May 08, 2007
Paid Endorsement.
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And at the risk of stereotyping, all six are foreign-born young male Muslims, and some are in the US illegally.
Federal authorities in New Jersey have arrested six men who allegedly plotted for 17 months to attack the Fort Dix military base with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, federal officials said today.
The plan, first reported this morning by New York's WNBC television, involved four men from Albania, one from Jordan and one from Turkey, said Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. They intended to storm the World War I-era base and kill as many military and other personnel as possible.
Charging document filed in federal court in Camden yesterday and unsealed today portray an ambitious and cold-blooded -- but somewhat bungling -- cadre who hoped to kill at least 100 soldiers, but also dropped training videos off at a local store to be copied, and spoke openly to a Philadelphia police sergeant about obtaining maps of Fort Dix.
According to the documents, U.S. authorities were alerted to the group's existence by a video store employee, who said a man had brought in a recording of 10 young men shooting assault weapons and shouting jihadist slogans. The man asked for the videotape to be copied onto a DVD, the charging documents said.
The store complied, but also turned the material over to the FBI. In March of 2006, an FBI informant established a relationship with one of the men believed to be in the videotape, the charging documents say. Eventually, two informants infiltrated the group, recording numerous conversations and events over the next year.
And they have been among us for a number of years.
Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, officials said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the country illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay permanently; the other is a U.S. citizen.Besides Shnewer, Tatar and Eljvir Duka, the other men were identified in court papers as Dritan Duka and Shain Duka. Checks with Immigration and Customs Enforcement show that the Dukas were illegally in the U.S., according to FBI complaints unsealed with their arrests.
Five of the men lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix.
Here are the identities of the terrorists.
Officials identified the men as Dritan Duka, 28, Eljvir Duka, 23, Shain Duka, 26, Serdar Tatar, 23, Mohamad Shnewer, 22, and Agron Abdullahu, 24. They are described as being in their early 20s.
It remains unclear if the men in question are Muslim converts or lifelong Muslims, and where they worship. If this follows the usual pattern of such Muslim terrorist plots, we will likely find a connection back to some local mosque where jihad is preached.
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P, May 07, 2007
IsraelÂ’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, survived three no-confidence votes against his government on Monday, part of the political fallout from a harsh report on the countryÂ’s leadership during last summerÂ’s war in Lebanon.Mr. OlmertÂ’s governing coalition affords him a large majority in the 120-seat Parliament, and the no-confidence motions were all rejected by comfortable margins. Nevertheless, the results revealed cracks in support from Parliament members belonging to the coalition: at least 16 of them were either absent, voted no confidence or abstained.
The motions were brought on the opening day of the ParliamentÂ’s summer session by rightist, leftist and religious opposition parties.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the rightist Likud Party, called for new elections and told the cabinet, which has pledged to carry out the recommendations of the war report: “You are not the solution. You are the problem.”
The leader of the leftist Meretz Party, Yossi Beilin, said the lack of confidence had penetrated the public, the Parliament and even Mr. Olmert’s party, Kadima. Mr. Beilin told the Parliament that a minister in Kadima, whom he did not identify, had told him that the prime minister “poses a national danger to Israel.”
Furthermore, the Labor Party, which sits in the coalition, is holding primaries for the party leadership in late May, and several contenders have already stated their intention to taking the party out of the coalition if Mr. Olmert remains in office.
The situation remains murky for the Kadima-led government. If Olmert leaves office, will his party be able to continue to lead a coalition that allows some member to hold the top spot? Or are new elections -- which might well return Netanyahu to power -- the likely outcome. The situation is quite murky at this point, but I doubt that the the current government will survive the month.
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A 16-year-old Needville High School student admitted to starting the blaze that destroyed part of his school and caused students to retake the state-mandated TAKS tests, his attorney said Monday.The 10th-grader arrived at the Fort Bend County courthouse with his attorney Steven Rocket Rosen on Monday and spent a couple of hours giving investigators a statement. He could be taken into custody today.
"He has admitted the wrongdoing. He is the one who started the fire," Rosen said. The teen's name is not being released because he is a juvenile. School officials said he was serving an in-school suspension when the fire occurred.
Rosen declined to discuss the motive for the April 23 fire but did say it had nothing to do with TAKS tests administered the week before the blaze. The test booklets were destroyed by the fire, which razed a large portion of the high school in the rural community.
"This was the best thing for Needville, for him, for the family, for the community and for law enforcement," Rosen said about the teen's admission. Rosen said he expects the teen to be placed in the juvenile detention center soon.
There's a lot more to come out in this case, but given that the kid set the fire in two locations and caused millions of dollars in damage to the facility I am unable to see how this will be treated as merely a juvenile case. the political pressure will be too great -- and the reality is that the act merits such serious prosecution.
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An odd-looking Canadian quarter with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a false espionage warning from the Defense Department about mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned.The harmless "poppy quarter" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.
I had heard of, but never seen one of these coins, designed to memorialize the WWI Canadian war dead. I can understand that folks who reported them may have been suspicious. But surely someone in Washington might have actually looked at the damn things before sending out an espionage alert -- you know, check with a coin dealer or something.
Some days I fear for my country.
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An Israeli archaeologist has found the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Hebrew University said late Monday.The tomb is at a site called Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert, clearly visible from southern Jerusalem. Herod built a palace on the hill, and researchers discovered his burial site there, the university said.
