criminal complaints and telephone death threats against him.

Prosecutors argue that the man's actions overstepped the legally guaranteed freedom to criticize other religions. They say he has cited his right to freedom of opinion and artistic expression, and said his aim was to provoke rather than actually sell the toilet paper.

Offensive? Yeah, I suppose, but not to a degree that the full force of government’s jackboots should be brought down on this guy. And the mere fact that he may not have been serious about selling the toilet paper strikes me as irrelevant – in fact, it seems to me that the lack of commercial motivation makes what he did more worthy of protection. Should he have sent it to mosques? No -- but absent a threat, we are talking about an offense based upon expression of an idea.

Posted by: Greg at 02:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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But instead, German authorities have brought a case against this German who engaged in a bit of speech against Islam.

BERLIN - A German businessman who printed the name of the Koran on toilet paper and offered the rolls for sale to mosques and media will face trial for disturbing the peace.

The man, identified only as Manfred van H., is scheduled to go on trial Feb. 23 at a court in Luedinghausen in western Germany, Jochen Dyhr, a spokesman for judicial authorities in nearby Muenster, said Thursday.

The businessman last summer printed sheets of toilet paper with the sentence "Koran, the Holy Qur'aen" and sent them to about 15 mosques, television stations and magazines.

In an accompanying letter, authorities say, he asserted that Islam's holy book is a "cookbook for terrorists" that calls for acts of violence.

He proposed that a "memorial to all victims of Islamic terror" be set up, financed by sales of the toilet paper - an offer that prosecutors say he also posted on the Internet.

The businessman's offer led to criminal complaints and telephone death threats against him.

Prosecutors argue that the man's actions overstepped the legally guaranteed freedom to criticize other religions. They say he has cited his right to freedom of opinion and artistic expression, and said his aim was to provoke rather than actually sell the toilet paper.

Offensive? Yeah, I suppose, but not to a degree that the full force of government’s jackboots should be brought down on this guy. And the mere fact that he may not have been serious about selling the toilet paper strikes me as irrelevant – in fact, it seems to me that the lack of commercial motivation makes what he did more worthy of protection. Should he have sent it to mosques? No -- but absent a threat, we are talking about an offense based upon expression of an idea.

Posted by: Greg at 02:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Better to let these terrorist pigs starve themselves to death.

The U.S. military authorities have taken tougher measures to force-feed detainees engaged in hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after concluding that some of them were determined to commit suicide to protest their indefinite confinement, military officials have said.

In recent weeks, the officials said, guards have begun strapping recalcitrant detainees into "restraint chairs," sometimes for hours a day, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward.

Detainees who refuse to eat have also been placed in isolation for extended periods to keep them from being pressured by other hunger strikers, the officials said.

The measures appear to have had significant effects. The chief military spokesman at Guantánamo, Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Martin, said Wednesday that the number of detainees on hunger strike had dropped, from 84 at the end of December to only 4.

Some officials said the new actions reflected concern at Guantánamo and the Pentagon that the protests were becoming difficult to control and that the death of one or more prisoners could intensify international criticism of the center.

Martin said the forced feeding was carried out "in a humane and compassionate manner," and only when necessary to keep the prisoners alive. He said in a statement that "a restraint system to aid detainee feeding" was being used. He declined to answer detailed questions about the restraint chairs.

Sounds inhumane to me – better to let them carry out their suicides. Not only is that more humane, but it will also cleanse the world in the process.

Posted by: Greg at 02:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Bravo to the official student publication of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for standing up for press freedom around the world.

The University of Illinois student newspaper Thursday published six caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent protests in the Middle East and Asia.

Nearly every major U.S. newspaper, including the Chicago Tribune, has not published the cartoons. They were first published in late September by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and they were reprinted in other European publications in recent weeks.

While UN Secretary General Kofi Annan chastised newspapers Thursday that continue to publish the cartoons, Daily Illini editor-in-chief Acton Gorton said he decided to print them so students could better understand the Muslim response.

"All across this nation, editors are gripped in fear of printing ... for fear of the reaction. As a journalist, this flies in the face of everything I hold dear. By refusing to print these editorial cartoons, we are preventing an important issue from being debated by the public," Gorton wrote in a column next to the drawings.

It is a shame that a once-great newspaper like the Tribune is now reduced to cowering in fear while student publications and the internet do its job instead. And it is also a shame that the University administration for this expression of disapproval.

In a letter to the Daily Illini to be published Friday, U. of I. Chancellor Richard Herman wrote that he is "saddened" that the newspaper decided to publish the cartoons. He suggested that the editors could have informed the public by giving readers a Web link to the cartoons instead.

"I believe that the DI could have engaged its readers in legitimate debate about the issues surrounding the cartoons' publication in Denmark without publishing them," he wrote. "It is possible, for instance, to editorialize about pornography without publishing pornographic pictures."

And here I thought the University was all about widening the horizons of students, exposing them to diverse ideas on a variety of topics, opening their eyes to multiple perspectives, as well as training adults to function in an open and democratic society. I guess that U of I no longer performs those functions, and instead is a therapeutic resource for mental, emotional, and intellectual cripples who need to be shielded from influences that might upset or offend them, rather than provoking thought and discussion. And that Chancellor Herman doesnÂ’t know the difference between pornography and social commentary is indicative of his lack of qualification for his position.

And then there is this gratuitous quote at the end.

U. of I. senior Ehav Yasin, a Muslim student from Carpentersville, said he was upset by the Daily Illini's decision.

So what? Who cares? Yasin’s emotional weakness is irrelevant to the decision of the Daily Illini to fully inform its readers about a major international story. It is clear that despite years of higher education, he really has learned nothing about the values that undergird the American republic. Hopefully he will mature during his senior year and become a functioning member of society – or, barring that, perhaps he will exercise his right to relocate to another country with values more in line with his own.

Here's a cache of the page.

UPFATE: Bravo to the Daily Tarheel at UNC for publishing its own cartoon.

Muslims opposed to the First Amendment are outraged.

The Muslim Students Association at the University of North Carolina on Friday asked the campus' student newspaper to apologize for publishing an original cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

"The intention of bigotry was clear," the association wrote in a letter to The Daily Tar Heel. "One must question the DTH's ethics in advancing a widely protested issue to cause a riot of their own. The MSA not only found this cartoon derogatory but is also shocked at the editor's allowance of its publication _ one that incites hate in the current political and social context."

Caricatures of Muhammad, including one that shows the prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were published first in a Danish paper in September, then reprinted in European papers in recent weeks in the name of press freedom. Their publication has sparked violent protests in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

The paper's editor strikes exactly the right position between sensitivity and journalistic integrity.

The cartoon published in The Daily Tar Heel Thursday was drawn by a cartoonist at the paper, Philip McFee. It shows Muhammad appearing to decry both Denmark's role in the controversy and the violence that has erupted since.

Daily Tar Heel editor Ryan Tuck said the newspaper wanted to challenge fellow students to think about the issue. He said while he has apologized personally to individuals who told him the cartoon offended, the newspaper will not apologize.

"The point of any cartoon in any newspaper is to challenge belief systems," Tuck said. "We knew it would offend, but that doesn't make it the explicit goal of the cartoon."

And as usual, a sensitivity fascist from the university administration has to criticize.

