Conservative Outlook

Can you support the troops and be against the war? No.

2007-04-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

I suppose we can all massage our view of Iraq to meet our own individual take on what needs to be done to confront the danger of Islamofacism. We can believe that we are taking the high road, declare our invasion of Iraq as doomed and hide behind our borders, praying that a second or third or fourth 9/11 does not happen all the while patting ourselves on the back for supporting the troops by pulling them out of an unwinnable war.

It should be no secret I choose the opposite argument – unless we take these animals on in their own back yard, they will certainly take us on in ours.

But, in under this all, the ones who bear the brunt of our national debate are our troops. They strap up every day, enter the streets of Iraq and do their best to bring a peaceful life to these people. They don’t kill in anger, they don’t use their military skills to plant bombs to kill women and children, and they don’t load up trucks with chlorine gas and detonate them in public squares. They take up arms to protect the weakest, the most defenseless and they follow the warrior tradition doing so. This has been the tradition of the US military. You can see thousands of photos of children running up to GIs asking for food, water, candy – and see the GIs giving out their last bottle of water, their last c-rat or MRE, or their favorite candy bar.

We have seen photos of GIs protecting women with their own bodies during the invasion, cradling the lifeless body of a dead infant and struggling to save the lives of wounded civilians. This is the American GI.

You can read account after account of GIs volunteering for 2nd and 3rd tours because they believe the fight is honorable and worthy of their skill, energy and if need be, their life. Ours is a volunteer military, and no where are re-enlistments greater than within Iraq. Think about that. These are the men and women who face the dangers of Iraq daily and they see the value of re-enlisting while still in Iraq. This is the soul of the American GI.

We took very deliberate steps prior to our invasion of Iraq. At the insistence of a Democrat Congress, in the fall of 2002 President Bush went before the UN and asked for one final resolution giving Saddam one last chance (after no fewer than 17 ignored resolutions over the preceding 10 years) to permit free and unfettered access to all suspected WMD sites – 1441 passed unanimously.

Also in the fall of 2002 the Democrat Congress demanded that the President come before Congress and ask for permission to use any and all means necessary to remove Saddam if he did not submit to the conditions of 1441 – he was granted this power with a healthy margin.

And, in March 2003, with the conditions of 1441 unmet, we asked our military to do just that. At this point, in my view, we were committed until Iraq can defend itself, govern itself and provide a safe environment for their children to grow up in. We have signed this agreement with the blood of 3,200 GIs. We owe these fallen GIs a blood debt.

In January of this year, President Bush announced a significant change in strategy, developed by General David H. Petraeus, and proceeded to ask that General Petraeus be appointed as the Commanding General in Iraq. The Senate overwhelmingly approved his appointment after he clearly detailed his plan and his needs. His reward? A determined effort by the Democrat party to declare defeat and prevent the funding he needs to carry out his plan.

This approach is not supporting our troops – it is a betrayal. This approach will not make us safer – it will encourage our enemy, prolong the battle and cost more American and Iraqi lives. Speaker Pelosi’s visit to our enemies while refusing to speak to President Bush about troop funding dishonors our troops and spits on the graves of those who have given their last full measure. Abandoning the Iraqi people because we are weary shames our military and shames our country. We are a stronger people than that. We have a long road in this fight and our survival and that of western culture depend on our willingness to carry this burden and see the fight through.

There are no half measures – no fall back position. We are either victorious or we are defeated. A person either supports our troops and their efforts in our war against Islamofacism – or they do not.

Hot for martyrdom

2006-11-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hot for martyrdom

This is what we are up against.

Haditha: Reasonable Doubt

2006-06-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Haditha: Reasonable Doubt
Special from Hawaii Free Press By Andrew Walden

The charges against our Marines at Haditha begin to unravel. That is a GOOD thing.

Only now—two and a half months after the story broke in the March 19 issue of Time magazine-- are the voices of soldiers who question the charges beginning to be heard. Marine Captain James Kimber commanded Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The troops involved in the incident were from Kilo Company. He tells interviewers that he first learned about the shootings in February when he heard that a Time magazine reporter was asking questions about civilian deaths. Notably, Kimber says he heard nothing about a civilian massacre during weekly meetings with the Haditha City Council and talks with local leaders. "It would have been huge, there would have been no question it would have filtered down to us," he said. "We reported no significant atmospheric change as a result of that day." Kimber who has been relieved of his command and is back in Camp Pendleton, CA says, “I believe I was a political casualty as a result of the Haditha incident.” Some media accounts indicate that some of the dead were relatives of a Haditha City Council member. The May 12, 2006 edition of Iraq Reconstruction Update carries a photo and short article about Marine officers holding weekly meetings with the Haditha City Council with no mention of the alleged shooting controversy.

What would be the reprisal to a military strike on Iran's nuclear facility?

2006-06-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

What would be the reprisal to a military strike on Iran's nuclear facility?

In my favorite stock discussion board, we again took up the question of attacking Iran. The question of what additional reprisals would occur in the event we attacked Iran. The following is my response:

There will be no additional reprisal if we strike Iran – the west (US included) is under continuing attack by Islamofacists. An attack on Iran would delay these animals in getting a nuclear weapon and provide the west and the world additional time to become aware of the threat the Islamofacists represent. It is not likely, in my opinion, to stop terrorists from eventually getting a nuclear weapon; it is simply a play for time to allow the west, and civilized people, to become aware of the threat radical Islam presents and to grant them time to confront it. And, it is a show of strength that someone will oppose them by force of arms.

The west is under attack by a form of Islam that is dedicated to either the subjugation of the world or the destruction of those unwilling to bend a knee to Islam. This cancer is being actively promoted globally by the Saudis. The expansion and boldness of this Islamic faction is stunningly apparent from London through the Far East. Look at the advances of Islam in Europe – to the point that Brits are taking down the Union Jack because it offends some Muslims. Piglet isn’t sold in Britain anymore because he’s offensive to Muslims. Cartoons of Muhammad can’t be printed, under fear of death, because it’s offensive to Muslims. The birthrate for native Europeans is approaching 1 child per couple. For Muslim families the birthrate is over 4 children per couple. Fifty years from now, they will be the majority in Europe. In my opinion, the “battle of the womb” has already been lost and Europe will be an Islamic state within the next 50 to 100 years.

The Islamofacists have completely lost any fear of the west that they once held – primarily through the adoption of jihad and martyrdom and the west’s willingness to take the route of appeasement over the past 30+ years. Death becomes the channel to a better life through the glory of killing non-Muslims. This philosophy permeates all current teachings of Islam that is being supported and expanded by the Saudis. A newly elected member of the Hamas government has proudly raised 3 suicide bombers and takes great pride in their killing of innocents. This is but one example of the depth of this poison.

I believe it is a miracle we have not been attacked since 9/11. In my lifetime, I believe we will see attacks, on US soil, by all three primary WMDs – nuclear, biological and chemical. It is only through our aggressively attacking the Islamofacists on their home court, that has delayed this. As our resolve dwindles, more and more holes will appear in our defenses and eventually, they will find an opening and take advantages.

So, what is the bottom line result of attacking Iran? Net, net, no difference. Either way, these animals are coming to kill us. However, there is value in delaying them, resisting them and planting our feet and not allowing this particular philosophy of life – Islamofacisim – to control the world. There is a chance to delay (or possibly remove) the nuclear element – and I think that is worth doing.

Going back to the Chamberlain model – would have the world have been better to take on Hitler in 1938 rather than let him gain full strength and take on the world? Doing nothing cost the planet in excess of 50 million lives because evil was not confronted. Estimates I am hearing are 10 to 100 million lives in the mideast alone if Iran launches a nuclear war. Time will tell.

England afraid to fly its own flag - News from Israel, Ynetnews

2006-06-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

England afraid to fly its own flag - News from Israel, Ynetnews

The end is closer than I car to think about for Britain.

Following warnings by extremist Islamic group al-Muhajiroun, in which the group said that the red cross in the England flag symbolizes the 'blood thirsty crusaders' and the occupation of Muslims, some of the largest companies in England have ordered their workers not to wave the flags.

