VACATION

And about time too. Will return 10/27.

Vatican offers swap deal to regain site of Last Supper

The Vatican is hoping to regain control of the Room of the Last Supper in Jerusalem, one of the most sacred sites in Christianity....

The Upper Room, where the Last Supper is said to have taken place, is held by Christians to be the place where Jesus broke bread and drank wine with the disciples on the eve of his Crucifixion and also where the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost.
....
Il Messaggero, the Rome daily, said possible reciprocal gestures include the return to Jewish control of the 12th-century synagogue in Toledo, which, after the suppression of Judaism in Spain in the 15th century, became the Church of Santa María La Blanca.

I see this as a good thing. Jews and Christians becoming more united and sharing mutual holy places. Now, it's the Muslims turn to remove that golden dome and get out of the The Temple Mount.

In Muslim tradition, the place is also identified as the "furthermost sanctuary" (Arabic, masjid al-aksa) from which the Prophet Mohammed, accompanied by the Angel Gabriel, made the Night Journey to the Throne of God (The Koran, Sura Al-Isra’ 17:1).

Yeah. Right. Dr Sina says:

Whoever has been the author of the verse 17:1, was not aware that Masjid ul Aqsa did not exist during the time of Muhammad and he could not have made his trip to heaven from a place that did not exist.

And answering islam says:

These preceding factors make it highly improbable to date Sura 17:1 to the time of Muhammad. This passage could have only been written sometime after the erection of Masjid al-Aqsa. This is further substantiated by the fact that Masjid al-Aqsa contains no early references to the supposed night journey. This is a strange omission since Muslims claim that Masjid al-Aqsa was erected in commemoration of this alleged event. The inscriptions that do mention the night journey are later additions made by Abdul Hamid II in 1876, nearly eleven centuries later.

Life-and-death flu

From Charles Krauthammer:

While official Washington has been poring over Harriet Miers' long-ago doings on the Dallas City Council and parsing the Byzantine comings and goings of the Fitzgerald grand jury, relatively unnoticed was perhaps the most momentous event of our lifetime -- what is left of it, as I shall explain. It was announced last week that American scientists have just created a living, killing copy of the 1918 ``Spanish'' flu.

This is big. Very big.

Not only has the virus been physically re-created. But its entire genome has now been published for the whole world, good people and very bad, to see.

Today didn't start well for me. Upsetting news on the home front, granddaughter not doing well in school, daughter quit her job, and then I read this.

Time to start living in the words like a hermit!

What a great tv ad!

I wonder if anyone has the guts to put this on American airwaves?

Bill, Keep Talking!

Clinton calls the Iraq war "a quagmire" and warns "it could go wrong."


"The administration . . . decided to launch this invasion virtually alone and before the U.N. inspections were completed - with no real urgency, no evidence that there was any weapons of mass destruction there," he complained to ABC's "This Week."

I regret ever having voted for him.

George Clooney

But while he thinks it's dangerous for actors to go public with their politics, Clooney still defends his left-leaning views, saying, “It's pretty hard to find a time when liberals were on the wrong side of an issue."

Oh really? Hard to find a time when liberals were on the wrong side of an issue? Here's more:

Clooney: Hollywood Liberals Should Shut Up Already

Let's review. Where is the left on Iraq? Oh yes. Wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time

And now? Iraqi charter gains wide backing

The poll of 3,625 Iraqis, conducted Sept. 14 to 19, showed 79 percent in favor of the draft constitution and 8 percent opposed. The remainder did not respond.

And of course, the initimitable Hitchens: Letter to the Left

How can so many people watch this as if they were spectators, handicapping and rating the successes and failures from some imagined position of neutrality? Do they suppose that a defeat in Iraq would be a defeat only for the Bush administration?

Well George, apparently you are a maroon.

Bicycle sales boom in US amid rising gas prices

Well duh, However, I am betting it is not just gas prices. What do you want to bet that there are some other influences:
1. Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France a record seven times. Against all odds. Interest in his success is at a fever pitch and highly promoted at the Discovery Channel to go biking.
2. The President has sparked new interest as the nation's cyclist in chief and called the most fit President in modern history.
3. Blog favorite Charles Johnson on www.littlegreenfootballs documents his rides and inspires (at least this) poster.

Back in the Saddle?

Snorty worthy!

Saddam is arguing through his lawyers that he could be back in power a year from now. How? A leading member of Saddam's defense team tells FOX News contributor and former Coalition advisor Dan Senor that when Saddam airs the dirty laundry of America's foreign policy over the past several decades, the U.S. will be so embarrassed, it will have no choice but to cut a deal returning him to power.

I don't think so Bubba. "Expose" away. Feel free. Enjoy yourself.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

WE don't run things there. Iraqis do. They have voted, they are establishing their own Constitution. They don't want us there, and they don't want YOU regardless of what we might or might not have done in the past.

Moron.

Iraqis will run Iraq.

Do we manage Japan? Or Germany? Or any other country we have beaten? Nope. And it won't happen this time either. We can't even get Puerto Rico to join the US as a state.

You embarrass yourself, not the US.