The university had hoped to keep the find a secret until Tuesday, when it planned a news conference to disclose the find in detail, but the Haaretz newspaper found out about the discovery and published an article on its Web site.
Now this is an important discovery in terms of further confirming the historical claim of the Jews to Israel, as well as documenting the well-attested history of the Roman era.
I would, however, like to note the glaring historical error in the article.
Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 74 B.C.
Looks to me like someone just went to Wikipedia and read the first, awkwardly phrased sentence, presuming that the year of his birth was the year he became king. Herod becomes governor of Judea in 47 BC, and king in 37 BC.
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Like some others in the Washington area, Loudoun County schools soon will greet all visitors with something new: a locked front door, a video camera and a button-activated intercom to request entrance. Inside, office staff will screen the visitors and decide whom to buzz in.The video intercom, common in apartment buildings around the world, is turning up increasingly in public schools. After the 1999 Columbine High School shootings and subsequent school tragedies, limiting access is a top concern for every school administrator.
Loudoun's $550,000 video intercom solution, to be installed beginning this summer, was proposed after the Amish schoolhouse shootings in Nickel Mines, Pa., in October, in which a gunman killed five students and himself. The proposal, included in the school budget, won overwhelming approval days after the Virginia Tech shooting rampage last month that left 33 dead, including the gunman.
"I realize that schools cannot provide fortification against the crazy events that occur in society," Loudoun School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said. But he said school officials can at least take steps to secure buildings.
"By using the intercom video system, we can control who actually comes in the front door," he said.
I'm all for uniforms and IDs for students, but can does putting schools on a perpetual lockdown effectively deal with security issues, or does it really constitute an illusion of safety? And what is the cost to the psyches of our children?
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Imported red fire ants have plagued farmers, ranchers and others for decades. Now the reviled pests are facing a bug of their own.Researchers have pinpointed a naturally occurring virus that kills the ants, which arrived in the U.S. in the 1930s and now cause $6 billion in damage annually nationwide, including about $1.2 billion in Texas.
The virus caught the attention of U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers in Florida in 2002. The agency is now seeking commercial partners to develop the virus into a pesticide to control fire ants.
The virus was found in about 20 percent of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies..
Kill them. Kill them all.
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A court in Azerbaijan has jailed two journalists for writing and printing a newspaper article that was critical of the Islamic religion and the Prophet Muhammad.
Samir Sadagatoglu, chief editor of the Senet weekly newspaper, was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday, while Rafik Tagi, a journalist at the paper, was given three years.The court ruled that their article 'Europe and us' was insulting to Islam and Muslims for saying that European societies were more successful than Muslim ones because Christian teachings were based on peace and tolerance while Islamic values, based on the teachings and actions of Muhammad, were not.
And so to prove the peaceful, tolerant nature of Islam, the journalists are going to jail. Where, of course, they might find themselves subjected to this tolerant fatwa from an authrotitative Islamic source.
"Such a person is an apostate in view of his confessions, if he is a Muslim," Lankarani ruled in a fatwa - or religious ruling - published on his website.
"If he had been an unbeliever (Kafir), he is considered as someone who has insulted the Prophet and in any case, given his confessions, it is necessary for every individual who has an access to him to kill him.
"The person in charge of the said newspaper, who published such thoughts and beliefs consciously and knowingly, should be dealt with in the same manner. We pray to Almighty Allah to grant Muslims and Islam protection from the evils of their enemies."
And if this is the true face of Islam, I pray that God will protect the rest of the world from it.
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Seung Hui Cho never received the treatment ordered by a judge who declared him dangerously mentally ill less than two years before his rampage at Virginia Tech, law enforcement officials said, exposing flaws in Virginia's labyrinthine mental health system, including confusion about the law, spotty enforcement and inadequate funding.Neither the court, the university nor community services officials followed up on the judge's order, according to dozens of interviews. Cho never got the treatment, according to authorities who have seen his medical files. And although state law says the community services board should have made sure Cho got help, a board official said that was "news to us."
Would more aggressive follow-up have prevented the shootings? We can’t know, but one cannot help but believe that Cho’s illness might have been mitigated if he had received the treatment – or he might have been committed to a secure facility as a danger to others. The courts and mental health authorities clearly dropped the ball here.
And sadly, such cases are all too common. A decade ago, when I worked on the mental health crisis team in a rural county in Illinois, and I saw how folks were often let go when they needed treatment. One young man attempted suicide with a shotgun, but was released less than 72 hours later with an appointment for the following week with a counselor. He didn’t make the appointment – he blew his brains out less than 24 hours after he returned home. I have often wondered over the past 10 years whether I could have done something more – though I know I did all I could in sending him to where he might have gotten treatment. Such systemic flaws, you see, are not limited to Virginia.
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Several large Houston-area companies in the Republican-leaning energy industry and other sectors have been shifting federal campaign contributions to Democrats, who are flexing their new power in Congress as they draft legislation on energy and the environment.Political action committees for companies including ConocoPhillips, BP Corp. and Continental Airlines gave a significantly higher percentage of their contributions to Democrats in the first quarter of 2007 than they did for the November 2006 election, when Republicans lost their majorities in the House and Senate.
Corporate officials warned that first quarter contributions in a two-year election cycle should not be interpreted as an indication of a major change in long-term giving strategy. And some business PACs, including that of energy giant ExxonMobil, are still contributing largely to Republican lawmakers and candidates.
Nevertheless, some Texas mega-employers seem to be following the national trend of businesses steering more of their PAC money to Democrats, who now head the key committees where legislation is drafted.