The threat of violence obviously works. Next, look for the Church of England to be replaced by the Mosques of England.

Haditha Child: I Knew of Bomb Plot to Kill Marines

2006-06-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Haditha Child: I Knew of Bomb Plot to Kill Marines

A 12-year old survivor of the alleged massacre of innocent civilians by U.S. Marines patrolling Haditha has admitted she had prior knowledge of the plot to detonate an IED as their convoy was passing by her house on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.

In a CNN interview broadcast Wednesday, Safa Younis - who says eight members of her family were killed by U.S. troops - recalled that she was getting ready for school as the Marine Humvee approached.

"I was planning to go to school. I was about to go out of bed. I knew the bomb would explode so I covered my ears," the youngster said, according to a CNN translator.

It does beg the question - how did she know. I fear that most of the questions will go unanswered as the media hangs the Marines. This is like Vietnam - the US military are the bad guys, not the terrorist bombers. We have evidently learned little from our adventures in Vietnam.

Revisionist History

2006-05-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

Revisionist History
Antiwar myths about Iraq, debunked. BY PETER WEHNER

Telling the truth - over and over and over and over . . . . .

Iraqis can participate in three historic elections, pass the most liberal constitution in the Arab world, and form a unity government despite terrorist attacks and provocations. Yet for some critics of the president, these are minor matters. Like swallows to Capistrano, they keep returning to the same allegations--the president misled the country in order to justify the Iraq war; his administration pressured intelligence agencies to bias their judgments; Saddam Hussein turned out to be no threat since he didn't possess weapons of mass destruction; and helping democracy take root in the Middle East was a postwar rationalization. The problem with these charges is that they are false and can be shown to be so--and yet people continue to believe, and spread, them. Let me examine each in turn:

Iran and the sober-minded left - Editorials/Op-Ed - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

2006-05-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

Iran and the sober-minded left - Editorials/Op-Ed - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Here is a viewpoint of the Iranian "situation" that never occured to me. Honestly, I feel a little like cold water has been splashed in my face. How easy it is to overlook the most fundamental of thruths.

A large part of the reason why negotiations with Tehran bog down is the very nature of Islamism, reasons Mr. Ignatius: "For a theocratic regime that claims a mandate from God, the very idea of compromise is anathema. Great issues of war and peace will be resolved by God's will, not by human negotiators. Better to lose than to bargain with the devil."

DOES IRAN WANT WAR by Ralph Peters

2006-04-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

DOES IRAN WANT WAR by Ralph Peters

I think we should take them at their word - yes, they do.

THE most dangerous error we could make in our sharpening confronta tion with Iran is to con vince ourselves that its leaders will act rationally. Few wars are rooted in dispassionate analysis. Self-delusion sparks most such catastrophes.

Dan Simmons - Author's Official Web Site

2006-04-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Dan Simmons - Author's Official Web Site

A message from the future - is this where our world is headed??

'Room but for one flag' The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

2006-03-30T05:40:00.000-08:00

'Room but for one flag' The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

In 1907, during one of the great immigration waves, President Teddy Roosevelt said that the immigrant who comes here "in good faith ... shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin." However, he added, "We have room but for one flag, the American flag."

FrontPage magazine.com :: Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World by Charles Krauthammer

2006-03-30T04:52:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World by Charles Krauthammer

What would a nuclear Iran mean? Millions dead? An altering of basic society? Charles Krauthammer has some thoughts.

That will present the world with two futures. The first is Feynman's vision of human destruction on a scale never seen. The second, perhaps after one or two cities are lost with millions killed in a single day, is a radical abolition of liberal democracy as the species tries to maintain itself by reverting to strict authoritarianism--a self-imposed expulsion from the Eden of post-Enlightenment freedom.

Can there be a third future? That will depend on whether we succeed in holding proliferation at bay. Iran is the test case. It is the most dangerous political entity on the planet, and yet the world response has been catastrophically slow and reluctant. Years of knowingly useless negotiations, followed by hesitant international resolutions, have brought us to only the most tentative of steps--referral to a Security Council that lacks unity and resolve. Iran knows this and therefore defiantly and openly resumes its headlong march to nuclear status. If we fail to prevent an Iranian regime run by apocalyptic fanatics from going nuclear, we will have reached a point of no return. It is not just that Iran might be the source of a great conflagration but that we will have demonstrated to the world that for those similarly inclined there is no serious impediment.

Burning Allies -- and Ourselves

2006-03-10T05:02:00.000-08:00

Burning Allies -- and Ourselves By David Ignatius

What Congress told the Arab world, with there tremendous and ignorant resistance to the DPW ports deal, is that there are no trustworthy Arabs. That no matter how much an Arab country may help us in the war on terror, no matter how much intel they give us on our enemies, they are not trustworthy. This rejection will hurt us and hurt us badly.

I suspect America will pay a steep price for Congress's rejection of this deal. It sent a message that for all the U.S. rhetoric about free trade and partnerships with allies, America is basically hostile to Arab investment. And it shouldn't be surprising if Arab investors respond in kind. One could blame it all on craven members of Congress, if the opinion polls didn't show that Americans are overwhelmingly against the deal -- and suspicious of Muslims in general. Those poll numbers tell us that America hasn't gotten over Sept. 11, 2001. If anything, Iraq has deepened the country's anxiety, introspection and foreboding.

Hand Bush the veto pen - The Boston Globe

2006-03-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

Hand Bush the veto pen - The Boston Globe

A Presidential Line-Item-Veto is such an obvious tool for controlling spending, I am amazed it has not been in place for decades. Of course, it was passed once and ruled as unconstitutional the way it was written. Assurances are being given that those issues have been addressed and corrected. With any luck, passage will be swift.

PRESIDENT BUSH asked Congress this week for a line-item veto, and he should get it.

Too often, Congress attaches controversial spending items to bills that are so important they are unlikely to be rejected by either branch or vetoed by the president. This way, projects that couldn't stand direct scrutiny -- such as the infamous Alaska bridge to nowhere approved by Congress last year -- are passed without a vote on their merits. It is only common sense that a president should be able to ask Congress to reconsider such items with an up-or-down majority vote, as Bush is requesting.

OpinionJournal - Extra

2006-03-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

Soft Europe - Is the Continent willing to fight for anything, besides a welfare check? BY LEON DE WINTER

A very sober evaluation of the nature of the relationship between Europe and Iran. Mr. De Winter is almost as pessimistic about the future regarding Iran as I am.

So for years the Troika continued talking, maintaining the illusion that Tehran was playing by the rules as equal partners and denying the reality that the Mullahs will gain great economic and military leverage over Europe in the very near future.

Europe could have suppressed the Iranian threat if it had convinced the mullahs two years ago that it was willing to contemplate military options. Only Europe lacks core values that it holds sacrosanct and that it's willing to defend at the highest cost. It will continue to operate on the diplomatic field and cling to soft power even though this is the path of certain defeat when confronted with power players burning with geopolitical and religious ambitions.

Thanks to European illusions about soft power, the free world has two options left on Iran: disaster or catastrophe. America and Israel will bleed for Europe's lack of conviction.

FrontPage magazine.com :: Symposium: To Rape an Unveiled Woman by Jamie Glazov

2006-03-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: Symposium: To Rape an Unveiled Woman by Jamie Glazov

As the "Religion of Peace" expands its influence, certain social acts also increase proportionately. Perhaps one of the most disturbing is the rape of women. Frontpage Magazine held an on-line discussion of why this seems to be happening.

A Muslim rape epidemic in sweeping over Europe -- and over many other nations host to immigrants from the Islamic world. The direct connection between the rapes and Islam is irrefutable, as Muslims are significantly overrepresented among convicted rapists and rape suspects. The Muslim perpetrators themselves boast that there crime is justified since their victims were, among other things, not properly veiled.

What is the psychology here? What is the significance of this epidemic? And how do we face it when our own feminists, with a few exceptions, are deafingly silent about it?