The Daily Tar Heel has a long history of journalistic independence, but university officials would hope that it would use restraint around a topic such as this one, which is hurtful and offensive to members of the campus community, said Margaret Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"Many of our national media outlets chose not to publish the original pictures or cartoons and we believe our student paper should have used the same editorial judgement," Jablonski said.

I guess that the administration has forgotten that a university is a place to learn, to grow, and to have one's beliefs challenged. Isn't that what we conservaitives are always told?

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Posted by: Greg at 02:06 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Maryland Democrats are recognizing Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele – the presumptive GOP Senate nominee – in their celebration of Black History Month.

The Maryland Democratic Party has been relentless in criticizing Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his run for U.S. Senate, but party officials say that won't stop them from paying homage to the conservative Republican during Black History Month.

"Michael Steele is an important figure in African-American history in Maryland. There is no question about it," said Derek Walker, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

"We should be proud of the achievements of African-Americans, regardless of what party they are from or what their background is," he said.

Now if they could just communicate that message to the Tan Klan members of their party who throw Oreos at Steele and refer to him with racist epithets, simply because Steele has the independence to think for himself.

Posted by: Greg at 02:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Maryland Democrats are recognizing Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele – the presumptive GOP Senate nominee – in their celebration of Black History Month.

The Maryland Democratic Party has been relentless in criticizing Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his run for U.S. Senate, but party officials say that won't stop them from paying homage to the conservative Republican during Black History Month.

"Michael Steele is an important figure in African-American history in Maryland. There is no question about it," said Derek Walker, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

"We should be proud of the achievements of African-Americans, regardless of what party they are from or what their background is," he said.

Now if they could just communicate that message to the Tan Klan members of their party who throw Oreos at Steele and refer to him with racist epithets, simply because Steele has the independence to think for himself.

Posted by: Greg at 02:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I would have to speculate that the team won't be drafting hometown hero Vince Young with that #1 pick. This kind of contract really means that Carr will remain quarterback for the forseeable future here in Houston.

The Texans exercised the three-year, $8 million option bonus on quarterback David Carr's contract this week and expect to hire Mike Sherman as assistant head coach/offensive line next week.

Although Carr's extension has been widely reported since November, when owner Bob McNair first said he would give the quarterback the $8 million before the last game of the season — Sunday's Pro Bowl — it wasn't official until this week.

An announcement is expected today.

Not only does the extension give Carr the $8 million bonus, but he receives base salaries of $5.25 million in 2006, $5.5 million in 2007 and $6 million in 2008.

The first pick in the 2002 draft, Carr earned $22 million in his first four years with the Texans, not including incentive bonuses. Barring a career-ending injury or restructuring of his contract for salary-cap purposes, he'll earn $46.75 million over the first seven years of his career.

I'm still thinking that we need D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the offensive lineman from Virginia, but we would have to trade down in the draft a few spots -- he is a great player, but not great enough to be the first overall pick. I'm unable to think of an offensive lineman in years who would have been.

Posted by: Greg at 11:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Did anyone catch the comments of UN Secretary General Goofy Anus Kofi Annan regarding the Cartoon Jihad?

"Honestly, I do not understand why any newspaper will publish the cartoons today," Annan said. "It is insensitive. It is offensive. It is provocative and you see what has happened around the world."

Annan said this did not mean he opposed freedom of the press, but he said it did entail "exercising responsibility and judgment" and media should not "pour oil on the fire".

He again condemned violence as unacceptable and said: "They should not attack innocent civilians. They should not attack those who are not responsible for the publication of the cartoons."

Let's unpack some of that, doing a little reading between the lines.

"Honestly, I do not understand why any newspaper will publish the cartoons today," Annan said. "It is insensitive. It is offensive. It is provocative and you see what has happened around the world."

"I don't understand why Westerners are so hung up on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Don't they understand that feelings trump rights?" Besides, most of the people of the world live in dictatorships that routinely deny such rights -- why should Westerners get to exercise them freely?

Annan said this did not mean he opposed freedom of the press, but he said it did entail "exercising responsibility and judgment" and media should not "pour oil on the fire".

"I'm merely opposed to meaningful exercise of the right to freedom of the press. It should all be happy news that offends no one but the Americans and the Israelis."

He again condemned violence as unacceptable and said: "They should not attack innocent civilians. They should not attack those who are not responsible for the publication of the cartoons."

"On the other hand, I don't have a problem with attacking and killing those guilty kaffirs who dare to express sentiments I disagree with. Like the signs in London said, those who blaspheme the Prophet should be killed."

Of course, there is the little issue of the Secretary General's endorsement of a "human rights" document that would effectively place religious "tolerance" on a higher plane than freedom of speech and press.

The text proposed by 57 Islamic countries, obtained by Reuters, would promote universal respect for all religious and cultural values.

It would "prevent instances of intolerance, discrimination, incitement of hatred and violence arising from any actions against religions, prophets and beliefs which threaten the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms."

It also notes that "defamation of religions and prophets is inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression" and emphasized that states, organizations and the media have a "responsibility in promoting tolerance and respect for religious and cultural values."

In other words, the provisions of this document would override the guarantees of freedom of speech and the press contained in, among other documents, the Bill of Rights. Muslims would then be able to place any speech critical of Islam into an international forum such as the International Criminal Court, stripping from Americans even teh most basic of protections of civil liberties. In giving hurt feelings primacy over human rights, the UN wuld effectivly be trashing the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, one of the organization's founding documents, and replacing it with a Universal Denial of Human Rights.

Posted by: Greg at 03:34 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Racial discrimination in official programs has been eliminated at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale under terms of a consent decree entered into with the Department of Justice. The decree requires that the University end all race-based graduate fellowships.

Southern Illinois University has a tradition of being the first and the best Illinois institute of higher learning outside Chicago to give opportunity to minorities, and president Glenn Poshard swears the tradition won't change - even as the university ends minority exclusivity in fellowships under orders from the federal government.

SIU filed a consent decree in the federal court in Benton Wednesday, the same day the U.S. Department of Justice filed its official complaint about three graduate fellowship programs it claims violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from hiring people exclusively based on race, nationality or gender. The combined effect of the two actions stops further legal proceedings, as long as the university adheres to a list of requirements set down by the agency for the next two years (see sidebar for details). SIU escaped the settlement with no fines, penalties or expenses other than its own legal costs.

During a press conference after the special board meeting Wednesday in which trustees unanimously moved to accept the consent decree, Poshard said for whatever reason the government zeroed in on SIU's practices in minority recruitment, officials were going to make the change an opportunity to commit to opening up all its graduate aid programs for all students in the system.

Excuse me, but that is an admission that the graduate aid programs were not open to all, and that you had been discriminating. There is no other way to parse that statement. For you to then cast aspersions upon the Justice Department for investigating SIU or upon the motives of those who reported your violations of federal law and the constitutional rights of every student at the school is obscene. But Poshard did exactly that – while at the same time denying that was his intent.

"I don't know the motivation of the people who maybe contacted the people of the justice department on this," Poshard said. "I don't judge their motivation, but whatever it is, we're going to do this because it is the right thing to do."

