Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Late night round up of GOOD pickin's from the blogosphere

Add your name:
Atlas Shrugs has the Manifesto. So does Little Green Footballs.
What is the Manifesto?
We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Spread the word.



Must See TV.
A Clash Between the Middle Ages and the 21st Century
Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don’t throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people’s beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.
Frankly, I have not enjoyed listening to the screaming clerics on memritv because the language is harsh and guttural (not to mention it gets old hearing over and over and over and over that Jews are pigs and monkeys and America is the Great Satan). In the mouth of someone who knows how to speak, Wafa Sultan sounds wonderful. For some reason, I decided to listen to this again.

Monday, February 27, 2006

A round up from around the web

Pussy-boy Rall: First squall, then stall is a great article on the Cato the Elder blog.
Trouble is, the weak-chinned, thinning-haired former boy wonder's stones seem to have shrunk since he first threatened legal action.

First he put it to a vote, saying that if enough of his loyal readers emailed him encouragement and money, he would hire a lawyer. That's right: crybaby Rall wants others to pay for his day in court.

The Latest Bleat from James Lileks is a keeper:
TiVo gave me “Air Force One,” which I saw but mostly forgot – what’s to remember, really? But it’s fun. “A roller coaster ride,” as they say. (What blurb will they use when someone sets a movie on a roller coaster?) It has Harrison Ford as the President, which seems natural; Gary Oldmam as a bad guy: ditto. Direction by Wolfgang Peterson, who’s good, and music by Jerry Goldsmith, who would later recycle a few cues for “Star Trek: Nemesis,” but that’s next week’s Diner. It was shot in 1997. It opens with a joint American / Russian spec-ops kidnapping of a head of state, who is one of those super-nationalist Russians we were all twitchy about in the late 90s; he is sent to a very bad and smelly prison. Cut to President Solo, giving a speech that puts forth a new American policy towards terrorists and terror-enabling states:

Peace isn't merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice. Never again will I allow our political self-interest to deter us from doing what we know to be morally right. Atrocity and terror are not political weapons. And to those who would use them, your day is over. We will never negotiate. We will no longer tolerate and we will no longer be afraid. It's your turn to be afraid.

He is also quite physically fit AND he can fly a plane. This was the sort of person Hollywood wanted for President in 1997. Then they get one, and they completely wigged out. Ah well.
Too funny! I liked Bush in his flight suit. Beats Kerry in the bunny suit any day of the week.

Strategic Exigencies from Gates of Vienna speculates on the port deal.
Iran is overtly bellicose, and the regime appears to be fundamentally irrational, acting out a Shiite millenarian fantasy. Since they may be using or exporting nuclear weapons at any moment, our President is stuck with a deadly and imminent threat that he has to deal with.

He can’t leave it for Hillary to figure out in January of 2009; it has to be dealt with now. By whatever means necessary.


Borders Policy and "Portgate" linked via Michelle Malkin to David Limbaugh
President Bush is in trouble with much of his base for approving the sale of a British shipping firm that runs commercial container operations at six major U.S. ports to a United Arab Emirates (UAE) company. I believe the main reason he is under fire from the right is that he has a nagging credibility problem concerning his inscrutable immigration policy.

To be sure, Bush is under fire from the left as well, but their opposition has little to do with national security concerns and everything to do with partisan politics.

Most conservatives, I think, see Bush as enormously committed to America's national security and the Global War on Terror (GWOT). But many find themselves scratching their heads over his perceived "open borders" policy.

Why, they wonder, is he so genuinely clear-sighted about the evil of terrorists and the global threat they pose to the point of fashioning his legacy-making foreign policy doctrine around an unprecedented preemption strategy, yet seemingly oblivious to the potential threat in our back, front and side yards? Why the disconnect?

Actually, to call it a disconnect is a major understatement. It's more like a gargantuan gap in an otherwise fully coherent policy. If his driving ambition is to make America safer from our terrorist enemies, why does he risk sabotaging that objective by making us more vulnerable right at home?
Why indeed?

'Pizza pope' builds a Catholic heaven

A FORMER marine who was raised by nuns and made a fortune selling pizza has embarked on a £230m plan to build the first town in America to be run according to strict Catholic principles.