Driver at UNC Cites Vengeance for Muslims

2006-03-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

Driver at UNC Cites Vengeance for Muslims

Of course Islam is the Religion of Peace, tolerant, accepting - as long as you submit to its rule. Why, even newly graduated Muslim students from American colleges know that. And what should happen to students on the campus in the event they do not show Islam proper respect? Why, death, of course!

A University of North Carolina graduate from Iran, accused of running down nine people on campus to avenge the treatment of Muslims, said at a hearing Monday that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

2006-03-06T06:38:00.000-08:00

AIPAC sends tough message to Iran By NATHAN GUTTMAN

Ya know, when George Bush sends John Bolton to address a gathering of 5,000 members of the IAEA that it better find a way to handle Iran and that America would use "all the tools" it has to stop the Iranian threat, I would listen. They won't, of course.

The US will use "all the tools" at its disposal to stop the threat the Iranian regime poses. US ambassador to the UN John Bolton sent Sunday a tough message towards Teheran and urged the international community to take action quickly in order to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capability.

"The longer we wait to confront the threat Iran poses, the harder and more intractable it will become to solve," Bolton told a crowd of 5,000 AIPAC members at the lobby's annual policy conference in Washington. On the eve of the discussion at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about referring Iran to the UN Security Council, ambassador Bolton warned that "failure by the Security Council to act on this matter would be a highly detrimental abrogation of the duties it is charged with under the UN Charter," adding that "the Security Council must take due note that failure to act in a timely manner and with seriousness of purpose will do lasting damage to the credibility of the Council."

The Sun Online - News: Hate-filled Muslim returns

2006-03-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

The Sun Online - News: Hate-filled Muslim returns By ANIL PABLA

Europe continues to assist in its own suicide. I would like to understand their reasoning, I simply can not wrap my head around it though.

A FANATICAL Muslim who ranted against Britain has moved back here from Pakistan — to live on benefits.

Hate-filled Zeeshan Siddiqui, 26, who once called London an “organ of the devil”, is enjoying life in a suburb of the capital.

The Sun tracked down Siddiqui to a quiet, tree-lined road in Heston, West London, following his release from custody by Pakistani police who were probing suspected terror links.

In the past he has said he wants to be an Islamic martyr, called for all non-Muslims to be killed and declared his contempt for the UK. Yet he is happy to sponge off our taxpayers to the tune of £52.60 a week in Jobseekers Allowance.

Siddiqui slipped back into Britain in January after eight months in prison in Peshawar.

He was suspected of having links to the 7/7 London bombers and at school was friends with Britain’s first suicide bomber Asif Hanif, who died in Israel in 2003.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion

2006-03-06T05:56:00.000-08:00

INFANTRY PATROL By Ralph Peters

I real picture of the troops in Iraq - quite different from the daily "death and destruction" the MSM is so fond of promoting.

CAPT. Jeremy Gwinn's In fantrymen had a very good day. It started early, with Bravo Company's 2nd Platoon nabbing an insurgent tied to several assassinations. But as midnight approached there was still one mission to complete.

Acting on tips from local Iraqis, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry from Fort Drum had been rolling up a murder- and roadside-bombing-ring for weeks. In a violence-free raid, they'd just apprehended the elder member of a terror cell. Now the prisoner had to be transferred back to the headquarters compound for processing.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Why Do Democrats Fear the Al-Qaida/Saddam Relationship? By Michael Barone

2006-03-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Why Do Democrats Fear the Al-Qaida/Saddam Relationship? By Michael Barone

How any objective person can not conclude there was a cooperative relationship between Saddam and al-Qaida is beyond me. Their objectives were the same (damage to the US), their tactics were the same (pure brutality) and they had plenty of opportunity and motive. I am willing to admit there is not hard proof that Saddam had a hand in 9/11, but am I willing to rule it out as pure fiction - no, I'm not.

For the dissenters of the al-Qaida/Saddam connection, more is at stake than just being wrong.

The issue is historical now, but still worth exploring. Why, for two distinct groups of Americans, has it become a matter of conviction held with religious intensity that there cannot have been any relationship between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq?

The American Spectator

2006-03-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

Missed Tributes By Ben Stein

I didn't watch any of the Oscars. We were traveling to see our daughter and her hubby out east - 1,300 miles in two days. I could have swore it was only 1,100. Imagine my surprise as we passed that magic number and still had 200 to go! So, the Oscar watching slipped by. I wouldn't have watched. The urge to vomit every time some "star" opens his or her mouth is almost past my ability to control it. And entire evening would have certainly resulted in a loss of control.

Ben Stein watched - a brave and strong soul. And he notes that those that make free speech possible were ignored. Those who died for freedoms of all peoples of the world were ignored. Those that have lost loved ones in that fight were ignored. I'm not surprised.

Author Bio
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Missed Tributes
By Ben Stein
Published 3/6/2006 2:08:21 AM

Now for a few humble thoughts about the Oscars.

I did not see every second of it, but my wife did, and she joins me in noting that there was not one word of tribute, not one breath, to our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan or to their families or their widows or orphans. There were pitifully dishonest calls for peace -- as if the people we are fighting were interested in any peace for us but the peace of the grave. But not one word for the hundreds of thousands who have served and are serving, not one prayer or moment of silence for the dead and maimed.

Basically, the sad truth is that Hollywood does not think of itself as part of America, and so, to Hollywood, the war to save freedom from Islamic terrorists is happening to someone else. It does not concern them except insofar as it offers occasion to mock or criticize George Bush. They live in dreamland and cannot be gracious enough to thank the men and women who pay with their lives for the stars' ability to live in dreamland. This is shameful.

Iran vows nuclear work to continue - By John Daniszewski

2006-03-06T05:08:00.000-08:00

Iran vows nuclear work to continue - By John Daniszewski

I like the "tone" of the response from Iran:

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said yesterday that his country stood ready to increase the scale of its uranium enrichment if its nuclear program is formally put before the UN Security Council this week.

Appearing relaxed and confident during a news conference despite mounting pressure from the international community, the negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Iran was willing to talk about many aspects of its nuclear program but that it would not suspend the small-scale enrichment activities it began this month.

How amusing. They will increase production no matter what. Referral to the Security Council is simply a mechanic to keep insisting that the UN is the problem, rather than the fact they have had a covert program for the past 18 years to develop nuclear weapons.

I loved the "appearing relaxed and confident" line. Why not. Europe has bent its knee to Islamofacists on the cartoon issue and have ignored Iran's nuclear program for the past 3 years. Why the hell shouldn't he be confident.

Las Vegas SUN: Bush to Propose Line-Item Veto Legislation

2006-03-06T05:01:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas SUN: Bush to Propose Line-Item Veto Legislation

This would be one of the greatest pork fighting tools any administration - Democrat or Republican - could have. I view it as vital if the government is ever going to get spending under control.

President Bush plans to send proposed legislation to Congress on Monday that would allow him to control spending by vetoing specific items in larger bills, a Bush administration official said.

Iran, EU Nuclear Talks End Without Result - By GEORGE JAHN

2006-03-03T05:53:00.000-08:00

Iran, EU Nuclear Talks End Without Result - By GEORGE JAHN

Of course there was a "result". Any action against Iran was delayed until March. I suspect further little issues will come up to delay any UN "action" (God help us if that is our solution to Iran - the U.N.)a few more weeks. I continue to believe all the seemingly unrelated flare-ups - the cartoons, the bombing of the mosque, the assault on Christians in Nigeria - all of these things are related. There is a feeling of momentum building in the Islamofacist world and I believe it revolves around the Iranian nuclear program. I expect significant developments to be made public in Iran by the end of this month. Time will tell.

VIENNA, Austria - Talks between European Union negotiators and Iran over its nuclear ambitions broke up Friday without any agreement, paving the way for potential U.N. Security Council action against Tehran as early as next week.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the EU had been demanding "full and complete suspension" of Iran's uranium enrichment and related activities.

"Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement," he told reporters after meeting with Iranian negotiators for just over two hours.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Has Washington Gone Insane? by Daniel Henninger

2006-03-03T05:37:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Has Washington Gone Insane? by Daniel Henninger

Insanity: unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand that prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or that releases one from criminal or civil responsibility.