That very statement indicates that you do judge their motivations and find them wanting. You imply that there was some malignant intent, and that you folks are just the innocent victims. But that isn’t the case at all – those who reported you were clearly seeking the end to illegal racial discrimination, and you folks fought it until it was clear you were going to lose. The folks who made the report were clearly on the side of the angels, sir, and you were not. Get off your high horse, break out the sack-cloth and ashes, and start doing some serious penance.

Can and should SIU-C reach out and recruit women and minorities? You bet, and it is something that I know the school has done in a significant manner for decades (my family has over a half century of association with the University as both students and faculty). That is something that Salukis should take pride in. Racial and gender exclusion, though, betray that heritage, and must be eliminated as a matter of principle, not just as a matter of abiding by the law.

More At Discriminations.

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Posted by: Greg at 10:44 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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An interesting find in the Valley of the Kings – an unspoiled non-royal tomb from the 18th Dynasty.

An American team has found what appears to be an intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first found in the valley since that of Tutankhamun in 1922, one of the archaeologists said on Thursday.

The tomb contains five or six mummies in intact sarcophagi from the late 18th dynasty, about the same period as Tutankhamun, but the archaeologists have not yet had the time or the access to identify them, the archaeologist added.

The 18th dynasty ruled Egypt from 1567 BC to 1320 BC, a period during which the country's power reached a peak.

The Valley of the Kings in southern Egypt contains the tombs of most of the pharaohs of the time but the archaeologist said the mummies in the newly found tomb need not be royal.

"There are lots of non-royal tombs in the valley. It wouldn't be the only one by any means," said the archaeologist, who asked not to be named because the Egyptian authorities are planning a media event at the site on Friday.

"The archaeologists haven't been inside properly yet. It's very small and cramped but it is late 18th dynasty," she added.

A statement from the government's Supreme Council of Antiquities said the tomb was found by a team from the University of Memphis in the United States.

The five sarcophagi, which are carved to human form, have coloured funerary masks and the tomb contains a large number of big storage jars, the statement said.

"For an unknown reason they were buried rapidly in the small tomb," it added.

The tomb, 5 km (three miles) from that of Tutankhamun, was covered with the rubble of workmen's huts dating from the latter part of the 19th dynasty, more than 100 years after the tomb was sealed, it said.

This tomb likely dates from around the time of King Tut. I canÂ’t wait to hear more.

Posted by: Greg at 10:43 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Let no one tell me that Iran has any claim to being part of the civilized world. This story is sufficient to dispel any and all illusions on that matter.

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.

Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girls’ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.

She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.

The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death.

The facts were never really in dispute – they were simply irrelevant. After all, Islam teaches that sexual assault victims deserve it. Resistance can therefore never count as self-defense, and any injury done to the attacker is therefore seen as having been committed upon an innocent victim.

The strange thing to me, though, is that I don’t hear any of the feminists raising an outcry about the status of women in the Islamic world – especially in cases like this one. Could it be that these brutalized souls just don’t matter to them as much as the sacrament of abortion or Bush-bashing?

Posted by: Greg at 10:41 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Let no one tell me that Iran has any claim to being part of the civilized world. This story is sufficient to dispel any and all illusions on that matter.

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.

Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girlsÂ’ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.

She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.

The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death.

The facts were never really in dispute – they were simply irrelevant. After all, Islam teaches that sexual assault victims deserve it. Resistance can therefore never count as self-defense, and any injury done to the attacker is therefore seen as having been committed upon an innocent victim.

The strange thing to me, though, is that I don’t hear any of the feminists raising an outcry about the status of women in the Islamic world – especially in cases like this one. Could it be that these brutalized souls just don’t matter to them as much as the sacrament of abortion or Bush-bashing?

Posted by: Greg at 10:41 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Are these folks completely clueless about the church fires in Alabama?

Four churches in Pickens, Greene and Sumter counties burned early Tuesday, two of which were destroyed. Five churches burned in Bibb County, about 60 miles from Tuesday's fires; three of them were destroyed.
Austin Banks of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency that investigates arson, said there were “a lot of common things involved in all the fires” that point to the suspects targeting religion, although he declined to go into detail about the evidence.

Residents and law enforcement officials confirmed that fires at some of the churches started at the pulpit. They also said church doors had been kicked in.
Banks did not say the suspects were targeting the Baptist faith, the predominant denomination in the region.

He said it does not look like there's a racial motivation in the burnings. The four churches that burned Tuesday have black congregations, but only one of the five Bibb County churches was predominantly black.

You don’t suppose it could be hatred of Christians, do you? After all, all the targets are Christian churches, and appear centered on the pulpit.

But drawing such a conclusion might require a conclusion that we have hate crimes here. Selwyn Duke has this to say on the matter.

Nine Baptist churches, with both black and white congregations, have been burned in a relatively small geographical area within a very narrow time-frame. Okay, the fact that they are all Baptist may not necessarily be significant since it’s the dominant denomination in that area. In other words, it would not require too great a statistical fluke to target nine churches in these counties and happen upon only Baptist ones. Although it should give one pause for thought.

However, to the best of my knowledge, even in the Bible Belt, churches constitute only a very small percentage of the buildings. I suspect that Alabamans have also built schools, stores of various kinds, municipal buildings, residences, offices, barns, warehouses, restaurants and lots of other types of structures. Thus, while I’m no mathematician, I think there are pretty long odds against randomly targeting nine buildings and happening upon only churches. If Morris Dees and company can’t grasp this, they surely didn’t amass their organization’s $120 million fortune through wagering. Save incense and decorative candles, you don’t burn things you like. This was a hateful act. So, SPLC, don’t pour gasoline down my back and tell me it’s rainin’.

Next, could you imagine the reaction if nine synagogues or mosques had been thus burned? The monolithic mainstream media would elevate the story to prominence and exhaust themselves pontificating about how dreadful these hate-crimes were. And the posturing by public officials, oh, the posturing, it would be intense enough to induce backache.

As for this story, there’s nothing for the media to glom on to. If only black churches were in the crosshairs, there would be the white bigotry angle. The media can’t get enough of that. But the fact that they’re all Christian? Please! Such concerns aren’t in their programming… in either sense of the word.

So forgive me for saying it, but the lack of interest in the bias-crime angle seems based upon the bias of law-enforcement and the media, who cannot fathom that Christians might be targeted by those who hate them – Muslims, Satanists, secularists, or socialists – and that those crimes are every bit as deserving of serious condemnation as those committed by cross-burning, sheet-wearing, mouth-breathing racists. And all that is needed for this to be recognized is a paradigm-shift on the part of our nation’s opinion leaders.

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Are these folks completely clueless about the church fires in Alabama?

Four churches in Pickens, Greene and Sumter counties burned early Tuesday, two of which were destroyed. Five churches burned in Bibb County, about 60 miles from Tuesday's fires; three of them were destroyed.
Austin Banks of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency that investigates arson, said there were “a lot of common things involved in all the fires” that point to the suspects targeting religion, although he declined to go into detail about the evidence.

Residents and law enforcement officials confirmed that fires at some of the churches started at the pulpit. They also said church doors had been kicked in.
Banks did not say the suspects were targeting the Baptist faith, the predominant denomination in the region.

He said it does not look like there's a racial motivation in the burnings. The four churches that burned Tuesday have black congregations, but only one of the five Bibb County churches was predominantly black.

You donÂ’t suppose it could be hatred of Christians, do you? After all, all the targets are Christian churches, and appear centered on the pulpit.