So which is it – are campaign contributions a vital part of the American political system, or are they corrupt attempts to purchase influence for private benefit rather thant he public good?
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Schumer said the Government Accountability Office will investigate, and he hopes to have the results in "a couple of months."A representative of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association was not immediately available for comment yesterday.
Megan Barnett, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, said several factors contribute to the high gas prices, including refinery maintenance, growing demand for gas in developing countries such as China and India, and the upcoming summer driving season, when gas prices traditionally increase.
A GAO finding that the gas companies are at fault, Schumer said, would serve to pressure the companies into producing more or fixing up their refineries. Failing that, he said, legislation compelling changes could be in order.
A GAO investigation?
Did I miss the nationalization of the oil companies?
Or is this simply a prelude to it?
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May 06, 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy, the combative son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France on Sunday, promising a new generation of leadership to transform the country, restore its self-respect and reinvigorate ties with the United States and Europe.Sarkozy, a member of the ruling party and France's former top law enforcement officer, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal, who waged a determined battle to become France's first elected female head of state, by a 53 percent to 47 percent vote, according to final results. Voter turnout was a near-record 84 percent.
Now that seems to me to be a pretty significant mandate for Sarkozy to set about his plans to reform France.
Sarkozy is a rather interesting character, coming as he does from an unusual background.
Mr. Sarkozy is also a bit of an outsider, the first son of an immigrant to rise to the French presidency in a country struggling to integrate second-generation immigrants, the grandson of a Sephardic Jew who converted to Roman Catholicism in a country still riddled with anti-Semitism and a graduate of France’s creaky state university system in a country long governed by technocrats trained at a handful of small, elite “great schools.”
France, it would appear, is open to the rise of immigrants who are willing to take on French culture and fully participate in the French system.
Some folks object violently to Sarkozy's election.
CLASHES between police and protestors have been reported in central Paris and the southeastern city of Lyon after conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy was elected French President overnight.In the Place de la Bastille in Paris riot police fired tear gas and at least one burst of water cannon after hundreds of rioters – some wearing masks – began throwing bottles, stones and other missiles.
Earlier, a small crowd brandishing black and red anarchist flags set fire to an effigy of Mr Sarkozy before tearing it limb from limb and then stamping on it. Demonstrators chanted "police everywhere, justice nowhere".
Reports are that there is tension in immigrant neighborhoods as well -- particularly Muslim neighborhoods, where violent riots occurred two years ago. And there are predictions of more possible violence in the weeks to come, despite Sarkozy's decisive victory.
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A controversial religious figure who claims he is Jesus Christ incarnate with a following of millions with "666" tattoos on their bodies, filled an amphitheater in Orlando this weekend, and promised joy, peace and prosperity.Orlando police officers stood guard around the Lake Eola amphitheater as Dr. Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, 61, arrived in the city Saturday.
Miranda, who has been banned from three countries, told Local 6 News cameras and a cheering crowd that he was Jesus Christ reincarnated.
His followers believe that Miranda's life and his teachings replace those of Jesus of Nazareth, Local 6's Jamie Guirola said.
Miranda is a recovering heroin addict from Puerto Rico. Am i the only one who wonders about lingering after effects of his drug use?
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Where do you find that best Credit Card UK that provides you with the sort of personal security you need and the features you desire? Try MoneyEverything.com for your credit and other financial needs.
Paid Endorsement.
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Two hundred towering windmills, each so tall that its blades would loom over the U.S. Capitol Dome, could be built in the Atlantic Ocean near one of Washingtonians' favorite beach retreats, under a plan being considered in Delaware.The plan, which could create the first wind "farm" in waters along the East Coast, envisions a thicket of turbines offshore of either Rehoboth Beach or Bethany Beach, Del. As the blades are spun by ocean winds, designers say, the wind farm could provide enough power every year for 130,000 homes.
The wind farm is one competitor in an unusual kind of power-plant bake-off: Delaware officials are also considering plants that would burn coal or natural gas as they seek ways to generate more electricity. A preliminary decision could be made tomorrow.
So far, the debate over the windmills has turned on global questions about climate change and very local concerns about the impact on the ocean view. But from the beach, the wind farm's backers say, the giant turbines would look smaller than a boardwalk french fry.
"Toothpicks, with maybe little pinwheels on the top," said Jim Lanard, a spokesman for the company proposing the windmills, describing how they would look on the horizon more than six miles offshore. "You probably wouldn't be able to tell what they are."
Wind farms have sprouted all over the United States in the past decade. There are about 150, from California to the West Virginia highlands. But, so far, they have sprouted only on land.
There was, of course, a plan for a water-based wind farm in Massachusetts -- but it was blocked by Teddy Kennedy and his rich and powerful friends who were concerned that it might mess up their view from Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard. But the reality is simple -- wind power is clean power. Situated away from from shore, they have teh advantage of being relatively inconspicuous -- something that cannot be said about coal burning plants on shore, or even natural gas plants. And if we are really searching for energy independence, where is the logic of leaving this natural form of power untapped?
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Let's face it -- cars and houses alone are purchases that almost any person will need a few (or more than a few) years to pay off. After all, do who has a spare 100K sitting around to pay cash for a new home -- or even 15-25K for a car? Heck, if you are like most average middle class people, there just isn't that sort of extra money available, even if you break open the kids' piggy banks and search beneath the cushions of the living room furniture..
And it is times like that when you find yourself seeking loans to help you make that special purchase.