Abortions, pornography and contraceptives will be banned in the new Florida town of Ave Maria, which has begun to take shape on former vegetable farms 90 miles northwest of Miami.



Yet civil rights activists and other watchdogs concerned about the separation of church and state are threatening lawsuits if Ave Maria attempts to enforce Catholic dogma. Environmentalists have also complained the town will restrict the habitat of the Florida panther, an endangered species.

None of which has deterred Monaghan, who initially tried to build his new university in Michigan but could not get permission. Asked recently about possible lawsuits in Florida, he replied: “That’s great. That would be the best publicity we could get.” [emphasis mine]

But a possible Muslim only bank in Detroit is ok?

Clooney relishes 'traitor' attacks

From Drudge.

Clooney, who has weathered attacks since opposing the 2003 Iraq invasion, said at one point that it was "frustrating" to be listed as a "traitor" on a set of playing cards, but he also accepted people's right to free speech.

He later admitted he relished the attacks.

"I think it's important to be on the right side of history," Clooney said.

Again with the "right side of history". Sorry Bubba, you are NOT there. Love her or hate her, I present Ann Coulter:
As noted here previously, George Clooney's movie "Good Night, and Good Luck," about pious parson Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, failed to produce one person unjustly accused by McCarthy. Since I described McCarthy as a great American patriot defamed by liberals in my 2003 book, "Treason," liberals have had two more years to produce a person – just one person – falsely accused by McCarthy. They still can't do it.

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

Whoop-de-friggin'-do (from boxofficemojo):
LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic: $30,272,000
+ Overseas: $10,387,288

= Worldwide: $40,659,288

Hillary Clinton: Republicans Sick of Bush

But guess what? I am sicker of her.
"And I'm so relieved, because there has been incalculable damage done in the past five years," she claimed. "I have so many Republicans who say to me: `I've had enough. I didn't sign on for this.'"
Where is her documentation or back up for this? Numbers please! A blanket statement is meaningless.

Why is it she NEVER seems to be in New York? This crack was made in Miami. Where she also felt free to wax poetic on OUR ports here. Why doesn't she do this in New York? Why come here and run her mouth?

You would think she was running for President or something!

Friday, February 24, 2006

Mayor suspended over 'Nazi' jibe

From Drudge.

That's the mayor of LONDON, Ken Livingstone.

Mr Livingstone was suspended from duty for four weeks from March 1 after being found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone later said of the tribunal result: "This decision strikes at the heart of democracy. Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law."

Choice pickings from Little Green Footballs

London Mayor: Palestinian State is the Answer to the Munich Massacre

London Mayor: Bomber Families Should Attend Memorial

London Mayor: Surrender and We'll Be Safe

British Dhimmitude Watch

Red Ken: We Deserved the Bombings
At a London press conference, Livingstone, who has a long record of anti-Israeli diatribes, drew a connection between the London blasts and the Middle East. He said Israel had “done horrendous things which border on crimes against humanity in the way they have indiscriminately slaughtered men, women and children in the West Bank and Gaza for decades.”
and a master list of this clown's entries at Little Green Footballs.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

It is about time we heard from Pope Benny. God bless him.

As often happens at the Vatican, lower-level officials have been more outspoken than the Pope and his main aides.

"Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It's our duty to protect ourselves," Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, secretary of the Vatican's supreme court, thundered in the daily La Stampa. Jesus told his followers to "turn the other cheek" when struck.

"The West has had relations with the Arab countries for half a century, mostly for oil, and has not been able to get the slightest concession on human rights," he said.

Bishop Rino Fisichella, head of one of the Roman universities that train young priests from around the world, told Corriere della Sera the Vatican should speak out more.

"Let's drop this diplomatic silence," said the rector of the Pontifical Lateran University. "We should put pressure on international organizations to make the societies and states in majority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities."