But drawing such a conclusion might require a conclusion that we have hate crimes here. Selwyn Duke has this to say on the matter.

Nine Baptist churches, with both black and white congregations, have been burned in a relatively small geographical area within a very narrow time-frame. Okay, the fact that they are all Baptist may not necessarily be significant since itÂ’s the dominant denomination in that area. In other words, it would not require too great a statistical fluke to target nine churches in these counties and happen upon only Baptist ones. Although it should give one pause for thought.

However, to the best of my knowledge, even in the Bible Belt, churches constitute only a very small percentage of the buildings. I suspect that Alabamans have also built schools, stores of various kinds, municipal buildings, residences, offices, barns, warehouses, restaurants and lots of other types of structures. Thus, while IÂ’m no mathematician, I think there are pretty long odds against randomly targeting nine buildings and happening upon only churches. If Morris Dees and company canÂ’t grasp this, they surely didnÂ’t amass their organizationÂ’s $120 million fortune through wagering. Save incense and decorative candles, you donÂ’t burn things you like. This was a hateful act. So, SPLC, donÂ’t pour gasoline down my back and tell me itÂ’s raininÂ’.

Next, could you imagine the reaction if nine synagogues or mosques had been thus burned? The monolithic mainstream media would elevate the story to prominence and exhaust themselves pontificating about how dreadful these hate-crimes were. And the posturing by public officials, oh, the posturing, it would be intense enough to induce backache.

As for this story, thereÂ’s nothing for the media to glom on to. If only black churches were in the crosshairs, there would be the white bigotry angle. The media canÂ’t get enough of that. But the fact that theyÂ’re all Christian? Please! Such concerns arenÂ’t in their programmingÂ… in either sense of the word.

So forgive me for saying it, but the lack of interest in the bias-crime angle seems based upon the bias of law-enforcement and the media, who cannot fathom that Christians might be targeted by those who hate them – Muslims, Satanists, secularists, or socialists – and that those crimes are every bit as deserving of serious condemnation as those committed by cross-burning, sheet-wearing, mouth-breathing racists. And all that is needed for this to be recognized is a paradigm-shift on the part of our nation’s opinion leaders.

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I think this French cartoon, scheduled to appear tomorrow, may best sum up the current behavior of Muslims in relation to the Danish cartoon controversy. Fortunately, the French courts are allowing it to run.

A French court refused to order the confiscation of a magazine on Tuesday which local Muslim organisations tried to prevent from publishing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The satirical weekly Charlie-Hebdo was due to publish on Wednesday 12 cartoons originally printed by the Danish paper Jyllens-Posten which have caused outrage in the Muslim world.

"This is good news to us all," Charlie-Hebdo editor Philippe Val told reporters after the ruling.

"We are defending the principle of the right for caricature and satire."

The judges rejected demands by French Muslim organisations, including the French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM) and the Grand Mosques of Paris and Lyon, which had argued the paper was undermining the principle of the respect of faiths.

The court did not rule on the contents of the claim, but rejected it on a technicality, saying the plaintiffs had failed to follow several points of procedure in filing their suit.

Sources at Charlie-Hebdo said the weekly's offices and some staff had been placed under police protection ahead of Wednesday's publication, which will also feature a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad burying his face in his hands and saying: "It's hard to be loved by fools".

That really does say it all.

UPDATE -- 2/8/2006 -- Here it is!

The satirical French weekly Charlie-Hebdo also printed a new drawing under the headline "Muhammad Overwhelmed by the Fundamentalists" that showed the prophet with his head in his hands, remarking, "It's hard to be loved by idiots."

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Errors happen, especially when you are dealing with a bureaucracy. That is understood. Some errors, though, should be very easy to correct when they happen. This one, unfortunately, should have been but was not. That is inexcusable.

West Virginia’s two U.S. senators asked top military leaders Tuesday to explain why 1st Lt. William “Eddie” Rebrook IV had to reimburse the U.S. Army $700 last week for body armor and other gear damaged after he was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

More than 200 people —from West Virginia and across the country — donated more than $5,700 to Rebrook after reading about his body armor payment to the Army.

Rebrook, 25, who was medically discharged from an army base in Fort Hood, Texas, last week, said he wouldnÂ’t keep the donations. HeÂ’s passing along the money to charity and a Louisiana woman who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina. He said the womanÂ’s son helped save his life in Iraq.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday, demanding that the Army refund RebrookÂ’s money immediately.

“I was outraged this morning when I read the story about what happened to Eddie,” said Rockefeller, who nominated Rebrook for admission to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., when Rebrook attended George Washington High School in Charleston. “I’m heartbroken that he can’t continue his career, and I’m shocked that he has been treated this way by our military.”

At a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., asked why Rebrook was forced to pay for body armor damaged when he was wounded in Iraq.

“How can it be that the Army is charging wounded soldiers for replacing damaged body armor? Is this standard practice?” Byrd asked during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defense’s 2007 budget.

It now appears that the high-level attention will get the matter resolved – but not before there was money raised by an on-line acquaintance of mine, Americablog’s John Aravosis. I may disagree with him on a great many things, but I salute him in this.

The bulk of money for Rebrook was raised Tuesday after the soldierÂ’s story was posted on americablog.com, a popular liberal political blog.
Donations ranged from $1 to $400, said John Aravosis, who runs the Internet blog. More than 187 people gave money. About 200 people posted to the blog.
“Everybody thinks liberals hate soldiers,” Aravosis said. “But the majority of people get that it’s not right to abuse our troops.”

Well done, sir.

What I find particularly galling about this is that this is not the first time something like this has happened. It was big news over a year ago – and the problem was supposed to be fixed.

Spc. Robert Loria of Middletown, N.Y., lost his arm in Iraq, but instead of a farewell paycheck from the Army he got a bill for nearly $1,800.
Yesterday, New York legislators came to his rescue.

Loria, 27, found himself stuck in Fort Hood in Texas this week when Army officials said he owed money for travel expenses and for lost equipment.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton interceded on behalf of Loria after his wife, Christine Loria, told the Times-Herald Record of Middletown about the problem.

Loria was wounded in February. As he was about to leave the Army this month, officials told him he had been overpaid for his time as a patient at a military hospital in the Washington area, and said he still owed money for travel between the hospital and Fort Hood, as well as $310 for items not found in his returned equipment. Instead of a check for nearly $4,500, Loria was told he had to pay nearly $1,800.

Clinton, Schumer and Hinchey said the Army had dropped the billing demands and would allow Loria to return home on leave before he is discharged.

For God sake, folks – get this accounting system fixed so that soldiers don’t get a bill for equipment genuinely lost in combat.

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I don’t see how the Boondocks creator, whose career began as a protégé of Jayson Blair, is even entitled to call himself a cartoonist any more.

“The Boondocks” now runs in 300 papers but Aaron McGruder no longer draws it. He outsourced that duty to Jennifer Seng, a Boston artist, explaining that he thinks he's a better writer than artist.

* * *
In similar style to the strip, the cartoon series is outsourced. McGruder flew to Seoul, Korea to oversee the initial animation.

Seems to me that Aaron McGruder, a left-wing radical who has become a corporate sell-out and does not even do his own artwork for his cartoon, is probably best described by the words he placed in the mouth of Rev. Martin Luther King in a recent episode of his creation’s Cartoon Network show – a “trifling, shiftless, good for nothing nigger”.