Yep, that's about right as I watch the liberal Washington establishment bash away at President Bush. No facts, nor reason (other than Bush Derangement Syndrome - BDS), a substancial amount of fabrication - from CBS to the Katrina tapes this week. These are the folks determining the future of our children? Scares the crap out of me!

Perhaps nothing has been more destructive to Washington's current ability to function than the belief that "Bush lied" about WMD, most notably Joe Wilson's foundational charge in the New York Times that Mr. Bush lied about Iraq's attempts to buy uranium from Niger.

This persistent belief that George Bush committed a major moral crime, which was refuted by the Robb-Silberman Commission, had consequences. It has led many people in Washington's standing institutions--Congress, the press, the intelligence and foreign-policy bureaucracies--to think they've been released from operating inside the normal boundaries that allow political Washington to function, that allow partisans to do business, whether on foreign policy, Social Security or homeland security.

Over the Bush years that code has been displaced by a new ethos that to resist policies that flowed from such a "lie," anything goes--such as leaks about the most sensitive national security programs or published "dissents" by recently retired CIA officials like Paul Pillar. Compare this ethos to that of the U.S. intelligence community that ran the Venona program, producing invaluable signals intelligence on Soviet espionage activities from 1943 onward without any participant revealing its existence. No such achievement is imaginable now.

Imprimis - Hillsdale College

2006-03-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

America and the United Nations by Mark Steyn

The state of the UN - very sad indeed.

In fact, however, the UN is a shamefully squalid organization whose corruption is almost impossible to exaggerate. If you think—as the media and the left do in this country—that Iraq is a God-awful mess (which it’s not), then try being the Balkans or Sudan or even Cyprus or anywhere where the problem’s been left to the United Nations. If you don’t want to bulk up your pension by skimming the Oil-for-Food program, no need to worry. Whatever your bag, the UN can find somewhere that suits—in West Africa, it’s Sex-for-Food, with aid workers demanding sexual services from locals as young as four; in Cambodia, it’s drug dealing; in Kenya, it’s the refugee extortion racket; in the Balkans, sex slaves. On a UN peace mission, everyone gets his piece.

Didier Bourguet, a UN staffer in Congo and the Central African Republic, enjoyed the pleasures of 12-year-old girls, and as a result is now on trial in France. His lawyer has said he was part of a UN pedophile network operating from Africa to southeast Asia. But has anyone read anything about that? The merest glimpse of a U.S. servicewoman leading an Abu Ghraib inmate around with girlie knickers on his head was enough to prompt calls for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation, and for Ted Kennedy to charge that Saddam’s torture chambers were now open “under new management.” But systemic UN child sex in at least 50 percent of their missions? The transnational morality set can barely stifle their yawns. If you’re going to sexually assault prepubescent girls, make sure you’re wearing a blue helmet.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion

2006-03-02T05:06:00.000-08:00

BRINGING POWER TO THE PEOPLE By RALPH PETERS

It's nice to hear the good news from Iraq. Progress is being made, real progress. It's just that it is so much more damaging to our efforts there, and to President Bush, if the violence is reported that few in the MSM bother reporting good news. This is definitely a feel-good story about our on-going efforts to help the Iraqi people.

ONE of the most persistent myths about Iraq is that our efforts to im prove the electrical system failed. That's just plain wrong. The country's in far better shape than it was under Saddam.

But freedom always has a cost: In this case, the demand for power soared after Saddam fell — and crashed the grid. It's been a long, hard fight to get it back up.

Iraq never had an adequate power grid. Under the Ba'athist regime, Baghdad might have enjoyed power 18 or 20 hours a day, but other cities got three or four. One of the first things we did was to distribute power more equitably. Baghdad gets less, so its residents complain — but if you're in almost any other Iraqi city, you're far better off today than you were three years ago.

FrontPage magazine.com :: Iran’s Murderous Course by Robert Spencer

2006-03-02T04:42:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: Iran’s Murderous Course by Robert Spencer

Iran's version of the "Religion of Peace" fits nicely with their political direction - kill all that disagree, even if you have to use nuclear weapons. A dangerous country country continues on the road to war. Load up the bombers Mr. President, load up the bombers.

“If setting fire to embassies of countries that insult the Prophet aims to show that these countries no longer have any place in Islamic countries then this act is permissible.” So says Ayatollah Dorri Najaf-Abadi, the Chief State Prosecutor of Iran, in ruling in favor of burning down the embassies of countries in which newspapers print the notorious Muhammad cartoons. It is not surprising that the regime that triggered the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979 would deny the sanctity of embassies, but the Ayatollah’s words here fit into a larger pattern in Iran. According to the dissident Iranian publication Rooz, as reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Shi’ite clerics in the religious center of Qom have endorsed the use of nuclear weapons as well: “Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of [Ayatollah] Mesbah Yazdi [who is Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s spiritual mentor], has spoken for the first time of using nuclear weapons as a counter-measure. He stated that ‘in terms of the shari’a, it all depends on the goal.’”

Democratic group targets Senate GOP - The Boston Globe

2006-03-02T04:36:00.000-08:00

Democratic group targets Senate GOP - Daschle aiding project to gather, spread criticism By Rick Klein, Globe Staff

Every once in awhile I get a little nervous that the Democrats might stand a chance of taking back the House or the Senate this year. Then they go ahead and do something stupid like this, and I realize my fears are unwarranted. Now, if they put together a group to generate and voice a clear direction of where they would like to go with firm ideas and facts to back up those ideas, I would be worried. But, to generate a new group to dig dirt?? What a typically Democratic idea.

Hoping to strike back at Republicans who mounted a yearslong effort to oust him from office, former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle is helping raise millions of dollars to form a new political advocacy group aimed at creating a clearinghouse of opposition-research information against all Senate Republicans.

Senate Majority Project is to formally launch today, with Daschle and other Democrats looking to bring in more than $2 million to collect and disseminate political information critical of all GOP senators, not just the handful of vulnerable incumbents whom Democrats have targeted this year. The project is the first concerted attempt by Democrats to create a permanent opposition-research arm focusing on all Republicans.

''It [is] time to stop playing defense all the time and start holding every Republican accountable for what they do in Washington," Daschle wrote in a fund-raising letter to prospective donors last month.

Kennedy tries to halt windmills By Audrey Hudson, The Washington Times

2006-03-02T04:29:00.000-08:00

Kennedy tries to halt windmills By Audrey Hudson, The Washington Times

How can this possibly be?? A major Democratic leader opposing a project designed to make us less dependent of foreign oil?? Oh, of course, the project would affect him, silly me.

A fight to block alternative fuel development that could replace oil-burning power plants for communities along the Nantucket Sound has created an unusual alliance on Capitol Hill, with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy backing the fight against the green proposal.
Mr. Kennedy, a staunch environmentalist, opposes the Cape Wind project, which will place windmills in the sound's shallows to create electricity for customers in Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
Critics say the Massachusetts Democrat doesn't want the Cape Wind project in his own back yard along with 130 windmills that might clutter the water view of the Kennedy clan's vacation home. Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts' junior senator and another key green ally, called attempts to derail the project an "insult."

Security Experts Counter Dem Attacks on Port Deal -- 03/02/2006

2006-03-02T04:17:00.000-08:00

Security Experts Counter Dem Attacks on Port Deal -- By Monisha Bansal

While numerous politicos and pundits run around with their hair on fire about the "ports deal", the adults are taking advantage of the 45 day delay to review the port security concerns. Turns out the President was right, the ports will be as secure after the deal as they are today. Imagine that.

Rear Adm. Craig Bone, director of inspection and compliance at the U.S. Coast Guard, rejected some of the criticism that has been leveled at the Bush administration following its initial approval of the DPW takeover of the ports.

"The idea that no one's watching and that these people can do whatever they want with our ports is false," Bone said. "They are not responsible for the security operations that the Coast Guard or state law enforcement agencies are carrying out. It has been misrepresented as they will have access to all our security information.