Amen and God bless.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

"History of merit badges (Boy Scouts of America)" is the featured article on Wikipedia

Merit badges exist to encourage Scouts to explore areas that interest them and to teach them valuable skills in Scoutcraft. The award of merit badges sometimes leads to careers and lifelong hobbies.[3] Scouts earn a merit badge by satisfying specified criteria; a Court of Honor is then held to present the badge. Scouts can earn badges at any point in their Scouting career, although this was not always the case — in the 1960s, Scouts first had to earn the rank of Second Class Scout before being allowed to work on and earn badges.[4]

The higher ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle require merit badges be earned. Certain badges are mandatory to receive these higher ranks. For a few years during the 1980s and 90s, "First Aid" merit badge was a requirement for the First Class Scout rank.[5] Other mandatory badges include "Citizenship in the Community" and "Environmental Science" (see full list).

The number of merit badges required for each of these higher ranks has varied historically, as has the ratio of mandatory merit badges and non-mandatory badges for those ranks.[6] As of 2005, Scouts must earn a total of 21 merit badges for the Eagle Scout rank, 12 of which must be from the mandatory list. Once Scouts attain the Eagle rank, they can earn Eagle Palms, a core requirement of which is earning more merit badges.

A good example of merit badges reflecting changes in the focus of the Scouting program is "Civics", which was originally the only citizenship-related merit badge. In 1952, the BSA placed more emphasis on this area by splitting "Civics" into four separate badges, which were in turn modified several times. Since 1991, the badges in this group are "Citizenship in the Community", "Citizenship in the Nation", "Citizenship in the World", and "Family Life", all of which are currently on the mandatory list for Eagle Scout.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The day is coming when British Muslims form a state within a state

From The Religion of Peace

"They think they have won the debate," he says with a sigh. "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not.

"The cartoons, you see, have not been published in this country, and the Government has been very critical of those countries in which they were published. To many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear victory.

"It's confirmation of what they believe to be a familiar pattern: if spokesmen for British Muslims threaten what they call 'adverse consequences' - violence to the rest of us - then the British Government will cave in. I think it is a very dangerous precedent."

"The Government, and Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, are fundamentally deluded about the nature of Islam," he insists. "Tony Blair unintentionally revealed his ignorance when he said, in an effort to conciliate Muslims, that he had 'read through the Koran twice' and that he kept it by his bedside.

"He thought he was saying something which showed how seriously he took Islam. But most Muslims thought it was a joke, if not an insult. Because, of course, every Muslim knows that you cannot read the Koran through from cover to cover and understand it.

They simply do not realise how seriously Muslims take their religion. Islamic clerics regard themselves as locked in mortal combat with secularism.

I think they must be beginning to see it now with the War of the 12 Cartoons.

"For example, one of the fundamental notions of a secular society is the moral importance of freedom, of individual choice. But in Islam, choice is not allowable: there cannot be free choice about whether to choose or reject any of the fundamental aspects of the religion, because they are all divinely ordained. God has laid down the law, and man must obey.

'Islamic clerics do not believe in a society in which Islam is one religion among others in a society ruled by basically non-religious laws. They believe it must be the dominant religion - and it is their aim to achieve this.

"That is why they do not believe in integration. In 1980, the Islamic Council of Europe laid out their strategy for the future - and the fundamental rule was never dilute your presence. That is to say, do not integrate.

"Rather, concentrate Muslim presence in a particular area until you are a majority in that area, so that the institutions of the local community come to reflect Islamic structures. The education system will be Islamic, the shops will serve only halal food, there will be no advertisements showing naked or semi-naked women, and so on."

"Take, for example, Tariq Ramadan, whom the Government has appointed as an adviser because ministers think he is a 'community leader'. Ramadan sounds, in public, very moderate. But in reality, he has some very extreme views. He attacks liberal Muslims as 'Muslims without Islam'. He is affiliated to the violent and uncompromising Muslim Brotherhood.

"He calls the education in the state schools of the West 'aggression against the Islamic personality of the child'. He has said that 'the Muslim respects the laws of the country only if they do not contradict any Islamic principle'. He has added that 'compromising on principles is a sign of fear and weakness'."

So what's the answer? What should the Government be doing? "First, it should try to engage with the real Muslim majority, not with the self-appointed 'community leaders' who don't actually represent anyone: they have not been elected, and the vast majority of ordinary Muslims have nothing to do with them.