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The Minutemen lost their battle to march in the Laguna Beach PatriotÂ’s Day Parade. It was the right decision by the judge in the case.

A judge ruled Tuesday that organizers of Laguna Beach's annual Patriots' Day Parade have the right to exclude members of the volunteer border patrol group Minuteman Project.

The group's co-founder, illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist, sought to be included in the parade lineup but the parade committee voted to ban the Minuteman Project on political grounds.
Parade organizers "have a right, within certain limits, to put on the parade they want to put on," Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner said.

It was not clear whether Gilchrist would seek an appeal. A message left for his attorney, Richard Ackerman, was not immediately returned.

The Minuteman Project uses volunteer civilians to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants. Two members of the group who live in Laguna Beach, a bohemian town of 24,000 tucked into coastal hills, filled out an application to enter a float in the March 4 parade.

The parade committee turned down the application because it found the group's participation would violate its bylaws, which ban organizations with a religious or political affiliation or message.

The committee also argued it could reject or accept whomever it wants because it is privately funded and receives no taxpayer money.

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It is easy to put the pastor on the pedestal, and to forget that he (or she) is a human being with interests beyond the church. Take a look at one young man who has melded that interest with ministry in an unexpected and delightful way.

WEST FRANKFORT - Students of St. John's School, their parents and other members of the parish rocked the night away last weekend at the Knights of Columbus Hall as a part of the celebration of Catholic Schools Week.

The occasion was the last in an annual national weeklong series of events kicked off locally with a children's Mass followed by a parish brunch on the last Sunday in January. Throughout the week, students broke up the ordinary school day routine with crazy hat and crazy hair day, and gathered with parents and siblings on Wednesday night for Family Reading Night.

Friday ended the school week with visits from motivational speakers and Friday night's party provided by the Parents Group, where the parish was entertained by their very own Father Trevor Murry and his band.

The band, Father Trevor and the Little Flowers, was a huge treat for the students who got the opportunity to see their parish priest in a different light and reacted as they might toward a celebrated rock star.

Most of the band members had traveled to the performance from Belleville, where Murry, a native of Pinckneyville, served as assistant before being named pastor at St. John's. His current duties also include serving as priest at Sacred Heart in Zeigler and St. Aloysius in Royalton.

"All the members of the band are parishioners at St. Teresa's Parish in Belleville, which is named for St. Teresa of the Little Flower," Murry said, explaining the unusual name for a band made up of adult men and women. "We started almost accidentally. We used to get together and practice music to be performed at church, and after practice, we'd stay around and start playing a lot of classic rock. We began playing at parish events like the parish picnic, and eventually we started playing at a jazz club once a month."

During my last year as a seminarian I met Trevor, a young man who was at the beginning of his path towards priesthood. We were different ages and at different stages of our lives as well as different seminaries, so I never really got to know him, though he seemed like he was a good guy.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise this morning when, doing a quick glance at the website for one of my old hometown newspapers, I ran into this article. It is sort of cute, and I just feel like indulging myself by putting it out for your consideration. Enjoy!

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Here – look at this picture of the Virgin Mary made from porno shots and surrounded by elephant shit instead.

Is this really the same newspaper that made this statement only one day ago?

The New York Times and much of the rest of the nation's news media have reported on the cartoons but refrained from showing them. That seems a reasonable choice for news organizations that usually refrain from gratuitous assaults on religious symbols, especially since the cartoons are so easy to describe in words.

The stench of such rank hypocrisy certainly transcends that of the materials used to create the “artwork” pictured – especially since the picture is also “so easy to describe in words.”

But then again, the editors of this once great newspaper feel reasonably certain that they are unlikely to face violence from offended Catholics or other Christians, so a different standard applies.

HAT TIP -- NRO's TKS

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Here – look at this picture of the Virgin Mary made from porno shots and surrounded by elephant shit instead.

Is this really the same newspaper that made this statement only one day ago?

The New York Times and much of the rest of the nation's news media have reported on the cartoons but refrained from showing them. That seems a reasonable choice for news organizations that usually refrain from gratuitous assaults on religious symbols, especially since the cartoons are so easy to describe in words.

The stench of such rank hypocrisy certainly transcends that of the materials used to create the “artwork” pictured – especially since the picture is also “so easy to describe in words.”

But then again, the editors of this once great newspaper feel reasonably certain that they are unlikely to face violence from offended Catholics or other Christians, so a different standard applies.

HAT TIP -- NRO's TKS

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From the Washington Post.

Bush all but ignored many black civil rights and political leaders during his first four years in office. Instead, he focused on building inroads to African American leaders through the pastors of black evangelical churches and business leaders who were not identified with the traditional civil rights agenda.
Bush became the first president since Herbert Hoover to serve a full term without addressing the NAACP, which many acknowledge as the nation's leading civil rights organization. At the same time, Bush's relations with the Congressional Black Caucus were frosty, contributing to a growing gulf between the administration and black voters.

Given the way the NAACP trashed George W. Bush during the 2000 campaign, why would he want to meet with its leaders or address the group? Given the complicity of many black leaders with Al GoreÂ’s attempt to steal the Florida election with demonstrably false claims of black disenfranchisement, why wouldnÂ’t he choose to ignore the entire dishonorable lot of them? Given the implacable opposition of the CBC to the Bush agenda, what good could have come of reaching out to the group? In the case of each of the jilted parties, it was their own actions which resulted in the marginalization. Plus there have been other, more pressing matters to be dealt with during the Bush presidency, matters of greater import than reaching out to the self-important group of foes who would have never responded to his efforts with a spirit of openness. So instead he bypassed the establishment an went to the grassroots for support of policies that were aimed at dealing with real problems rather than historical grievances.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Our Liberties Are Our Liberties, Even if, and Especially if, That Pisses Mohammed Off by New Sisyphus, and A Mind Is a Difficult Thing To Change -- Part 6 B (After 9/11: War Is Interested In You) by Neo-neocon.  Here is a link to the full results of the vote.

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SteelersÂ’ great Lynn Swann certainly got a great reception from the crowd at the Pittsburgh SteelersÂ’ victory celebration in the Steel City.

Lynn Swann was just speaking at the Steelers victory celebration in Pittsburgh (Rendell is in attendance). He was interrupted by the crowd chanting GOVERNOR, GOVERNOR, GOVERNOR! He actually had to stop the crowd and remind them that today is just about the glorious Steeler Super bowl victory !

It is a GREAT day in the 'burgh!

And he should get the GOP endorsement this Saturday – making him pretty near unstoppable in the GOP primary as he heads towards a showdown with Gov. Ed Rendell in November.

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Ed Lasky points out this little bit of NY Times hypocrisy surrounding the Danish cartoons of Muhammad.

The New York Times runs an editorial today objecting to newspapers publishing the cartoons that caricatured Mohammed. The Times feels that the cartoons were needlessly insensitive and pats itself on the back for refraining from running them.

Given the self-righteous moral preening of today’s editoral, it is strange that the Times did not have a problem accepting money from an anti-Israel group, running this anti-Semitic cartoon (scroll down to the bottom of the page) regarding Israel supporters in America.

The cartoon acceptable to the Times depicts a hairy gorilla holding an Israeli flag while sitting atop the US Capitol.