Zombie's Latest Photo Essay In Case You Missed It

These photos were taken by zombie at the anti-war rally in San Francisco on Saturday, September 24, 2005.

A pattern emerges

Read enough blogs and not only do you become informed, but patterns emerge. The following are excerpts from blogs and essays around the web. Rather than an "echo chamber" the following articles reinforce the viewpoint that moving to the Nanny State is a BAD thing.

How did we get there and what can we do to stop the slide into the cesspool of Communism (be sure to wipe your feet, Mommy says!).

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…

Anarchists have long argued that in a free world, social, economic, and psychological pressures towards excessive reproduction would be removed. There would just be too many other interesting things going on to engage people’s time! 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.

OK, some current examples of the return of the primitive:
Miami Ink
Going Tribal

And some feminizing examples:
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy with its tag line: Official site of this weekly show where five gay men transform a style-deficient and culture-deprived straight man from drab to fab.

Ummmm, no thanks. My man has more culture and style than the five of them put together.

Calling all men

Do we really want women taking over the job market from men? Do we want a nation of stay-at-home, Oprah-watching Dads? I don't think so. I also don't think we want women dominating college education as professors (which their percentage of doctorates indicates they will). The few men remaining on campus will be educated by feminists who want a matriarchal society and hierarchy.

A Tale of Two Demonstrations

During the various festivities, the heroin-addled Steve Earle sang protest songs and Sheehan’s backers chanted, “Hey, Bush, we know you/Your daddy was a killer, too.” Unsurprisingly:

supporters of the Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site distributed thousands of copies of a statement of the SEP entitled “Katrina, the Iraq war and the struggle for socialism” and sold a large number of copies of a new WSWS pamphlet, “Hurricane Katrina: social consequences & political lessons.” They found a positive response to this intervention, which posed the necessity of building a new mass socialist movement.

UPDATE: I knew I had a point here. The two demonstrations. One, with Mommy Sheehan involved, the other, a focused, poignant rally with real men and women.

In all this Sheehan business, where is Dad? Is he somehow inconsequential? He is divorcing her and I am sure chooses not to get involved in this fracas, however, the MSM seems to ignore him. Only Mommy matters.

The ACLU vs. America

Read the wedding “vows” of ACLU founder Roger Baldwin in 1919:

“To us who passionately cherish the vision of a free human society, the present institution of marriage among us is a grim mockery of essential freedom…We deny without reservation the moral right of state or church to bind by force of law a relationship that cannot be maintained by the power of love alone…The highest relationship between a man and a woman is that which welcomes and understands each other’s loves….The creative life demands many friendships, many loves shared together openly, honestly, and joyously…” (See pages 12-13 of our book.)

Then let’s look at the words of Roger Baldwin back in 1935 when he wrote the following in his thirtieth anniversary Harvard University classbook:

“I am for Socialism, disarmament, and ultimately the abolishing of the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.”

So it all makes sense now. Emasculate the men and create the Nanny State.

The Pussification Of The Western Male

Out there, there is a huge number of men who are sick of it. We’re sick of being made figures of fun and ridicule; we’re sick of having girly-men like journalists, advertising agency execs and movie stars decide on “what is a man”; we’re sick of women treating us like children, and we’re really #### sick of girly-men politicians who pander to women by passing an ever-increasing raft of Nanny laws and regulations (the legal equivalent of public-school Ritalin), which prevent us from hunting, racing our cars and motorcycles, smoking, flirting with women at the office, getting into fistfights over women, shooting criminals and doing all the fine things which being a man entails.

I want our government to be more like Dad—kind, helpful, but not afraid to punish us when we #### up, instead of helping us excuse our actions.

I want our government of real men to start rolling back the Nanny State, in all its horrible manifestations of over-protectiveness, intrusiveness and “Mommy Knows Best What’s Good For You” regulations.

But we can have THIS visualization:
Is Hillary Clinton the next Geena Davis?
Blech!

But here in the REAL world, we cannot ask the hard questions of a woman in power at fault.

Blanco asked NO QUESTIONS about Katrina

I only joined the GOP because I supported W, you know. The rest of you have been - with rare exceptions - spectacularly unimpressive.

I’m sorry…but you sit around day after day watching the opposition savage your party leadership and blame your president for every ill in the world, with the full complicity and assist of the press, and then - on two occasions in one week - you find yourself with LEGITIMATE (not spurious) reasons to do some serious jawboning with members of the opposition party, and you roll on your backs and pant, “please rub our bellies…”

I miss John Wayne.
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

File this under "You have got to be KIDDING!"

Jeb Bush says:

Bush, a brother of President Bush, said he gets a lot of e-mails from frustrated people who go through Miami International Airport. He also said the federal government should expand scholarship programs for residents in Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions to come study in the U.S.

"The United States has actually pulled back after Sept. 11 with providing visas for foreign students," he said.

Let's see, hmmmmmm, how did Mohammed Atta and "friends" get here.....hmmmmm, could it be, oh I don't know student visas?

Oh yes, let's DO relax security at Miami International!