"Second, the Government should say no to faith-based schools, because they are a block to integration. There should be no compromise over education, or over English as the language of education. The policy of political multiculturalism should be reversed.

"The hope was that it would to ensure separate communities would soften at the edges and integrate. But the opposite has in fact happened: Islamic communities have hardened. There is much less integration than there was for the generation that arrived when I did. There will be much less in the future if the present trend continues.

"Finally, the Government should make it absolutely clear: we welcome diversity, we welcome different religions - but all of them have to accept the secular basis of British law and society. That is a non-negotiable condition of being here.

"If the Government does not do all of those things then I fear for the future, because Islamic communities within Britain will form a state within a state. Religion will occupy an ever-larger place in our collective political life. And, speaking as a religious man myself, I fear that outcome." [emphasis mine]


This sounds like great advice for our country too. However, faith-based schools in the US have not been a problem with the Christian and Judaic schools for years.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Oh dear, Jimmy! What happened in your childhood that turned you into this?

Expose the Left
Carter calls Hamas a “disciplined” group that hasn’t had a terrorist attack attributed to it in over 18 months, which apparently makes it okay to deal with them.
Captain's Quarters
Jimmy Carter takes an opportunity to explain to us why the United States and the world should not take the Palestinians at their word and cut off their funding after electing an Islamist terrorist group to a majority government. One month ago he was certifying the election as fair, and now today he argues that it makes no difference at all:
Ankle Biting Pundits
It's really too bad that President Bush doesn't call Carter on the carpet publicly for the harm he has caused and continues to cause to this country. That's OK, we'll do it for him.

And let's keep one final thing in mind, this is the person that the Democrat party featured prominently at their convention, even allowing Michael Moore to share to VIP box with him.

When will someone in the Democrat party have a "Sister Souljah moment" and call out Carter for what he is - a friend to America's enemies? Could it be because the base of the Democrat party today shares the same beliefs as Carter? How sad is it that a Democrat wanting to be President can't stand up to the lunacy of Jimmy Carter for fear of alienating the party faithful? I think that in and of itself explains why the American people don't trust Democrats on national security.
GOPBloggers
Apparently, Jimmy Carter has great admiration for the works of Hamas. Just a sampling of what Carter is irresponsibly excusing and, thereby, tacitly endorsing.

Jan. 29, 2004 - A suicide bomber detonated a bag laden with explosives on a No. 19 bus line on Aza Street in Jerusalem. Ten Israelis and one foreigner were killed and 44 were injured...

Sept. 9, 2003 - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance of the "Hillel Caf?" in Jerusalem. Seven Israelis were killed and 70 injured...


April 30, 2003 - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt at the entrance to the "Mike's Place" pub on the Tel Aviv boardwalk. An additional suicide bomber hurled an explosive device nearby. Three Israeli civilians were killed and 62 were wounded...

May 7, 2002 - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt and an additional explosive device in a bag, at a club in Rishon Letzion. Sixteen Israeli civilians were killed, and 51 were wounded...
Mere Rhetoric
That can't be true, can it? Former US President Jimmy Carter didn't really refer to Hamas as "so-called terrorists" did he? Turns out, yes:

Former US president Jimmy Carter expressed optimism Friday over Hamas's participation in next week's Palestinian parliamentary elections. Carter told CNN in an interview that although Hamas were "so-called terrorists," so far "there have been no complaints of corruption against [their] elected officials." He conceded that "there is an element within Hamas who deny Israel's right to exist," but compared the current situation to negotiations with the PLO, which was still outlawed as a terrorist organization during his presidency.

Right Wing Howler has a new home

Go visit the Right Wing Howler's new home.


NOW!

Hugo to Condi: "Don't mess with me, girl."

Larry Elder has a poll on his site over this comment asking "Should she be scared?". (Currently running at 84% say No.) Also see Expose the left for more comments and information.
"Venezuela is free and however much they may try to instigate internal movements here, we will defeat them," he said.
Does anyone any more understand what freedom means? Ok, how is Venezuela free exactly, with this dictator in charge?