Double standards at work? Apparently, the Times will not run a caricature to inform its readers about the nature of the issue inflaming Muslims, but will gladly take money to run a cartoon that is laden with anti-Semitic motifs and imagery. Protect Muslim sensitivities, but propagate anti-Semitism.

The New York Times has a lot of questions to answer about its editorial “standards.”

Will it take a rioting mob of angry Jews – or a bombing run by the IAF – to get the NY Times to drop its double standard? Or will it finally come “clean” and admit that, despite its Jewish ownership, its editorial policy is fundamentally anti-Semitic, and that it is staffed with Islamophiles who don’t mind taking dirty money to run cartoons as reprehensible as those of Nazi Germany or the modern-day Arab press?

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Ed Lasky points out this little bit of NY Times hypocrisy surrounding the Danish cartoons of Muhammad.

The New York Times runs an editorial today objecting to newspapers publishing the cartoons that caricatured Mohammed. The Times feels that the cartoons were needlessly insensitive and pats itself on the back for refraining from running them.

Given the self-righteous moral preening of todayÂ’s editoral, it is strange that the Times did not have a problem accepting money from an anti-Israel group, running this anti-Semitic cartoon (scroll down to the bottom of the page) regarding Israel supporters in America.

The cartoon acceptable to the Times depicts a hairy gorilla holding an Israeli flag while sitting atop the US Capitol.

Double standards at work? Apparently, the Times will not run a caricature to inform its readers about the nature of the issue inflaming Muslims, but will gladly take money to run a cartoon that is laden with anti-Semitic motifs and imagery. Protect Muslim sensitivities, but propagate anti-Semitism.

The New York Times has a lot of questions to answer about its editorial “standards.”

Will it take a rioting mob of angry Jews – or a bombing run by the IAF – to get the NY Times to drop its double standard? Or will it finally come “clean” and admit that, despite its Jewish ownership, its editorial policy is fundamentally anti-Semitic, and that it is staffed with Islamophiles who don’t mind taking dirty money to run cartoons as reprehensible as those of Nazi Germany or the modern-day Arab press?

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If you are a former member of the House of Representatives who is engaged in the legal business of lobbying, you cannot use the House gym, come on the House floor, or exercise any of the other privileges accorded to former House members.

But if you are convicted of a felony related to official misconduct, you still can.

Former Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.), a powerful gavel-swinger at the Commerce Committee in the late 1990s, is no fan of new House rules that prevent lobbyists who were lawmakers from stalking the floor during votes or using the chamberÂ’s gym.

The new rule looks more favorably on former members who are convicted felons, such as Jim Traficant (D-Ohio), than former members who are registered lobbyists, Bliley complained in a hallway outside the House chamber last week.

Bliley, who often visits the House floor, said he used to use the gym frequently and attends events of the Chowder and Marching Club — the House Republican “secret society” — near the Speaker’s suite of offices.

“To show you how stupid it is, when he gets out of prison Traficant ... will be able to use the gym as a former member because he’s not a lobbyist,” Bliley said.

Indeed, said one House source familiar with the situation, Traficant’s privileges remain intact, as do those of former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), who just resigned amid a graft scandal. “I don’t believe it was really raised as an issue,” given the lengthy prison terms both men face, said the source.

Many of Bliley’s old colleagues agree. Several lamented the new rules in a Cannon House Office Building washroom just a few feet from where Republicans were voting on a new majority leader last week. One suggested dumping the rule as soon as possible — perhaps this session.

Dumping the rules would be a great idea – both because of the failure to sanction criminal former members of the body, and because the changed rules do nothing substantive to avoid corruption. Feel-good "reforms" that provide no real reform are not hte answer to official corruption -- prosecution is.

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Such is the proposal of former Reagan Administration official Herbert E. Meyer. He suggests that rather than talking to the Iranian leaders or supporting the opposition, we need to act against those who are directing the illicit nuclear program.

Simply put, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, combined with the murderous comments of that country’s president, is the political equivalent of a man running toward your children’s school holding a hand grenade and shouting “I hate kids. I welcome death.” The risk of taking time—to think, to talk, to analyze, to co-ordinate with other countries – is just too high. We know where Amadinejad and the mullahs work, and we ought to know where they live. (And if we don’t know, the Israelis do and would be more than happy to lend a hand.) We have cruise missiles, Stealth fighters, and B-1 bombers that can fly from the US to Teheran, drop their lethal loads, then return to the US without ever landing en route. We have skilled, courageous Special Forces teams that can get themselves on the ground in Teheran quietly and fast.

The question is whether we still have within us the instinct for survival. If we do, then our only course is to act – now, this minute, however we can – and to take out the mullahs. Tonight.

Now there is a certain wisdom to that proposal, for the threat posed by the program is not found in the nature of the weapons themselves, but in the propensity of the Iranian leadership to use those weapons. The United States has very little leverage with the radical government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the present convulsions in the Middle East over the Danish cartoons makes the likelihood of Iranian compliance very small. So it may be that this is the best solution, given that the current situation is unlikely to become less stable.

Unless, of course, it does. Which leads me to wonder if Meyer’s proposal is really the wisest course of action. But then again, what solution would be better?

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Such is the proposal of former Reagan Administration official Herbert E. Meyer. He suggests that rather than talking to the Iranian leaders or supporting the opposition, we need to act against those who are directing the illicit nuclear program.

Simply put, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, combined with the murderous comments of that country’s president, is the political equivalent of a man running toward your children’s school holding a hand grenade and shouting “I hate kids. I welcome death.” The risk of taking time—to think, to talk, to analyze, to co-ordinate with other countries – is just too high. We know where Amadinejad and the mullahs work, and we ought to know where they live. (And if we don’t know, the Israelis do and would be more than happy to lend a hand.) We have cruise missiles, Stealth fighters, and B-1 bombers that can fly from the US to Teheran, drop their lethal loads, then return to the US without ever landing en route. We have skilled, courageous Special Forces teams that can get themselves on the ground in Teheran quietly and fast.

The question is whether we still have within us the instinct for survival. If we do, then our only course is to act – now, this minute, however we can – and to take out the mullahs. Tonight.

Now there is a certain wisdom to that proposal, for the threat posed by the program is not found in the nature of the weapons themselves, but in the propensity of the Iranian leadership to use those weapons. The United States has very little leverage with the radical government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the present convulsions in the Middle East over the Danish cartoons makes the likelihood of Iranian compliance very small. So it may be that this is the best solution, given that the current situation is unlikely to become less stable.

Unless, of course, it does. Which leads me to wonder if MeyerÂ’s proposal is really the wisest course of action. But then again, what solution would be better?

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Kathleen Blanco, the incompetent Governor of Louisiana, is now giving ultimatums top the President and the rest of the Federal Government – “Do it my way or face my wrath!”

Gov. Kathleen Blanco kicked off a history-making special session of the Legislature Monday evening at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center with a forceful message to the federal government and state lawmakers to support her levee board and housing programs for hurricane recovery.

In what was widely seen as the sharpest speech of her beleaugured political career since Hurricane Katrina, Blanco admonished President Bush for dodging LouisianaÂ’s requests for aid while announcing an ultimatum to the federal government to give Louisiana a larger share of oil and gas royalites from offshore drilling or face a roadblock to future exploration in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

“If no effort is made to guarantee our fair share of royalties, I have warned the federal government that we will be forced to block the August sale of offshore oil and gas leases,” Blanco said. “It’s time to play hardball, as I believe that’s the only game Washington understands.”