Maybe you need a Secured Loans for a particularly valuable purchase. Maybe you are looking at car loans or mortgages, trying to find the perfect deal. Perhaps you are just looking the options available in UnsecuredLoans to meet a temporary need.
Regardless, you may want to consider SelectLoans.co.uk when next you need a loan.
Paid Endorsement.
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It was a news bulletin delivered before 52,553 fans on a glorious spring day at Yankee Stadium, where the season is suddenly alive with hope again. The man with more victories than any living pitcher was holding a Yankees microphone, addressing the crowd with a splash of the high drama that has punctuated his career.“Thank y’all,” said Roger Clemens, who was wearing a business suit, a crew cut and a Yankees World Series ring as he stood in a box above home plate. “Well, they came and got me out of Texas, and I can tell you it’s a privilege to be back. I’ll be talking to y’all soon!”
Then Clemens pumped his fist as Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman crouched behind him, beaming. For a $28 million salary — prorated based on the date he is added to the major league roster — Clemens has returned to the Yankees, who trail the Boston Red Sox by five and a half games in the American League East but got a pitcher both teams wanted.
“Make no mistake about it,” Clemens, who hopes to be ready by late May, said later at a news conference. “I’ve come back to do what they only know how to do here with the Yankees, and that’s win a championship. Anything else is a failure.”
We were hoping the local boy would be back here a Minute Maid Park, seeking to win that championship for his hometown.
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If you are looking for Baby Shower Decorations, might I suggest that PartyPail.com is a good place to start looking? Now I'll tell you, I'm amazed at the range of Baby Shower Party Supplies that are out there. They offer the Radio Flyer Red Wagon Baby Shower package, which seems rather amusing to me.
Paid Endorsement.
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Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:
| Votes | Council link |
|---|---|
| 3 | Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi Bookworm Room |
| 2 | After Iraq Done With Mirrors |
| 1 2/3 | Giuliani on Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Terrorism Joshuapundit |
| 1 2/3 | Changing Times Demand Telling the Truth in Wartime Right Wing Nut House |
| 1 1/3 | Voter Fraud? Not a big deal! The Colossus of Rhodey |
| 1 1/3 | "And Why the Sea Is Boiling Hot, and Whether Pigs Have Wings" Big Lizards |
| 2/3 | Lt. Col. Steele's Tragedy Cheat Seeking Missiles |
| 1/3 | Forlorn Hope The Glittering Eye |
| Votes | Non-council link |
|---|---|
| 3 1/3 | COIN: The Gravity Well Blackfive |
| 2 1/3 | God Called Laurie Kendrick |
| 1 2/3 | Mitt and Osama Hugh Hewitt |
| 1 1/3 | A Failure In Generalship Armed Forces Journal |
| 2/3 | Anytown, USA In Context |
| 2/3 | Meet the Iraqi Police in Kirkuk Michael J. Totten |
| 2/3 | Speak No Truth La Shawn Barber's Corner |
| 2/3 | The Socialist Food Chain Dr. Sanity |
| 2/3 | Jihad Destroys the Swedish Model FrontPage Magazine |
| 2/3 | Turkish Believers Satanically Tortured for Hours Before Being Killed Persecution.org |
| 1/3 | Karen Armstrong reviews Spencer's The Truth About Muhammad! Jihad Watch |
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DebtHelp.com is a comprehensive website for dealing with debt. If you drop by DebtHelp.com and take the time to look around, you will find that it offers debt solutions for every type of debt you are likely to have. If you are looking for Debt Consolidation Loans, Settlement, and Credit Counseling, there is a solution guide that will help you connect with the sort of solution you need to get out of dept quickly. Similarly, there is a section about mortgages, a mortgage refinance and the various sorts of loans available to you when buying a home or seeking to use your equity to get yourself out of debt. The section on student loan debt and consolidation is remarkably comprehensive. There is even a section for those dealing with tax debt, a situation that is a very serious one for those facing it.
But the greatest thing about DebtHelp.com? It is all confidential, and can be accessed from the privacy of your own home.
Paid Endorsement.
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May 05, 2007
That's why I'm not blogging.
Think positive thoughts my way, in the hope the fever will break and I can come back.
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What do i like about RockStartup? Well, to be honest, I like the opportunity to see some of the folks I am working with. You know, Ted may be a bit of a geek, but he is a geek with a sense of humor and a drive to make his company work against the odds. And the willingness to give us all a bit of a glimpse inside the serious (yet sometimes zany) world of PPP is really sort of a blessing for me.
Oh, and about episode 21 (which you can see up above) , let me warn you -- it is the outtake/blooper reel for the show through the first 20 episodes. I guess I knew that this collection of errors, muffs, and screw-ups had to exist, but I hadn't given it much thought. On a personal level, to see the pratfalls of familiar episodes was sort of neat.
By the way, folks, you can now receive RockStartup in HD if you sign up for video iTunes.
Paid Endorsement.
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May 04, 2007
A plot to steal dozens of votes with a non-existent address has been uncovered, officials told KPRC Local 2 Wednesday.Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt said it was obvious to him that several voter registration applications were fraudulent.
"We know because all the handwriting is the same," Bettencourt said.
The applications all had the last names Williams or Johnson. They also had the address of 2519 Dashwood Drive, which does not exist.
Bettencourt said the applications were mailed from El Paso.
The tax assessor's office has received 51 applications so far and more keep coming in.