The only people who possess that security information are law enforcement or individuals with security clearances, Bone asserted.

NO WAR IN THE STREETS By RALPH PETERS - In Iraq

2006-03-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

NO WAR IN THE STREETS By RALPH PETERS - In Iraq

The thing that I wonder about, in my heart of hearts, is why so many in the MSM are committed to our defeat in Iraq. Honestly, the only answer that I can come up with is that they hate our troops, they hate our country and they hate George Bush.

THE reporting out of Baghdad continues to be hysterical and dishonest. There is no civil war in the streets. None. Period.

Terrorism, yes. Civil war, no. Clear enough?

Yesterday, I crisscrossed Baghdad, visiting communities on both banks of the Tigris and logging at least 25 miles on the streets. With the weekend curfew lifted, I saw traffic jams, booming business Â and everyday life in abundance.

At War With Ourselves - We're winning in Iraq. Let's not lose at home. BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

2006-03-01T06:04:00.000-08:00

At War With Ourselves - We're winning in Iraq. Let's not lose at home. BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

I believe that last week, with the bombing of the mosque in Samarra, the new government of Iraq showed it wants a stable government and a peaceful country. It clearly showed that it is willing to step up and make sure that happens. We are winning the war in Iraq.

Last week the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra was blown apart. Sectarian riots followed, and reprisals and deaths ensued. Thugs and criminals came out of the woodwork to foment further violence. But instead of the apocalypse of an ensuing civil war, a curfew was enforced. Iraqi security forces stepped in with some success. Shaken Sunni and Shiite leaders appeared on television to urge restraint, and there appeared at least the semblance of reconciliation that may soon presage a viable coalition government.

But here at home you would have thought that our own capitol dome had exploded. Indeed, Americans more than the Iraqis needed such advice for calm to quiet our own frenzy. Almost before the golden shards of the mosque hit the pavement, pundits wrote off the war as lost--as we heard the tired metaphors of "final straw" and "camel's back" mindlessly repeated. The long-anticipated civil strife among Shiites and Sunnis, we were assured, was not merely imminent, but already well upon us. Then the great civil war sort of fizzled out; our own frenzy subsided; and now exhausted we await next week's new prescription of doom--apparently the hyped-up story of Arabs at our ports. That the Iraqi security forces are becoming bigger and better, that we have witnessed three successful elections, and that hundreds of brave American soldiers have died to get us to the brink of seeing an Iraqi government emerge was forgotten in a 24-hour news cycle.

Las Vegas SUN: Study: One in 1,000 Know First Amendment

2006-03-01T05:47:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas SUN: Study: One in 1,000 Know First Amendment By ANNA JOHNSON

Perhaps this explains why we aren't seeing protest marches in the streets demanding that the Muslim community adopt and support the basic rights of American citizens within our borders - freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances. I have a great fear that in the name of "diversity" my grandchildren will not be able to criticize a religion that if obviously at war with our most basic western values.

Americans apparently know more about "The Simpsons" than they do about the First Amendment.

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.

Americans and Jews villains in blockbuster - World - By Tony Paterson, The Washington Times

2006-03-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

Americans and Jews villains in blockbuster - World - By Tony Paterson, The Washington Times

I am outraged!! I'm going to gather a couple thousand of my "peeps" and rampage through the streets of Cedar Rapids burning all the Turkish stores! They we will burn the Turkish embassy!! (Is there a Turkish embassy in Cedar Rapids???) Then we will burn all the cookbooks on how to cook Turkey!! Oops, got a little carried away!

Imagine if civilized westerners responded to this piece of crap the way Muslims do.

A virulently anti-Semitic film about the Iraq war has provoked a storm of protest in Germany after it sold out to cheering audiences from the country's 2.5-million-strong Turkish community within days of being released.

"Valley of the Wolves," by the Turkish director Serdan Akar, shows crazed American GIs massacring innocent guests at a wedding party and scenes in which a Jewish surgeon removes organs from Iraqi prisoners in a style reminiscent of the Nazi death-camp doctor Josef Mengele.

Bavaria's interior minister conceded last week that he had dispatched intelligence service agents to cinemas showing the film to "gauge" audience reaction and identify potential radicals.

Edmund Stoiber, the state's conservative governor, has appealed to cinema operators to remove what he described as "this racist and anti-Western hate film" from their programs.

The $10.5 million film, the most expensive Turkish production ever made, had already proved a box-office hit in Turkey, where it first opened last month at a gala attended by the wife of the country's prime minister.

Civil Rights Pioneer Heads Pro-Wal-Mart Group -- By Randy Hall

2006-03-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

Civil Rights Pioneer Heads Pro-Wal-Mart Group -- By Randy Hall

It's nice to see such a prominent figure pick up the torch for WalMart. They seem to be the company of choice for state governments to target now that they have beaten the cigarette companies to a bloody pulp. The "WalMart Law" passed by Maryland that requires WalMart to pay a specific amount of their income to employees for health insurance is socialism at its worse. The sooner this is fought and stopped, the better for all companies.

Andrew Young has been a prominent civil rights activist, a U.S. congressman, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the mayor of Atlanta. Now, as a declared "fan" of Wal-Mart, Young is heading a group trying to counter criticism of the world's largest retailer.

In this latest capacity, Young finds himself opposite other members of the black civil rights establishment, like Jesse Jackson, who in 2004 alleged that Wal-Mart was joining with the Republican Party and conservatives in attempting to "push the ideology of the Confederacy" in America.

Foreign Policy: The Return of Patriarchy

2006-02-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Foreign Policy: The Return of Patriarchy

An interesting take on birth rates, comparing the birth rate of those children of the 60's who chose single child or no child famlies and those that chose larger famlies. Might account for the decline in liberal influences in our country.

Declining birthrates also change national temperament. In the United States, for example, the percentage of women born in the late 1930s who remained childless was near 10 percent. By comparison, nearly 20 percent of women born in the late 1950s are reaching the end of their reproductive lives without having had children. The greatly expanded childless segment of contemporary society, whose members are drawn disproportionately from the feminist and countercultural movements of the 1960s and 70s, will leave no genetic legacy. Nor will their emotional or psychological influence on the next generation compare with that of their parents.

Meanwhile, single-child families are prone to extinction. A single child replaces one of his or her parents, but not both. Nor do single-child families contribute much to future population. The 17.4 percent of baby boomer women who had only one child account for a mere 7.8 percent of children born in the next generation. By contrast, nearly a quarter of the children of baby boomers descend from the mere 11 percent of baby boomer women who had four or more children. These circumstances are leading to the emergence of a new society whose members will disproportionately be descended from parents who rejected the social tendencies that once made childlessness and small families the norm. These values include an adherence to traditional, patriarchal religion, and a strong identification with one’s own folk or nation.

We should fear Holland’s silence - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

2006-02-28T22:13:00.000-08:00

We should fear HollandÂs silence - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Europe's surrender to the Islamofacists continues. It's like watching a candle slowly consume the last of its fuel and flicker out. Loosing the light of Europe does not bode well for our planet.

Europe is shuffling into darkness. It is proving incapable of standing up to its enemies, and in an effort to accommodate the peripheral rights of a minority is failing to protect the most basic rights of its own people.

Iran Readies Plan to Close Strait of Hormuz

2006-02-28T17:45:00.000-08:00

Iran Readies Plan to Close Strait of Hormuz by Kenneth R. Timmerman

Yep, just a peaceful little country in search of nuclear weapons and the elimination of Israel. Just trying to get along.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are making preparations for a massive assault on U.S. naval forces and international shipping in the Persian Gulf, according to a former Iranian intelligence officer who defected to the West in 2001.