The governor has limited administrative ability to stop the leases, but since such an action has never been taken it is unclear how authoritative her blockage might be. The state receives only a fraction of the annual $5 billion in federal royalties.

Go ahead and try, Kathleen – we would love the opportunity to paint the resulting energy crisis as the work of corrupt and greedy Democrats more interested in lining their own pockets (a Louisiana tradition, we all know) rather than the good of the nation. It might, in fact, be sufficient to get the American people to take you and your state off the dole entirely. You can then fix up your trashy state and tacky city with your own dough. And by the way – those of us here in Houston would be more than happy to put your criminals back onto buses and return them to you.

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President Bush is so hell-bent on getting his guest-worker program up and running that he is willing to undermine national security to do so. The proposed new budget fails to include full funding for Border Patrol agents.

President Bush's new budget again fails to fund the entire number of Border Patrol agents mandated by Congress but for the first time includes funds for his proposed guest-worker program.

The budget calls for 1,500 new U.S. Border Patrol agents and 6,700 new detention beds for illegal aliens awaiting deportation -- far more than last year's budget, but still short of the 2,000 new agents and 8,000 new beds per year that he and Congress agreed to in the December 2004 intelligence-overhaul bill.

I have to disagree with the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security who was sent out to try to blow smoke up our buts.

"It's a very strong budget, and the request clearly reflects the priority that is placed on securing our borders," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, who said it reflects a comprehensive strategy that includes personnel, beds, technology such as sensors and drone aircraft, and fences like the one being built near San Diego.

The budget includes money for 560 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention officers and agents, and 257 immigration lawyers as part of the administration's effort to return home more non-Mexican illegal aliens. The administration hopes that this will help end the "catch-and-release" policy, under which most non-Mexicans who are caught never are deported.

The 1,500 Border Patrol agents bring the total authorized to 13,819 -- a 42 percent increase since September 11, 2001, but still at least 1,000 short of the number for which the December 2004 bill called.

Short by 1000 agents – that is hardly a strong budget by any reasonable definition. It is a pathetic attempt to get around the clear demands of the American people to take border security seriously.

And rather than stop illegal immigration and get rid of the law-breakers, the budget sets the stage for legalization by fully funding the guest-worker program. HereÂ’s hoping that Congress diverts that $247 million to fully funding the needed personnel and detention beds instead of the PresidentÂ’s scheme to open the borders to temporary workers who will not leave when their time is up.

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Surely there was a better way to deal with this.

The Rev. Jimmy McCants was delivering a sermon titled "Can We Mend a Broken Heart?" on Sunday morning when Chicago Police arrested the 54-year-old pastor on a misdemeanor trespassing charge, outraging some members of his congregation.

McCants, pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church at 356 E. 109th, was freed in lieu of $1,000 bail at about 4:30 p.m., after spending about five hours in the Calumet District police station being processed for his arrest, which was captured by a church member's video camera.

"My church is the house of the Lord, and I had not committed a criminal act," McCants said. "We were in service. . . . We're going to see what the lawyers say. I intend to go back next Sunday."

The arrest stems from an internal dispute among members of the church, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

The church's board of directors told police that McCants was fired Dec. 24, Bond said. On Jan. 6, a woman affiliated with the church signed a police complaint saying McCants had been trespassing on church grounds, Bond said.

"There were other witnesses [Sunday] who said he should not be there," Bond said.

The woman who filed the complaint against McCants could not be reached for comment.

"It happened because he was not supposed to be on the premises," said a board member, Willie Miller, who refused further comment.

The arrest was questioned by the head of a governing authority for Lutheran churches in the Chicago area.

Police apparently took the board's word that McCants was fired, said the Rev. William H. Ameiss, president of the Northern Illinois District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod based in west suburban Hillside.

But Ameiss said he thinks the board removed McCants in violation of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church's constitution, which requires the board to go to the synod to resolve a dispute over a pastor.

Now I will grant that there are questions of church polity that I am not versed in – but under the circumstances, I would think it would have behooved the police to wait until the service was over to make any arrest. And I won't even get into the issue of of the unedifying, unChristian actions of those involved in having their pastor/ex-pastor hauled out of the church in cuffs during the service.

Posted by: Greg at 01:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The oldest cave paintings ever found.

A French caver has discovered prehistoric cave art believed to date back 27,000 years - older than the famous Lascaux paintings.

Gerard Jourdy, 63, said he found human and animal remains in the chamber in the Vilhonneur forest, in caves once used to dispose of animal carcasses.

The paintings included a hand in cobalt blue, he told AFP news agency.

The discovery was made in November, but kept secret while initial examinations were carried out.

Mr Jourdy also said he saw a sculpture of a face made from a stalactite - which would be a scientific first for the era, but experts were dubious about this claim, AFP says.

Neat stuff!

Posted by: Greg at 01:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For those who insist that the GOP is the party of racism and the Democrats are the party of equal rights, letÂ’s go over this little primer on US political history, from the Civil War era to the present.

Slavery is the greatest evil ever to beset black people in this country. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, there was intense political debate on what to do about it. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 for the express purpose of ending slavery. The Democratic Party, by contrast, defended it to the bitter end.

Just to show how far Democrats would go to defend slavery, it's worth remembering what happened to Sen. Charles Sumner, Republican of Massachusetts. After giving a speech denouncing slavery in 1856, he was viciously beaten by Rep. Preston Brooks, Democrat of South Carolina, for daring to question the right to own slaves. Being a coward, Brooks waited until the elderly Sumner was seated alone at his desk in the Senate and, without warning, struck him repeatedly with a cane. It took months for Sumner to recover.

In 1858, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat of Illinois, debated Republican Abraham Lincoln on the question of slavery. Said Douglas during one of those debates: "For one, I am opposed to negro citizenship in any and every form. I believe this government was made on the white basis. I believe it was made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men, men of European birth and descent, instead of conferring it upon negroes, Indians and other inferior races."

So prevalent were these views in the Democratic Party that Douglas was named its presidential candidate in 1860. Amazingly, Southerners actually viewed Douglas as being too moderate on the slavery issue and instead voted for Vice President John C. Breckinridge, a slave-owner who also ran as a Democrat, thus splitting the pro-slavery vote and allowing Lincoln to win.

After the war, the Democratic Party held a lock on the South for more than 100 years. All of the "Jim Crow" laws that prevented blacks from voting and kept them down were enacted by Democratic governors and Democratic legislatures. The Ku Klux Klan was virtually an auxiliary arm of the Democratic Party, and any black (or white) who threatened the party's domination was liable to be beaten or lynched. Democrats enacted the first gun-control laws in order to prevent blacks from defending themselves against Ku Klux Klan violence. Chain gangs were developed by Democrats to bring back de facto slave labor.