Oh, and by the way, I really don't think that the American people would sit still if harm came to the much loved Condi. Why threaten a superpower? Ohhhhhhhhhh because...
Despite the war of words, Venezuela remains the fourth-largest supplier of crude oil to its northern neighbor, selling it about 1.5 million barrels daily.
I guess he doesn't understand capitalism much either. Oh let's poke a stick in the eye of our biggest consumer, that's the ticket!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war'

This is chilling news, if true.
The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter.

A covert visit to an encampment in the Catskill Mountains near Hancock, N.Y., called "Islamberg" found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities, said the report by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an interim report.
"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."
And we all know what kind of parenting tips Islam offers.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

The encampment in Hancock, N.Y., is run by a front for Jamaat ul-Fuqra called Muslims of the Americas Inc., which operates a school known as the International Quranic Open University Inc.

Read it all.

From the Gossip Desk

Oh for crying out loud. Bryant Gumble has proven himself to be a maroon.
So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.
My problem with this?

1. If any black person were interested in curling, or ice hockey, or skiing, or any other typical winter sport that is the Winter Games, he or she would do it. Obviously, no. No one would even notice either. Each country roots for its own, regardless. This is such a non-issue, why would he even COMMENT? Black people are not institutionally kept out of these sports. To become a champion in any of these events, one just has to work on it and choose that sport.

2. A GOP convention? Well, generally, I substitute GOP and conservatives and think of them as the same. The stereotype foisted upon us and repeated by Howard "Scream" Dean is that the GOP members are rich and white. So how come when I peruse my conservate blogs, I notice that I am most interested in first reading the blogs written by an Asian woman, and a Jewish woman? And why is it the name most bandied about for President in 2008 is the third person currently in line for President, Condi? And why am I seeing and hearing more and more black conservatives like Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, and Ron Christie?

Bryant, you are a maroon and need to grow up.

Gratuitous plug: Michael and Me

Television and radio talk-show host Larry Elder tried-for a year-and-a-half-to interview Michael Moore. Larry wanted to ask him one basic question: "You tell us how many gun deaths there are in America, but how many Americans are alive because they were able to use a gun for self-defense?" Moore concludes that America has "too many guns." But does it? Larry made this film in an attempt to answer that question.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Boy Scouts 'a religion'?

The case was brought by self-declared agnostics Lori and Lynn Barnes-Wallace and Michael and Valerie Breen, along with a son of each, in protest of a lease of parkland in Balboa Park and Fiesta Island by the city of San Diego to the Boy Scouts of America.
Famous Boy Scouts
Famous former Scouts include President John F.Kennedy, Henry Fonda, Hank Aaron, James Stewart, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Senator E. Benjamin Nelson, Dem. Nebraska and astronaut /senator John Glenn.

Eagle Scout Paul Siple sailed to Antarctica with Commander Byrd in 1928.

Since 1926, Boy Scouts of Americ honored American adults for noteworthy service to the nation's youth by awarding them the Silver Buffalo, the highest award in scouting. Recepients have included Charles Lindbergh, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, and Ronald Reagan.

Famous (albeit cherry picked) Atheists:
Ted Rall - Cartoonist/Columnist
Ron Reagan Jr. - Talk Host: ". . . he turned to Reagan and asked, 'Do you believe in god?' 'No, I do not,' Ron responded."
Andy Rooney - Columnist/Commentator: "No, of course I don't [believe in God] and anyone who tells you that there is a god who make his or her presence known to him or her is hallucinating or not telling the truth."
Margaret Sanger - American birth control activist, founder of Planned Parenthood: "No Gods, No Masters."
George Soros - Financier/Philanthropist: On 60 minutes: Steve Kroft: Are you a religious man? Soros: No. Kroft: Do you believe in God? Soros: No.
Mao Tse-tung - Chinese Communist leader and theorist
Ted Turner - Media Mogul: "Was Humanist of the Year a few years ago."
The case has drawn national attention because the federal judge's finding that the BSA is "a religion" imperils the future work of not only the Boy Scouts, but all organizations that recognize a transcendent higher authority, including community service organizations like Rotary and Kiwanis, Alcoholics Anonymous, which works directly with the courts and government, and veterans organizations like the American Legion, whose constitutional preamble begins "For God and Country," almost identical to the Boy Scouts Oath.
"If the Boy Scouts are 'a religion,' so are we in the American Legion. Is the ACLU going to sue our 2.7 million wartime veteran members next, claiming we, too, are 'religion'? Are they going to sue to destroy the religious symbols at our veterans' memorials on public property? The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Our work in Boys State, Boys Nation, with the government? Our Oratorical Contests with schools?" a Legionnaire asked after Tuesday's court session.
This is getting old, the attacks on scouts and scouting. This is not only a waste of the court's and taxpayers time and money, it is a waste on Boy Scouts of America time and money, better spent on the boys themselves. How arrogant and selfish can people be?