The plans, which include the use of bottom-tethered mines potentially capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers, were designed to counter a U.S. land invasion and to close the Strait of Hormuz, the defector said in a phone interview from his home in Europe.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Iraqi People Continue to Disappoint the Pessimists by Jack Kelly

2006-02-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Iraqi People Continue to Disappoint the Pessimists by Jack Kelly

I have been very proud of the Iraqi people and their willingness to "lay it on the line" against the animals determined to plunge their country into chaos and death. I am disappointed that the majority of the MSM around the world are hoping for bodies in the street rather than peace in the land It is nice to see the Iraqi people show the world what they are made of.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Sunni Arabs in Iraq are prepared to end their boycott of talks to form a national unity government, thus disappointing yet again those journalists who've been telling us for two years civil war is imminent.

It seemed last Wednesday as if the pessimists might finally be right after terrorists destroyed the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. Shia militias attacked more than a dozen Sunni mosques in retaliation. An unprecedented three day curfew was imposed in Baghdad in order to curb sectarian violence in which more than 100 people were killed.

We Can Live With a Nuclear Iran - New York Times

2006-02-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

We Can Live With a Nuclear Iran - by BARRY R. POSEN, New York Times

A stunningly ignorant piece by a supposedly learned man about living with a nuclear Iran. When the President of Iran clearly states that Israel must be wiped off the face of the map, when he clearly states he expect to see Armageddon within his life time, when he clearly states it might take 100 million Muslim deaths to bring about such an event, I question Mr. Posen's sanity.

THE intense concern about Iran's nuclear energy program reflects the judgment that, should it turn to the production of weapons, an Iran with nuclear arms would gravely endanger the United States and the world. An Iranian nuclear arsenal, policymakers fear, could touch off a regional arms race while emboldening Tehran to undertake aggressive, even reckless, actions.

But these outcomes are not inevitable, nor are they beyond the capacity of the United States and its allies to defuse. Indeed, while it's seldom a positive thing when a new nuclear power emerges, there is reason to believe that we could readily manage a nuclear Iran.

Really???? We could "manage" a nuclear Iran???

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Oncoming by David Warren

2006-02-28T05:52:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Oncoming by David Warren

A very clear-headed article about the accelerating conflict between the West and Islam. Read it all.

This will be my 11th consecutive column, directly or indirectly on the “Danish cartoons” issue. The cartoons themselves were a red herring from the start -- a fake issue, trumped up by fanatical Muslims seeking grievances to abet a confrontation, and thereby extract concessions from the West. It is a fire, still being stoked around the world by radical “Islamists”, using shameless lies and misrepresentations. (See my previous columns.)

The reason I have written so copiously on this subject -- not the cartoons themselves, but what I have called the “organized apoplexy” in response to them -- is because it is important. In my judgement, it is the most important thing that has happened since the Al Qaeda attack on the United States, in 2001. It is important in combination with other fast-developing events, including the victory of the openly terrorist Hamas in a Palestinian election; Iran’s public promise to “wipe Israel off the map”; collapsing public order in Pakistan, Nigeria, and elsewhere; the recent Muslim riots, and continuing low-level Intifada in France; and now the destruction of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, triggering vicious sectarian strife in Iraq. And quite literally, hundreds of lesser events of the same nature -- each revealing an Islamic world in combustion, and a West retreating into contrived apologies and other confused gestures of cowardice and panic.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran forges ahead with enrichment

2006-02-28T05:48:00.000-08:00

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran forges ahead with enrichment

I am continually amazed by the "surprised tone" is news accounts regarding Iran. Why on earth is anyone surprised that Iran is giving the "single digit salute" to the world and firing up their nuclear program? They have clearly stated, for a least a year now, that it is their right and intention to enrich uranium. Period. Load up the bombers Mr. President, load up the bombers.

Iran is forging ahead with nuclear enrichment by feeding uranium gas into centrifuge "cascades", a report by the United Nations' atomic watchdog says.

Iran has begun using a 10-centrifuge machine - or cascade - and is testing a 20-machine version, chief inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said.

Feeding the gas into centrifuges can produce fuel for nuclear power plants, or, ultimately, atomic weapons.

Iran says its plans are peaceful, but Mr ElBaradei said he could not be sure.

Bikers Guard US Military Funerals Against Protesters -- 02/27/2006

2006-02-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

Bikers Guard US Military Funerals Against Protesters - By Nathan Burchfiel

This level of disrespect for a fallen soldier is beyone my understanding. I am proud of these bikers that see the need to protect the famlies from these "christians" and take up the task.

A group of motorcycle riders who attend U.S. soldiers' funerals to protect them from anti-homosexual protestors on Saturday surpassed the 10,000-member mark.

The Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) escort families of fallen soldiers to funeral services and stand between the funeral proceedings and protestors from the Westboro Baptist Church, who picket the ceremonies with anti-American and anti-homosexuality slogans.

The Westboro Baptist Church, according to its website godhatesfags.com, believes that God uses improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq to avenge the August 1995 bombing of the church headquarters in Topeka, Kan. Church founder Fred Phelps Sr. believes the 1995 bomb was a government attempt to silence his group. Topeka police ruled it a random attack that was part of a string of bombings in the area.

Members of Phelps' church stand outside funeral services holding signs that say, "God Hates Fags," and "God Hates the USA." They also sing songs with anti-homosexual messages. Patriot Group Riders stand between church members and funerals, usually using American flags to obstruct the protestors' view.

Investor's Business Daily: Saddam Had WMD

2006-02-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

Investor's Business Daily: Saddam Had WMD

Imagine that, Saddam, on tape, talking about multiple WMD programs, including nuclear ones. All this after 2000. I wonder if Teddy - "lie after lie after lie" - Kennedy or the other doubters will now focus more energy on where these materials went rather than whether President Bush "lied" to get us into the war in Iraq. Some how I doubt it.

Now that Leno and Letterman have had their way with Vice President Cheney's hunting accident and the port controversy, maybe we can get back to something really important — like Saddam's WMD program.

Yes, the linchpin of opposition to the Iraq War — never really strong to begin with — has taken some real hits in recent weeks. And "Bush lied" — the anti-war mantra about the president, Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction — looks the most battered.

Inconveniently for critics of the war, Saddam made tapes in his version of the Oval Office. These tapes landed in the hands of American intelligence and were recently aired publicly.

The first 12 hours of the tapes — there are hundreds more waiting to be translated — are damning, to say the least. They show conclusively that Bush didn't lie when he cited Saddam's WMD plans as one of the big reasons for taking the dictator out.

Michelle Malkin: MADNESS IN MALAYSIA

2006-02-24T06:36:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin: MADNESS IN MALAYSIA

The global Islamic war on free speech continues in Malaysia. Not you can't even draw a cartoon about drawing a cartoon of Mohammad. You can almost hear the whimper in the voice of the paper's apology to the governments body reviewing the cartoon.

Obviously, we misjudged how different people would react to Wiley Miller’s Non Sequitur syndicated cartoon published by the New Straits Times last Monday. We have written to the Internal Security Ministry in response to its letter asking us to show cause, explaining the processes involved and how the cartoon came to be published. It is a process involving the human factor, and humans err.

We told the ministry the same thing we are telling you — that we may have misjudged how different people would react to the cartoon, which, as we have pointed out to the authorities, was NOT one of the 12 produced by Danish cartoonists that outraged Muslims throughout the world. It was a totally different cartoon.

OpinionJournal - Wonder Land

2006-02-24T05:33:00.000-08:00

Senator Yosemite Sam - Washington defines politics downward. BY DANIEL HENNINGER

Has the congressional response to the "port issue" been reasoned this week? No.

Witnessing the political reaction this week to the administration's Dubai ports-management decision, the phrase that insistently called out from memory was the title of a famous essay by the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "Defining Deviancy Down." One would not have thought it possible, but Washington's political class is defining our politics down.

After nearly seven days of elevating the Cheney bird-hunting accident to the level of a national crisis, now comes this week's flap over managing the ports. To be sure, the matter of secure U.S. ports trumps the hunting of quail as an affaire d'état. But it was the strikingly low quality of the politicians' commentary and behavior that attracted notice.