Colombian police have found the bodies of three human foetuses hidden in statues destined for the United States.

...officials are trying to find out who sent the packages, which came from Barranquilla in Colombia and were destined for Miami in the US.

I can't wrap my head around this

To make this year's list of the top 400 fortunes in the US a minimum net worth of $900m was required - up from $750m last year.

What on earth do you need this much money for? How do you spend it? Would you even want it? How many homes do you need? How much stuff is enough? I have so much junk in my home I need to get rid of a ton. I know I am not alone on this. So far 535,266 pounds of clutter since September 16, 2005 have been flung (scroll down a little for the details).

Do these people ever have a garage sale, and if so where would it be and can I go?

Bad Blogger

Well, I have had so many deadlines, I have not posted much of anything lately. So much has happened! To sum up:

Stuck on stupid

That about says it all!

What A Maroon!!!!

Justice Ginsburg Wants Women's Activist On Court

Gee, ya think?

"I have a list of highly qualified women, but the president has not consulted me," she added during a brief interview Wednesday night.

BWHAHAHAHAHA! Who cares what you think? Do you think she is aware how many people want her off the court? (If course, maybe that is just me.) Why, in the name of all things golden, would the President consult her?

There are "some women who might be appointed who would not advance human rights or women's rights," Ginsburg told those gathered at the New York City Bar Association.

Ya think? Some women who are opposed to say, umm I don't know, abortion "rights"? Some women who are opposed to say, umm, maybe supporting the ACLU?

Maybe that's just me.

UPDATE: I was loath to post the Ginsburg wants to lower the age of consent to twelve because that sentiment appeared to have been debunked. Looks like I was wrong.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Was for Lowering the Age of Consent to 12 Years Old

Jumbled Stuff

I was reading the Ranting Ring Wing Howler as I am wont to do on a daily basis. The miscellaneous links are usually worth a look-see, they range from wierd news to unique scientific discoverys, like the one I just linked to, with an smidgeon of acerbic wit from Howler. The thrust of this particular article was deciphering how the Incans kept mathematical calculations with knots. Interesting. But was more interesting in the article to me was this speculation, among the others:

Urton speculates that these sums might record tax payments. Incans paid their taxes by working a certain number of days per year on state projects. The knotted strings could represent such days, and the sums could represent totals for all work in a certain area, Urton says.

I find that interesting that rather than pay tax, you work on some state projects. Hmm, given the choice, I might rather do that. People take pride in their handiwork, would all of us be more considerate of our public places if we contributed to them personally? I guess if it were a matter of choice, pay or work, it would depend on the work. I wouldn't mind working on a community project of beautification or some such and keep more of the money I earn, but then I wouldn't be earning any money if I were off on a project! I found it interesting, and could a version of this work in a capitalistic society?

In any event, the knots were cool.

Fit in or fly out

From the Seattle article:

But across the Puget Sound area, that's starting to change as public and private pools at times are sending home their male staff members, covering up their windows and allowing women of faith to swim alone and in private.

From Soundpolitics:

But if there's ever a reason for taxpayer dollars to be used to support an immigrant's culture, it should be to support them in learning to shed whatever aspects of their culture are incompatible with American culture. The last thing we need to teach immigrants is to expect publicly-subsidized religious apartheid.

From Dhimmi Watch

Would the Children's Home Society fund a Whites-Only Pool Night? A Christians-Only Pool Night?

Covering the windows? Men have to leave the area, so the schedules of the people who work there have to accomodate people who refuse to adapt?

Insouciant

Happily unconcerned; carefree; nonchalant.

(And don't forget to visit the Visual Thesaurus!)

Ok, for fun:

"A scoop of insouciant should remove the odor."

"Insouciant, shminsouciant! Where's my dinner?!?!"

"The new, breezy Insouciant gets 400 miles to the gallon!"

"Failing that, an insouciant should fix 'er right up."

"Ah to be young, and relive the good old days, when the insouciant would not act up."

Did DoD lawyers blow the chance to nab Atta?

The officer was very disappointed when lawyers working for Special Ops decided that anyone holding a green card had to be granted essentially the same legal protections as any U.S. citizen. Thus, the information Able Danger had amassed about the only terrorist cell they had located inside the United States could not be shared with the FBI, the lawyers concluded.

This is unbelievable. May these lawyers be infested with fleas until the day they die.

Update Aug 11: Funny how the press chooses it stories for an analysis by the Ranting Right Wing Howler.

Shut up and sing (if you really could)

Is Mick Jagger kidding? What a maroon!

"You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/ You call yourself a patriot. Well, I think your are full of sh*t!... How come you're so wrong, my sweet neo-con."

Maybe he should join Hanoi Jane/Bagdad Barbarella on her tour? Aging hippies on veggie oil.

Are the ACLU days numbered?

"The never-ceasing flow of litigation against cities, states, and the federal government is nothing more than fund-raising stunts," Swarthout said. "Many of the ACLU's victories come not because their complaint is just, but because the municipality budget is inadequate to match the abusive onslaught."

Ya think? It is about time if this article is true. I hope this story has legs.