President Woodrow Wilson, the second Democrat to serve since the Civil War, reintroduced segregation throughout the federal government immediately upon taking office in 1913. Avowed racists such as Josephus Daniels and Albert Burleson were named Cabinet secretaries. Black leaders like W.E.B. DuBois, who had strongly supported Wilson, were bitterly disappointed, but shouldn't have been surprised. As president of Princeton University, Wilson refused to admit blacks and as governor of New Jersey ignored blacks' requests for state jobs, even though their votes had provided his margin of victory.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt had his first opportunity to name a member of the Supreme Court, he appointed a life member of the Ku Klux Klan, Sen. Hugo Black, Democrat of Alabama. In 1944, FDR chose as his vice president Harry Truman, who had joined the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City in 1922. Throughout his presidency, Roosevelt resisted Republican efforts to pass a federal law against lynching, and he opposed integration of the armed forces.

Another Ku Klux Klan member, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, personally filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for 14 straight hours to keep it from passage. He is still a member of the U.S. Senate today. As recently as the 1980s, Sen. Ernest Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, publicly referred to blacks as "darkies" and Hispanics as "wetbacks" without suffering any punishment from his party.

Case closed.

Posted by: Greg at 01:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I’m not a fan of Bill and Hillary Clinton. I believe the man to have been a pox upon the Presidency. I believe that Hillary is a hypocrite who betrayed her own feminist principles by achieving power the old-fashioned way – by sleeping with a powerful man rather than earning it on her own merits.

That said, I must also say that my objection to the pair is strictly political, not personal. I bear them no personal ill will, for all that I object to them politically.

And so I am pleased to see this gossipy article, and hope that the analysis is accurate.

The state of Bill and Hillary Clinton's union is apparently strong - at least judging by the mongo diamond that Hillary was sporting on her ring finger yesterday.
Sources say the former President quietly gave the iceberg-sized bling - thought to exceed 3 carats - to his wife months ago, in advance of their 30th wedding anniversary on Oct. 11 last year.
But the sparkling stunner is so big that the former First Lady has been nervous about wearing it and hasn't broken it out of her jewelry box on a regular basis until recently.
The big bauble was on full display yesterday, when the junior senator visited University Settlement, an outreach center on the lower East Side, to talk about cuts to early childhood education proposed by President Bush.
"It was a gift from her husband," was all Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley would say.
Of course, it hasn't always been a bed of roses for the Clintons.
After the former President confessed in 1998 to having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton wrote in her 2003 book, "Living History," "I felt nothing but profound sadness, disappointment and unresolved anger."
"I could barely speak to Bill," she wrote of the family's summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard in 1998. "And when I did, it was a tirade. I read. I walked on the beach. He slept upstairs and I slept downstairs."
But those days are apparently over - just in time for Valentine's Day next week.

The personal and the political are two separate things for me. I felt a lot of compassion for Hillary Clinton during Monica-gate, because no one should have to go through such a terrible betrayal, much less in the glare of the lights of news cameras. I felt genuine concern for Bill Clinton during his illness a couple of years ago. And so I am pleased by the apparent reconciliation between these two powerful Democrats – because everyone, regardless of politics, deserves to love and be loved. Call me a romantic.

And so it is my hope that they may have many more years together – happy years filled with love for one another.

Posted by: Greg at 01:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I’m not a fan of Bill and Hillary Clinton. I believe the man to have been a pox upon the Presidency. I believe that Hillary is a hypocrite who betrayed her own feminist principles by achieving power the old-fashioned way – by sleeping with a powerful man rather than earning it on her own merits.

That said, I must also say that my objection to the pair is strictly political, not personal. I bear them no personal ill will, for all that I object to them politically.

And so I am pleased to see this gossipy article, and hope that the analysis is accurate.

The state of Bill and Hillary Clinton's union is apparently strong - at least judging by the mongo diamond that Hillary was sporting on her ring finger yesterday.
Sources say the former President quietly gave the iceberg-sized bling - thought to exceed 3 carats - to his wife months ago, in advance of their 30th wedding anniversary on Oct. 11 last year.
But the sparkling stunner is so big that the former First Lady has been nervous about wearing it and hasn't broken it out of her jewelry box on a regular basis until recently.
The big bauble was on full display yesterday, when the junior senator visited University Settlement, an outreach center on the lower East Side, to talk about cuts to early childhood education proposed by President Bush.
"It was a gift from her husband," was all Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley would say.
Of course, it hasn't always been a bed of roses for the Clintons.
After the former President confessed in 1998 to having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton wrote in her 2003 book, "Living History," "I felt nothing but profound sadness, disappointment and unresolved anger."
"I could barely speak to Bill," she wrote of the family's summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard in 1998. "And when I did, it was a tirade. I read. I walked on the beach. He slept upstairs and I slept downstairs."
But those days are apparently over - just in time for Valentine's Day next week.

The personal and the political are two separate things for me. I felt a lot of compassion for Hillary Clinton during Monica-gate, because no one should have to go through such a terrible betrayal, much less in the glare of the lights of news cameras. I felt genuine concern for Bill Clinton during his illness a couple of years ago. And so I am pleased by the apparent reconciliation between these two powerful Democrats – because everyone, regardless of politics, deserves to love and be loved. Call me a romantic.

And so it is my hope that they may have many more years together – happy years filled with love for one another.

Posted by: Greg at 01:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If we are going to criticize the Islamocensors, should we not also cpndemn the murderous practices of the government of Red China?

A newspaper editor who was severely beaten by police about three months ago has died from multiple injuries, his wife and former colleagues said on Monday.

"He died on February 2," said a former colleague of Wu Xianghu, who was deputy editor at the Taizhou Wanbao newspaper in east China's Zhejiang province.

"It must be related to the beating... our newspaper might take action," the journalist, who declined to give his name, said.

"We're all really angry about it."

Mr Wu's wife, who did not want to give her first name but is also surnamed Wu, confirmed his death, although she declined to elaborate exactly what he had died of.

"I am not able to say," she said. "It is not convenient for me to say over the phone... in the end, it was due to his liver problems."

The official Xinhua news agency had earlier reported on the incident in which Wu was beaten.

Up to 50 police raided the newspaper's office on October 20, a day after it published an article criticising traffic police over charging arbitrary fees for electrical bicycle licences.

Up to eight police beat and kicked Mr Wu, before hurling him out of his office and bundling him into a police car, Xinhua reported the next day.

The Xinhua report said Mr Wu had a liver transplant two years earlier and the beating caused severe damage to his liver, as well as other injuries.

Another journalist at Taizhou Wanbao, who also declined to be named, said Mr Wu had remained in hospital following the beatings on October 20.

He added that newspaper staff had been warned against discussing the incident with outsiders.

Officers at the Taizhou city Communist Party office and Jiaojiang district traffic police branch both refused to comment on Monday.

In other words, the price of exposing official corruption in China might be ones own life -- exactly the same punishment that the Islamofascist mobs seek to impose on those who daret o depict the Muhammad.

But this is not the only act of violence committed against those who speak against oppressive tactics by Red Chinese officials.

In another incident of police-related brutality reported on Monday, a leading Chinese rights activist was allegedly beaten outside a police station in the southern province of Guangdong as police officers looked on.

Unidentified men beat Yang Maodong, also known by his pen name of Guo Feixiong, after he lodged a complaint at a police station in Guangzhou city on Saturday about plain-clothed police officers following him, China Rights Defenders said in a statement.

Yes, we must oppose the evils of the Islamofascists, but we must not forget the 1/5 of the world's population that lives under this brutal Communist dictatorship.

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