"Now we have to go through and find out who was trying to do this," Bettencourt said. "And we have to go back to El Paso."
Bettencourt said these types of cases are tough to catch on Election Day because they rely on the honor system, not photo identification. He said he would like to change that to protect voters.
bravo, Paul -- now it is up to the Texas Legislature to close the loopholes that make such fraud possible.
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One detail of Dershowitz’s account of Finkelstein’s career stands out: After being “fired by ‘every school in New York,’” according to Finkelstein's own account, “radical Islamist Aminah McCloud – a follower of Louis Farrakhan – helped him land a job at DePaul.”We know well that extremist academics have been systematically at work for decades hiring clones of themselves and replicating their ranks. But there has been little public naming and scrutiny of the backgrounds of exactly who has served on the committees responsible for the one-sided cloning and replication.
Learning more about the scholarship and activism of McCloud, for example, strikes me as a worthy enterprise. And, how about similarly checking into who exactly committed the dastardly deed of hiring the disgraced Ward Churchill?
I don’t know about you, but I sure do – she has been in the news quite recently, a key figure in stopping the presentation of a documentary on PBS.
• WETA appointed an advisory board that includes Aminah Beverly McCloud, director of World Islamic Studies at DePaul University. In an "unparalleled breach of ethics," Burke says, McCloud took rough-cut segments of the film and showed them to Nation of Islam officials, who are a subject of the documentary. They threatened to sue."This utterly undermines any journalistic independence," Burke wrote in an e-mail to WETA officials.
In an interview, McCloud said she showed a single video frame to a Muslim journalist who was not a Nation of Islam representative.
However, in a January e-mail, McCloud told Crossroads producers that she had spoken with Nation of Islam representatives and "invited them over to view this section." She also wrote that they were outraged "and will promptly pursue litigation."
Stewart, the WETA executive, said McCloud was admonished for "inappropriate" conduct.
So, not only is McCloud an advocate for pro-terrorist anti-Semites like Finkelstein, she was a leading figure in the censorship of a documentary critical of Islamist elements infiltrating American mosques. What is she doing teaching at an allegedly Catholic institution like DePaul?
Here is more information about the documentary and the campaign to get it shown.
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City Council unanimously passed eight long-delayed gun control bills yesterday, deliberately picking a fight with lawmakers in Harrisburg who have consistently refused to give Philadelphia the right to enact its own gun laws.In addition, Council will soon file a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court against the General Assembly to win the city the authority it needs to legally pass its own firearms legislation, said Councilman Darrell Clarke, who cosponsored the bills with Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller.
"It's utterly ridiculous where we are right now. It's an aberration when somebody doesn't get killed," Clarke said. "We can't wait any longer."
Excuse me – they are going to the courts for authority specifically denied them by the legislature? Don’t these folks know about separation of powers? Or is it that they simply don’t believe that the elected representatives of the people (other than themselves) have the right to enact laws consistent with the constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
And the contempt for the law that these folks are showing is monumental.
Just what happens next - with this legally questionable legislation - isn't clear. Before the Council meeting, Councilman James F. Kenney asked: "What would they do, arrest us?"
Well, I think that might not be a bad idea. Conspiracy to violate the civil rights of every citizen of Philly – that would be about 1,517,550 each. Personally, I’d settle for a million counts each, which would eliminate those Philly residents who are for some reason legally barred from gun ownership. Indeed, I think they could be charged under the relevant Civil Rights statutes, such as Title 18, U.S.C., Sections 241 & 242, and should be individually and collectively sued under Chapter 42 U.S.C.,Section 1983, which was originally part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (AKA the Ku Klux Klan Act).
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France risks violence and brutality if right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy wins Sunday's presidential election, Socialist opponent Segolene Royal said on Friday.On the last day of official campaigning, opinion polls showed Sarkozy enjoyed a commanding lead over Royal, who accused the former interior minister of lying and polarizing France.
"Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice," Royal told RTL radio.
"It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of (his) candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country (if he won)," she said.Pressed on whether there would be actual violence, Royal said: "I think so, I think so," referring specifically to France's volatile suburbs hit by widespread rioting in 2005.
Maybe the time has come for the people of France to turn recognize that socialism is a psychopathology that needs to be cured – and the violence that it inspires is crime that needs to be suppressed.
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Two talk-radio hosts in New Jersey say they are worried about their own safety and that of their families after the head of the New Jersey State Police union threatened to make their home addresses and license tags public.During a profanity-laced tirade on Thursday, State Police Union leader David Jones blasted Craig Carton and Ray Rossi, the hosts of WKXW-FM's "Jersey Guys" program, for discussing an alleged State Police "ticket-writing blitz" on the air.
Information about the stepped-up ticket-writing campaign came from anonymous postings on a police union website.
State troopers, upset about criticism directed at them following Gov. Jon Corzine's car crash (a state trooper was driving the speeding car and Corzine was not ordered to buckle his seatbelt), called for a ticket-writing blitz in retaliation for the public criticism.
When Carton and Rossi brought the anonymous postings to the public's attention, the head of the troopers' union erupted.
Jones said there was no "ticket-blitz," as the police message board stated, and he threatened to "crush" the state troopers who leaked the information.
"If guys, be they troopers or not troopers, choose to vent on a blog board, that's their right,"Jones said at a press conference. "A couple of cowards obviously compromised it, and when I find out who those Girl Scouts are, I'm going to crush 'em like bugs -- rest assured!''