From Constitutional Topic: The Constitution and Religion
The Bill of Rights, however, had no effect on how a state treated its churches. Unlike today, the Bill of Rights applied only to the rules and laws of the federal government. The states were still free to establish churches, to direct church taxes be paid, and to even require attendance in church, all within the bounds of the state's own constitution. As noted, many did.

First, no national religion should be established, in contrast to several European nations of the time (and to this day) which have an official state church. Second, that no one sect of any religion be favored by the government. Third, that all persons should be free to worship in whatever manner they deemed appropriate for them. [emphasis mine]

Let the Boy Scouts be free from stupid people.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

A.Word.A.Day--pangaea

Pangaea (pan-JEE-uh) noun

A hypothetical supercontinent that existed when all the major landmasses of the earth were joined.

Let's have some fun with this word.

"Ted Rall has his pangaea in a bunch."

"If you can't figure out your own pangaea, how do you expect ME to?"

"A pangaea, a goat, and a mule walk into a bar..."

"Never mix pangaea and gin. Lethal combination and a wicked hangover."

"You say pangaea, I say pongaea!"

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Ted Rall has his panties in a bunch!

Editor and Publisher reports that liberal political cartoonist Ted Rall is not happy about remarks made by conservative commentator Ann Coulter. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Coulter stated, "Iran is soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. So far, only Ted Rall, Garry Trudeau, and The New York Times have made submissions."

Garry Trudeau, creator of "Doonsbury," does not want to sue, but Ted Rall said on his blog that if enough people vote in favor of it on his online poll, and if readers give him $6000 for court costs, he'll sue Coulter in New York.

Oh please do Ted, please do! I would pay real money to watch her tear you apart.

From Ted's blog:
Some have asked whether she'll be able to use the "just funnin'" defense. She'll certainly try, but I doubt her claims of "humor" or sarcasm will fly with a jury since (a) she's not funny and (b) her audiences take her literally and she knows it. [emphasis mine]
Oh puh-leeze! Her audiences take her literally? What an ego this man has.

Right after the election, I read on yahoo news Ted Rall's piece on his reaction to President Bush's re-election. The article does not appear anymore (that I could find) but I have kept the money quote.
So our guy lost the election. Why shouldn't those of us on the coasts feel superior? We eat better, travel more, dress better, watch cooler movies, earn better salaries, meet more interesting people, listen to better music and know more about what's going on in the world. If you voted for Bush, we accept that we have to share the country with you. We're adjusting to the possibility that there may be more of you than there are of us. But don't demand our respect. You lost it on November 2.
Click Cox and Forkum's page to see their submission to the Iranian Holocaust contest.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Holy History Repeating Itself Batman!

Between Al Gore Slanders America and Clinton's "Iraq Is A Big Mistake", who needs enemies?

For crying out loud, these men were in charge for eight years. No wonder 9-11 happened. The more they talk, the more Americans will realize how much responsibility they have for that tragedy.

Keep talking, boys.

The Queer Muhammad: an experiment in tolerance

In the spirit of the “separation of church and state,” my demand is that you commission a painting – fully funded with tax dollars – that has one intention and one intention only: To offend Muslims everywhere.

This new painting will help the NEA avoid any accusations of state sponsorship of religion by insulting some religion other than Christianity. In the past, you’ve supported the “Piss Christ” and the “Elephant Dung Mary.” Now, I’m asking you to fund the “Queer Muhammad.”