Within hours, if not minutes, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Robert Menendez announced "emergency" legislation to "ban foreign governments from controlling operations at our ports." No matter that most of the current operators of our ports are from Denmark, Britain and, uh-oh, China. Chuck Schumer: "It's hard to believe that this administration would be so out of touch with the American people's national security concerns." Yes, that is hard to believe.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - A Dubai Finesse by Charles Krauthammer

2006-02-24T05:24:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - A Dubai Finesse by Charles Krauthammer

There has been so much lip-flapping about the sale of the British Company, P&O to a holding company in the UAE and, thus, their management of 6 US ports, that it has been difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff on a daily basis. So, I have been waiting for a clear-eyed view of the whole process to emerge this week. I think Mr. Krauthammer has done the best job of reviewing the arguments and providing the probable solution to this whole thing.

Congress is up in arms. The Democrats, in particular, are in full cry, gleeful to at last get to the right of George Bush on an issue of national security.

Gleeful, and shamelessly hypocritical. If a citizen of the UAE walked into an airport in full burnoose and flowing robes, speaking only Arabic, Democrats would be deeply offended, and might even sue, if the security people were to give him any more scrutiny than they would to my sweet 84-year-old mother.

Democrats loudly denounce any thought of racial profiling. But when that same Arab, attired in business suit and MBA, and with a good record running ports in 15 countries, buys P&O, Democrats howl at the very idea of allowing Arabs to run our ports. (Republicans are howling too, but they don't grandstand on the issue of racial profiling.)

Townhall.com :: Columns :: Don't blame democracy by Clifford D. May - Feb 23, 2006

2006-02-24T05:16:00.000-08:00

Townhall.com :: Columns :: Don't blame democracy by Clifford D. May - Feb 23, 2006

I get a little tire of the "see, I told you Democracy wouldn't work" crowd when they look at the Mideast, particularly the West Bank and Iran. Just because people vote, that does not indicate that democratic forces are at work.

Democracy is getting a bum rap. President Bush's insistence on promoting democracy abroad, critics chide, has now brought Hamas, a Militant Islamist terrorist organization, to power in the West Bank and Gaza. If this is democracy, they say, who needs it?

But what has taken root in the Palestinian territories isn't democracy. Or, more precisely, it isn't liberal democracy -- which presupposes freedom of speech and the press, the rule of law, an independent judiciary and guarantees of rights for minorities and women.

If elections were all it required to qualify as a democracy, the Soviet Union would have been one, since Soviet citizens regularly went to the polls to elect whichever candidates the Communist Party chose.

In Iran, too, people cast ballots. But Militant Islamist mullahs decide who runs and who wins. And in the West Bank and Gaza, while elections have been held occasionally since the 1993 Oslo Accords first awarded power to Yassir Arafat's political machine, democratic values have not been seriously encouraged and democratic institutions have not been constructed.

As Iran Goes, So Goes the Third World By Christopher Orlet

2006-02-24T04:38:00.000-08:00

As Iran Goes, So Goes the Third World By Christopher Orlet

The idea of a nuclear Iran has much broader implications than simply the tilt of power in the Mideast. If the world fails to stop them from acquiring nuclear weapons in a decisive manner, why would they stop other third world countries from going nuclear as well?

Some things are inevitable, like wrinkles and French anti-Americanism. We may as well add a nuclear Iran to the list. Each day more analysts, pundits and editorial page writers are coming round to the conclusion that the U.S. and its Western allies have accepted the idea of a nuclear Iran.

But if a thermonuclear Iran is a given, what's to prevent the rest of the Middle East from hopping aboard the plutonium bomb wagon? Certainly if Iran can afford nukes, so too can Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Venezuela. Finances may not even be the issue. Did wretched economies prevent Pakistan and North Korea -- one of the world's poorest countries -- from developing nukes? So what's to stop Yemen?

Adopt Our Values or Go Home, Foreign-Born Muslims Told -- By Patrick Goodenough

2006-02-24T04:28:00.000-08:00

Adopt Our Values or Go Home, Foreign-Born Muslims Told - By Patrick Goodenough

If a Muslim immigrates to a country and asks for citizenship, doesn't it make sense that they would want to be a full member of that society? Doesn't that country have the right to expect that of all its citizens? Obviously the Aussies understand this basic ingredient to granting citizenship.

Australian Muslims already unhappy with Prime Minister John Howard's criticism about Islamic radicalism are bristling at even tougher comments from the man tipped to succeed him, who says any Muslim immigrant who can't accept Australian values should leave.

Anyone wanting to live under Islamic law (shari'a) might feel more comfortable living in countries where it is applied, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, federal Treasurer Peter Costello said in an address to the Sydney Institute, a think tank.

In a pledge of allegiance, immigrants taking on Australian citizenship declare: "I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I will uphold and obey."

Costello said that anyone "who does not acknowledge the supremacy of civil law laid down by democratic processes cannot truthfully take the pledge of allegiance. As such they do not meet the pre-condition for citizenship."

EclectEcon U. S. Cartoonists fight back

2006-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

EclectEcon U. S. Cartoonists fight back

Ya gotta love these guys.

German court convicts man for insulting Islam - Yahoo! News

2006-02-23T08:01:00.001-08:00

German court convicts man for insulting Islam - Yahoo! News

The surrender of Europe continues, this time in Germany.

A German court on Thursday convicted a businessman of insulting Islam by printing the word "Koran" on toilet paper and offering it to mosques.

The 61-year-old man, identified only as Manfred van H., was given a one-year jail sentence, suspended for five years, and ordered to complete 300 hours of community service, a district court in the western German town of Luedinghausen ruled.

I wonder if they will arrest local Imams for preaching jihad and hate at Friday services? I suspect not.

Preval Says Aristide Can Return to Haiti By STEVENSON JACOBS

2006-02-23T07:27:00.000-08:00

Preval Says Aristide Can Return to Haiti By STEVENSON JACOBS

I can't help but feel that this is not good news for Haiti. The damage Aristide did to the country while President was extreme. While he talks of freedoms, his rein was anything but free with dissenters being killed out-of-hand. Time will tell.

Last February I was part of a mission trip to Haiti and spent a week in the hill country. You can read my journal here and see our photos here. A heart-breaking trip that was the beginning of a long-term relationship with the Priest and parishioners of Bellefontaine.

Haiti's president-elect said Wednesday that the nation's constitution permits the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but Rene Preval declined to say whether he would welcome home his exiled former mentor.

Preval, a 63-year-old agronomist, said Aristide could not be barred from returning to the volatile Caribbean nation two years after he was toppled in a bloody revolt.

"My position is simple on President Aristide and any other citizen who wants to come to Haiti," Preval said in his first news conference since he was declared the winner of the Feb. 7 election. "Article 41 of the Haitian Constitution says that no Haitian needs a visa to enter or leave the country."

An antiwar message from the Midwest - Editorials/Op-Ed - The Washington Times

2006-02-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

An antiwar message from the Midwest - Editorials/Op-Ed - The Washington Times

Minnesota Democrats attack Iraq war veterans as un-American. This is the face of the new Democratic party.

A conservative group recently started an advertising campaign in Minnesota showing veterans and families of slain troops expressing their support for the Iraq war, only to have the head of the state Democratic Party condemn the ads as "un-American, untruthful and a lie." He furthermore demands that Minnesota television stations pull the ads "and send a message that we will not tolerate this kind of 'swiftboating' anymore." At least one station so far has complied with the request, which is reason enough for outrage.
But there's been precious little of that. Aside from a handful of bloggers covering the issue and an appearance of one of the veterans on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," the media has ignored the issue completely, essentially proving one of the ad campaign's main points. The current media meme, at least as it concerns the homefront, is that most returning veterans have turned against the war and those still in field are demoralized and jaded. Meanwhile, parents of slain troops like Cindy Sheehan continue to rack up air time and column inches. The ad campaign seeks to correct this blatant misrepresentation.

A Failure of the Press By William J. Bennett and Alan M. Dershowitz

2006-02-23T05:29:00.000-08:00

A Failure of the Press By William J. Bennett and Alan M. Dershowitz

The old-line newspapers have surrendered to Islam. They have given up their freedom of the press to prevent possible physical attacks on their papers and people. Is this what our country is to come to??