Got that – there is no plan for a ticket blitz, and he is going to use his power as a cop and a union thug to destroy those who exposed the plans for one. And to further make the point that those used their First Amendment rights to expose and criticize public corruption will be punished face the wrath of law enforcement, union thug David Jones waved around a piece of paper with Carton’s personal information including his home address and license plate numbers, and threatened to release similar information on Rossi and other employees at WKXW-FM.
What is most outrageous is that David Jones is clearly a fascist. He believes that citizens commenting on the corruption of the New Jersey State Police and his union is somehow a danger to public safety and a threat to law and order. What this thug does not realize is that the real threat is individuals like him and his members, who would undermine the Constitution of the United States in the name in order to silence American citizens speaking out about government employees and their abuse of power. Maybe it is appropriate that David Jones is assigned to the state police organized crime unit, as he and the union he heads have clearly become an entity involved in organized crime, namely the oppression and violation of the civil rights of every citizen of New Jersey. I wonder if Trooper Jones and his fellow members of the Keystone Kop Klan are familiar with the Ku Klux Klan Act -- which he has clearly violated in the name of the union.
It is clear to me that the State Troopers Fraternal Association is currently being operated in such a manner as to endanger the rights of the people of New Jersey, and should be immediately derecognized as the bargaining unit for state police officers in the state. Furthermore, the cowardly David Jones needs to be subjected to a full rectal examination investigation by a special prosecutor, as do the rest of the officers of this corrupt union and any officer who posted on the site regarding plans to engage in the ticket blitz.
Feel free to contact the union thugs as well.
2634 Highway 70
Manasquan, N.J. 08736
Phone (732)528-6388
Fax (732)223-4947
And while you are at it, please offer your support to Craig Carton and Ray Rossi.
PO Box 5698
Trenton, NJ 08638
(609) 645-9797
cartonandrossi@nj1015.com
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May 03, 2007
I agree with Captain' Ed's assessment -- Romney won.
* Who won? -- Mitt Romney won this debate. He looked relaxed, answered clearly, showed real warmth and a sense of humor, and actually answered the questions asked of him -- even the stupid ones, to which I'll return shortly. After Romney, one has to think that Jim Gilmore and Mike Huckabee may have made some strides in breaking out of the third tier. They also showed that they could connect emotionally to the audience and give clear, thoughtful answers.
Roger Simon agrees.
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MR. MATTHEWS: Governor Romney, what do you say to Roman Catholic bishops who would deny communion to elected officials who support abortion rights?MR. ROMNEY: I donÂ’t say anything to Roman Catholic bishops. They can do whatever the heck they want. (Laughter.) Roman Catholic bishops are in a private institution, a religion, and they can do whatever they want in a religion. America --
MR. MATTHEWS: Do you see that as interference in public life?
MR. ROMNEY: Well, I canÂ’t imagine a government telling a church who can have communion in their church. I canÂ’t -- we have a separation of church and state; itÂ’s served us well in this country.
MR. MATTHEWS: Okay.
MR. ROMNEY: This is a nation, after all, that wants a leader thatÂ’s a person of faith, but we donÂ’t choose our leader based on which church they go to. This is a nation which also comes together. We unite over faith and over the right of people to worship as they choose. The people weÂ’re fighting, theyÂ’re the ones who divide over faith and decide matters of this nature in the public forum. This is a place where we celebrate different religions and different faiths.
MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you, Governor.
I'm curious -- why ask a question about the right of a religious group to give or withhold its sacraments based upon its own religious teachings? Does Matthews really believe that it is the place of government to regulate such decisions, or of politicians to dictate to churches who receives such sacred rites? And why did this question go to the most conspicuously non-Catholic candidate in the group?
But Romney sounded precisely the right note -- one that any American political leader who believes in the First Amendment should have given. Who may or may not receive communion -- or other issues of church doctrine or discipline -- are not matters for government regulation or intervention. They shouldn't be fodder for political debate, either.
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the Liverpool Central School District, just outside Syracuse, has decided to phase out laptops starting this fall, joining a handful of other schools around the country that adopted one-to-one computing programs and are now abandoning them as educationally empty — and worse.Many of these districts had sought to prepare their students for a technology-driven world and close the so-called digital divide between students who had computers at home and those who did not.
“After seven years, there was literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement — none,” said Mark Lawson, the school board president here in Liverpool, one of the first districts in New York State to experiment with putting technology directly into students’ hands. “The teachers were telling us when there’s a one-to-one relationship between the student and the laptop, the box gets in the way. It’s a distraction to the educational process.”
I'm curious -- is it really that "the box gets in the way"? Or is the problem (as at one school included in the article) an unwillingness or inability of teachers from to work with the technology? We had one teacher nursed along by the rest of us because he couldn't figure out how to use the online gradebook -- or his email. I can't imagine how Bob would have survived in a world where the text and assignments were electronic rather than paper. Could it be that we need to wait another 10-15 years before teachers are ready for the technology their students take as second nature?
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America needs immigrants. Last yearÂ’s bipartisan Senate bill recognized this, and raised quotas for both family and employment-based immigration. Congress should do so again. Closing the door to families would be unjust and unworkable, and a mockery of the values that conservatives profess. It would only encourage illegality by forcing people to choose between their loved ones and the law.Compromise is necessary with any bill, particularly on an issue as complex as immigration. But if a deal hews so closely to the new harsh line of the White House and G.O.P that it fundamentally distorts AmericaÂ’s pro-immigrant tradition, it would be better to ditch the whole thing and start over.