For this painting, I want the artist to put the Prophet Muhammad in a pink bathrobe. I also want him holding a little toy poodle. Finally, I would like you to feature him reading a copy of “Playgirl” magazine. If you want to get daring, you can also feature him French-kissing Salmon Rushdie. Or better yet, feature him French-kissing Jacques Chirac.

And, then, I’m heading to the Upper West Side to place a “Queer Muhammad” on the door of Michael Moore. That fat joker will be begging Charlton Heston for a gun by the time the New York City Muslims throw their first Molotov cocktail.

Very funny. Good idea? You make the call.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Notre Dame Expert: Cartoon Jihad Has Nothing to Do with Islam

From Little Green Footballs:
The University of Notre Dame is currently allied with the ACLU, suing the US government to allow Islamist kingpin Tariq Ramadan to enter the country and teach at the University.
And also from Little Green Footballs: About Tariq Ramadan
the careful study of Caroline Fourest, ”Frere Tariq,“ which is the main book on offer even in provincial towns in Brittany, according to an informant, and which sets out all sorts of Ramadan’s prevarications, omissions, and outright lies — one by one by one. It is a book from which, like the encounter with Sarkozy, Ramadan will not recover, and has no reply. He will simply hope the book is not translated into English, and that the clear-headed at Notre Dame — that leaves out Scott Appleby in particular, who "knows" all about Tariq Ramadan, and does not wish to be confused with fact after fact after dismal fact — never read it.


And along these same lines, Atlas Shrugs blog is ONE YEAR OLD!! Happy Birthday! I am mentioning it here as she has quite a round up of links to colleges and universities who have recieved huge donations from the Sauds. Go to her site, and scroll down a bit for them all.

CNN gets a comeuppance

Glenn Reynolds of instapundit.com gives CNN an well deserved tongue lashing in this video. The audience really is clueless in this segment. Had I been there, I would have asked about why is it that Ward Churchill can command amazing speaking fees for spreading his foul brand of "free speech" that insults most Americans, and Piss Christ gets wide showings on the news, but these insipid cartoons are not shown at all on the news outlets? Quite the opposite. CNN has a DISCLAIMER why they will not show these cartoons.

Glenn Reynolds links to Artistic Courage Redefined for a nice analysis.

There is no risk in mocking any establishments of American or Western culture- no harm will ensue. ... Every artist alive today now knows the limits: you can do this, which is as brave as taunting a stuffed teddy bear...


Read it all.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

What If MLK Delivered The Late Mrs. King's Eulogy?

Nice post. What MLK wanted said at HIS eulogy, in part reads:
If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.
Read the whole thing.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

CNN's New Stupid Excuse

Checking back on Michelle Malkin's blog, I ran across the following disclaimer that is now on CNN:
CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself.

Gutless cowards. Now fools. (But then we already knew that didn't we, BWHAHAHAHAHAHA)

Do they ever let up?

From Drudge:
Today's memorial service for civil rights activist Coretta Scott King -- billed as a "celebration" of her life -- turned suddenly political as one former president took a swipe at the current president, who was also lashed by an outspoken black pastor!
Check the body language of Mrs. Bush in the image with this article. Holy cow! I would not want to make her mad!

Why I don’t take feminists seriously, Part VI

22. Feminists are literally trying to destroy the American family.

Peter Kreeft wrote a great book a few years ago called How to Win the Culture War. In the book, he argued that attacking marriage was essential for those who wished to radically transform (read: destroy) the foundations of our society. You can’t just tear down a whole society. You have to weaken individual communities. But that involves weakening families. And that, in turn, involves weakening marriages. And, for Kreeft, the best way to weaken marriages is to encourage adultery. This is easy to do when people begin to worship sex.
This piece reminded me of another article on the Gates of Vienna blog called Visualize Industrial Collapse:
They envision a future that is “radically cooperative and communitarian, ecological and feminist, spontaneous and wild.” A primitivist society would be decentralized, egalitarian, and self-sufficient…

Feminist primitivists have argued that women, freed of gender constraints and the family structure, would not be defined by their reproductive capabilities as in patriarchal societies, and this would result in lowered population levels too. So population would be likely to fall, willy-nilly. [bolding mine]
Hoooooooooookay.

Now the pieces are falling into place. The family must be destroyed.

So where did the feminist movement start? Betty "Professional Commie" Freidan.
Friedan's famous description of America's suburban family household as "a comfortable concentration camp" in The Feminine Mystique had more to do with her Marxist hatred for America than with any of her actual experience as a housewife or mother. She depicted herself disingenuously in her book as a suburban housewife who had never given any thought to the status of women in society until she attended the Smith College reunion. Yet Friedan was in fact no suburban housewife when she wrote those words; rather, she was a twenty-five-year veteran of professional journalism in the Communist Left,which promoted the idea that women were "oppressed." Friedan was familiar with the writings of Engels, Lenin, and Stalin on the subject, and had written about it herself as a journalist for the official publication of the IUE.
And just who could be a more useful ally on the attack on the family unit than a Supreme Court justice?
Before becoming a judge, Ginsburg expressed her belief that traditional marriage laws are unconstitutional but that prostitution is a constitutional right. She also wrote that the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are discriminatory institutions, and that courts must require the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions — hardly views Americans would consider mainstream. [bolding mine]
I think Ms Ginsburg is punishing the country because she was penalized monetarily for being pregnant. In 1954. She is still punishing the rest of us for her decisions and her life experiences. From 50 years ago. Time to let that go, Ruth.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Michelle Malkin has really been on the cartoon riots

Michelle Malkin has a comprehensive list of all the sites where you can find the Mo cartoons. I am betting traffic on these sites are high, so the list is quite useful to find the images you are looking for.

Ode to a Telegram

The incomparable James Lileks has a memorial to the history of the telegram since Western Union has seen fit to discontinue the service. In a very cold manner.
Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

We have lost in the last few years, Levi jeans being manufactured in the US, the manufacture of the Winchester rifle, and now this. How much more can we take!

Thank you Mr Lileks for this nice memorial.

Ha! Great minds think alike!

Cox and Forkum agree with me!

Monday, February 06, 2006

Cartoon protests turn deadly

From CNN.
CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.
Gutless cowards.

Again, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeee'sssss ZOMBIE!

Sunday, February 05, 2006

If There’s Hell Below, Is This Where We Shall All be Spending Xmas?

First, there is the curious delay between the first appearance of the cartoons when they provoked only modest local disturbance in Denmark by comparison with the global fury they are currently provoking.

What has changed in the meantime to account for the escalation in the scale and intensity of the reaction?
....

The first event was a tour of the Middle East last December undertaken by a group of Danish imams to publicise the cartoons. With them, however, they reportedly took, not only the offending cartoons originally published but several other far more offensive ones that, apparently, they had themselves been responsible for producing. In other words, the outrage over the cartoons has been deliberately engineered by a fabrication of the grounds for it.

But who wanted or caused the heat to become so turned up and why at that this particular moment?

The clue to the answers to this second question lies in a second event almost certain to occur to today, if it has not already happened by the time this blog gets posted. This is the likely decision today in Vienna by the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran to the UN Security Council for continuing with its programme of nuclear research. If that decision should occur, when the UN Security Council gets round to considering what form of sanctions to impose on Iran, guess to whom chairmanship of the Council will have passed. You’ve got it... plucky little Denmark.

Well, well, well. Who would have thought that? Hmmmm, a hidden agenda in this latest "outrage"? Sounds like the Koran flushing incident too, a tempest in a muslim teapot. It occurred to me over that situation, we DO have flushing toilets here in the West. They have holes. So, it seems perfectly logical that a book can go down a hole, but we here know that it is impossible to flush a book. But I digress.

As usual, zombietime has some wonderful commentary and images on the latest "outrage". And don't forget FIRST, THEY CAME: THE MOVIE.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Where have I been?

Well, we had the annual kick off meeting atwork and I needed to travel out of town for a week. I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in one or two years, and met new ones.

Suffice it to say, a great time was had by all! Lots of good meals, lots of good fun.