That said, any bill guest worker program needs to make it clear that families are not eligible for immigration and that guest workers are not eligible for citizenship. And any program that includes amnesty for illegals -- no matter how it is cast or named -- is unacceptable.
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Iraqis, for all our determination and courage, cannot succeed alone. We need a healthy and supportive regional environment. We will not allow our country to be a battleground for settling scores in regional and international conflicts that adversely affect stability inside our borders. Only with continued international commitment and deeper engagement from our neighbors can we establish a stable democratic, federal and united Iraq. The world should not abandon us.
No, it shouldn't -- but the Democrats learned the lessons of Vietnam well, and so are less interested in doing what's right than in doing what is politically expedient. Even if it means selling out an ally.
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Andrew Sullivan, though, does offer an interesting critique of reasons why people support and oppose such laws -- and the inconsistencies among them.
There are, I think, two coherent positions on hate crime laws. The first is opposition to the entire concept, its chilling effect on free speech, its undermining of the notion of equality under the law, and so on. That's my position. I oppose all hate crimes laws, regardless of the categories of individuals they purport to protect. The other coherent position is the view that hate crimes somehow impact the community more than just regular crimes and that the victims of such crimes therefore deserve some sort of extra protection under the law. The criteria for inclusion in such laws is any common prejudice against a recognizable and despised minority. The minority need not be defined by an involuntary characteristic - religious minorities are so protected - and they choose their faith. Nor need the minority be accurately identified. If a gentile is bashed because the attacker thinks he's Jewish, the hate crime logic still applies. I disagree with this, but I can accept its coherence.
Sullivan then goes on to argue that if one accepts the notion of hate crimes laws for anyone, then one must accept inclusion of homosexuals unless one is a queer-bashing bigot who wants to relegate homosexuals to inferiority and give aid and comfort to those who commit crimes of violence against them. Such a notion is, of course, utter nonsense, but we've long come to expect precisely that sort of nonsense out of Andrew Sullivan when it comes to discussions of homosexuality. That one could oppose the granting of special protection to practitioners of behavior that one considers morally suspect is not the same thing as supporting violence against practitioners of such behavior.
I'm curious -- when Congress declined to include special protection for the elderly in the current bill, does Sullivan take that mean that they were implicitly approving crimes against senior citizens? Would he accept the notion that the House and Senate were giving a stamp of approval to senior abuse? Of course not -- but then again, Sullivan is consistently inconsistent on such things, and operating on the basis of muddled thinking or strawman logic.
And I'd argue, contrary to Sullivan, that there is something logical and consistent about supporting the limitation of such laws to race/ethnicity and religion. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments clearly gives a role to Congress in ensuring an end to racial discrimination. The First Amendment gives a special place to religious freedom in our society, and acting to ensure that citizens are not intimidated out of the free exercise of religion is equally legitimate. Under this analysis, one could argue that inclusion of any categories other than these two is not acceptable and be still logically consistent.
Of course, Sullivan's argument isn't at all one about consistency -- it is really an excuse for him to bash anyone who dares to disagree with him about the morality of homosexual conduct. You get to the heart of the matter late in the post.
Perhaps making these logical arguments is futile. The reason for this veto is quite simple. Christianists simply regard homosexuality as an evil and a sickness. Any law that implies that being gay is an identity and deserves equal respect and protection as other identities is anathema to them. Implicit in their worldview - and absolutely implicit in the position of the president - is that it's okay to attack gays in a way that it's not okay to attack, say, Jews or blacks. This is the core position of the Christianists - which is why I refuse to call them Christians. Bush, we now know, is a captive of this bigotry and an enabler of it. Whatever your general views of hate crime laws, this argument holds. And this president should be ashamed.
That's right -- anyone who views homosexuality as morally suspect (as 2000 years of Christian teaching on matter holds) is a bigot. Those who concede legitimacy to such moral views are enablers of bigotry. Holding such views is the equivalent of supporting acts of physical violence against homosexuals. The argument is so illogical that it needs no extensive refutation -- it refutes itself. And Sullivan again trots out his neat little catch phrase -- Christianist -- for anyone who dares to accept the moral teachings of the Bible on homosexuality, trying to equate those who hold to traditional Christianity with those Muslim extremists who wage murderous jihad against the infidels. As I've pointed out in the past, Sullivan's hateful rhetoric and extemism on such matters can legitimately lead one to label him as a Homosexualist.
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Today's Mormons, including Romney, cannot be blamed for those events. Nevertheless, the candidate has followed the church's example and ignored the movie. Romney will not comment on "September Dawn" and indeed will not watch it. That follows his decision not to defend his faith or actively fight religious bias that has impeded his candidacy.
Why should Romney have to answer for the sins (if there are any) of Brigham Young? Why should he watch a film that he (and his church) view as an attack on his faith and historically inaccurate to boot? Aren’t we past that sort of garbage yet?
Captain Ed Morrisey makes a similar observation.
Novak's entire column wants to place historical blame for all ills of the Mormon church squarely on the shoulders of Mitt Romney. Novak, at the end of his piece, notes that Romney wouldn't discuss the movie with Novak, and apparently that annoyed the columnist to no end. I don't blame Mitt one bit. The movie has nothing to do with Mitt and nothing to do with the campaign -- and that's even if one could rely on Hollywood to handle history with any accuracy at all.This is nothing more than an attempt to use a fear of Mormons to smear Mitt Romney, with all the subtlety of a brick blackjack. It's the worst kind of religious bigotry wrapped up in Novak's dire language that it relates to the current war against Islamofascist terrorism, a charge that Novak never even bothers to support in his column. It's designed to force Romney to start conducting Mormon apologetics on the campaign trail instead of talking about public policy and national security.
Indeed, Romney doesn’t need to be dealing with LDS history or theology on the campaign trail, given that his religion should not be an issue as he runs for the job of President. As none other than prominent Southern Baptist leader Richard Land has pointed out, Romney is not seeking to become Theologian-in-Chief.
Not only that, but Novak also makes at least one false statement, pointed out by radio host and author Hugh Hewitt.
[W]hen Novak writes that Romney has "never seized this issue" of religious bias against him, the reporter also reveals he hasn't done much reporting as Romney has done so again and again --at length in my book, but also in profile after profile.
If Novak cannot even get something that simple correct, how can we take him seriously when he comments on the Romney candidacy – or any other presidential candidacy.
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Today's Mormons, including Romney, cannot be blamed for those events. Nevertheless, the candidate has followed the church's example and ignored the movie. Romney will not comment on "September Dawn" and indeed will not watch it. That follows his decision not to defend his faith or actively fight religious bias that has impeded his candidacy.
Why should Romney have to answer for the sins (if there are any) of Brigham Young? Why should he watch a film that he (and his church) view as an attack on his faith and historically inaccurate to boot? ArenÂ’t we past that sort of garbage yet?
Captain Ed Morrisey makes a similar observation.
Novak's entire column wants to place historical blame for all ills of the Mormon church squarely on the shoulders of Mitt Romney. Novak, at the end of his piece, notes that Romney wouldn't discuss the movie with Novak, and apparently that annoyed the columnist to no end. I don't blame Mitt one bit. The movie has nothing to do with Mitt and nothing to do with the campaign -- and that's even if one could rely on Hollywood to handle history with any accuracy at all.This is nothing more than an attempt to use a fear of Mormons to smear Mitt Romney, with all the subtlety of a brick blackjack. It's the worst kind of religious bigotry wrapped up in Novak's dire language that it relates to the current war against Islamofascist terrorism, a charge that Novak never even bothers to support in his column. It's designed to force Romney to start conducting Mormon apologetics on the campaign trail instead of talking about public policy and national security.
Indeed, Romney doesnÂ’t need to be dealing with LDS history or theology on the campaign trail, given that his religion should not be an issue as he runs for the job of President. As none other than prominent Southern Baptist leader Richard Land has pointed out, Romney is not seeking to become Theologian-in-Chief.
Not only that, but Novak also makes at least one false statement, pointed out by radio host and author Hugh Hewitt.
[W]hen Novak writes that Romney has "never seized this issue" of religious bias against him, the reporter also reveals he hasn't done much reporting as Romney has done so again and again --at length in my book, but also in profile after profile.
If Novak cannot even get something that simple correct, how can we take him seriously when he comments on the Romney candidacy – or any other presidential candidacy.
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Good news for Republicans: Their top presidential contenders beat the top Democrats in a 2008 White House matchup, according to a new nationwide Quinnipiac poll released this morning.The survey comes at a crucial time, just before GOP rivals square off tonight in their first nationally televised debate. And it was taken April 25 to May 1, at and after the time Democrats held their first debate April 26.
IÂ’m betting we pick up House and Senate seats, too.
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Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) this week criticized Gen. David Petraeus for not meeting with members of Congress during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., to report on the status of operations in Iraq, but not only did the commander of Multinational Force - Iraq meet with hundreds of lawmakers, he personally briefed Murtha himself.Murtha told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday, "They bring Petraeus back - purely political move. Petraeus comes back here. He doesn't talk to any of us. He only talks to the news media and so forth trying to sell this program."
But a senior Defense Department official told Cybercast News Service that Petraeus personally briefed Murtha and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an April 24 phone conference that lasted 20-30 minutes.
The following day, Petraeus conducted two 90-minute, top-secret level operations intelligence briefings for representatives and senators.
The first, to which all members of the House of Representatives had been invited, was attended by 250 congressmen, and the second was attended by 86 senators. After brief opening statements at the two briefings, Petraeus spent the remaining time answering questions from the congressmen in attendance.
"These were two of the most widely attended operations intelligence briefings in recent memory," the Pentagon official said.
So, will Jack Shit Murtha apologize? Will the mainstream press report about this lie? Probably not – because after all it would help to destroy the neo-Copperhead narrative in favor of a cut-&-run-&-surrender strategy.
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Republicans howled Wednesday when the LegislatureÂ’s Joint Finance Committee voted to stop denying food stamps to deadbeat parents and to the unemployed who refuse to get job training.Gov. Jim Doyle proposed both measures in his new state budget and the finance panel refused to drop them on 8-8 party-line votes.
Don’t get a job. Don’t pay child support. Don’t worry – the taxpayer will take care of you.
Any wonder that we need to keep the Democrats from taking control nationally? Welfare reform will be DOA if they win the presidency next year.
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The U.S. military said on Thursday it had killed a top al Qaeda operative in Iraq whom it accused of involvement in the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll, peace activist Tom Fox and other foreigners.U.S. military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell said Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri was the "senior minister of information" for al Qaeda in Iraq.
And there may be a “two-fer”.
But the military said it had no information to support claims by Iraq's Interior Ministry that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, another senior al Qaeda figure in Iraq, had been killed.
We can hope.
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