The Boston Globe, speaking for many other outlets, editorialized: "[N]ewspapers ought to refrain from publishing offensive caricatures of Mohammed in the name of the ultimate Enlightenment value: tolerance."

But as for caricatures depicting Jews in the most medievally horrific stereotypes, or Christians as fanatics on any given issue, the mainstream press seems to hold no such value. And in the matter of disclosing classified information in wartime, the press competes for the scoop when it believes the public interest warrants it.

What has happened? To put it simply, radical Islamists have won a war of intimidation. They have cowed the major news media from showing these cartoons. The mainstream press has capitulated to the Islamists -- their threats more than their sensibilities. One did not see Catholics claiming the right to mayhem in the wake of the republished depiction of the Virgin Mary covered in cow dung, any more than one saw a rejuvenated Jewish Defense League take to the street or blow up an office when Ariel Sharon was depicted as Hitler or when the Israeli army was depicted as murdering the baby Jesus.

We're Losing By Ben Stein

2006-02-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

We're Losing By Ben Stein

We are loosing the war against Islam - yes, I said Islam. It can be seen in the fear the MSM has about publishing the Mohammed cartoons. If we give up our freedom of speech, have we not sacrificed the very core belief that defines America? Have we not surrendered to the idea that Islam is superior or our Constitution and all other religions practice ( or not practiced ) in America?

Greeting, fellow Americans. I have some serious news for you about the war against the terrorists, the war we are fighting to protect our liberties and our Constitution against Islamic totalitarianism. We're losing, big time. I don't mean we're losing in Iraq, where our brave men and women are fighting well in difficult conditions and with the home grown doubters at their heels. Nor in Afghanistan, where our men and women in uniform are also fighting brilliantly.

No, we are losing our freedom here at home, and in a particularly nasty way. It has to do with those cartoons mocking Mohammed that were published in a Danish publication and have excited riots and burnings across the Moslem world and fear and terror in Europe.

Hamas deputy advocates head covering By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

2006-02-23T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hamas deputy advocates head covering By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

And so the introduction of sharia law into the West Bank and Gaza Strip begins. It is breathtaking to watch a society choose to become a terrorist state and now choose to return to a perverted 8th century form of law. I suspect a year from now, Palestinians will be less than enchanted with their choice at the ballot box.

A Hamas legislator announced that his movement was planning to introduce the Islamic sharia into the law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The proposed law means that all women would be required to cover their heads in public places and those who commit adultery may be stoned to death. It also means that some convicted murderers may be beheaded in public squares.

Shrine bombing rocks Iraq - The Washington Times, By Ziad Khalaf

2006-02-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

Shrine bombing rocks Iraq - The Washington Times, By Ziad Khalaf

Perhaps those in Iraq who have been supporting these terrorists will realize that if they are willing to destroy a 1,200 year old mosque, they are no friend of Islam or Iraq.

Terrorists detonated bombs inside one of Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrines yesterday, destroying its golden dome and triggering more than 90 reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques. The president warned that extremists were pushing the country toward civil war.

Cox & Forkum Editorial Cartoons

2006-02-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

Cox & Forkum Editorial Cartoons

My absolute FAVORITE cartoon mocking the cartoon flap. It is just so deliciously irreverent on so many levels!!

Muslim Leaders Want UN to Outlaw 'Defamation' By Patrick Goodenough

2006-02-21T05:44:00.000-08:00

Muslim Leaders Want UN to Outlaw 'Defamation' By Patrick Goodenough

Imagine that, Islamists want to outlaw “Defamation”. They want to make it a crime for anyone on the planet to tell the world what a violent, sadistic and evil religion Islamofacism is.

Disturbed by Muslim leaders' attempts to criminalize any criticism of Islam, human rights campaigners are urging the United Nations to resist pressure to outlaw religious defamation in a resolution creating the U.N.'s new human rights council.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a Saudi-based grouping of the world's 57 Muslim states, wants the resolution's draft text to include a reference to "actions against religions, prophets and beliefs" and to state that "defamation of religions and prophets is inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression."

Wrap your head around that idea, “inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression”. it is "inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression that I can express my alarm at Islamofacism, that I can say that the idea that Mohamad is the one prophet of God is crap. Imagine a world like that.

The other four steps proposed by the OIC are the adoption of a U.N. General Assembly resolution prohibiting the "defamation of all prophets and faiths"; the passage of legislation in the European Parliament "against Islamophobia"; the adoption of a "code of ethics" for European media; and the implementation of a U.N. media standard " which should cover a definition of freedom of speech in case of religious symbols."

In other words, remove the concept of free speech from your nations. Islam trumps all freedom of speech, freedom of expression and, if you fail to do this, they will burn your embassies and kill those who write and say things we don't approve of. Europe is going to learn a terrible lesson yet again, appeasement never works.

ACLU Panel Urges Impeachment Over NSA Spying By Monisha Bansal

2006-02-21T05:10:00.000-08:00

ACLU Panel Urges Impeachment Over NSA Spying By Monisha Bansal

One can only hope that the Democrats and liberals keep on this bandwagon. Fighting for the impeachment of President Bush for intercepting communications between suspected terrorists is beyond my understanding. But, their insistence on it simply confirms that they can not be trusted with the security of the US.

While White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was asserting Monday that the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program was a vital tool in the war against terrorism, a panel assembled by the American Civil Liberties Union was arguing that President Bush should be impeached over the spying program.

"If the political alignment in the country were otherwise, impeachment would be a no-brainer," said Laurence H. Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard University.

In December, the New York Times disclosed that President Bush had authorized the NSA to tap international telephone calls that included one party suspected of terrorist activity.

Since that time the program's legality has been debated, especially over whether the president violated the law when he authorized the interception of electronic communications without first obtaining permission from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court.

WORLD Magazine | Weekly News, Christian Views

2006-02-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

Nuke nightmare - Recent news from Iran renews old fears and shows that the threat of nuclear attack just won’t go away by Marvin Olasky

Is a nuclear attack just a matter of time. Many think so.

On Sept. 12, 2001, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wrote that New Yorkers still alive should be thankful to be so, thankful that "for some reason, and we don't even know what it was, the terrorists didn't use a small nuclear weapon floated into New York on a barge in the East River."

She suspected that "the next time the bad guys hit" it will be nuclear, but "for now we have been spared. And now, chastened and shaken, we are given another chance, maybe the last chance, to commit ourselves seriously and at some cost to protecting our country."

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

2006-02-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

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

Is this the future of Europe in general? The response of other EU countries would imply the answer is yes.

For the past two weeks, Patrick Sookhdeo has been canvassing the opinions of Muslim clerics in Britain on the row over the cartoons featuring images of Mohammed that were first published in Denmark and then reprinted in several other European countries.

"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.

Israel halts funding to Palestinians - By Joshua Mitnick, The Washington Times,

2006-02-20T04:37:00.000-08:00

Israel halts funding to Palestinians By Joshua Mitnick, The Washington Times

No real surprise here. Why on earth should Israel contribute a single dime to a government swarn to their destruction?

The Israeli Cabinet voted yesterday to cut off all funding to the Palestinian Authority while acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the self-rule government -- now coming under Hamas control -- as a "terrorist authority."
Meanwhile, the head of the armed branch of Palestinian radical movement Islamic Jihad in the West Bank region of Nablus was killed early today by the Israeli army, Palestinian security sources said.
Israel's economic sanctions, which freeze monthly transfers of as much as $50 million in Palestinian customs revenue, will create a financial crisis in the West Bank and Gaza unless the authority can find alternate sources of funding.

FrontPage magazine.com :: Jihad in Europe: Past as Prologue? by Andrew G. Bostom

2006-02-20T04:33:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: Jihad in Europe: Past as Prologue? by Andrew G. Bostom

The conquest of Europe could well be past the opening battles. Mr. Bostom offers a broad review of the historical role Islam has played in Europe and the results of previous occupations.

This past fall, after three successive weeks of rioting in France by predominantly Muslim youths, the violence ebbed, albeit to an uneasy level in excess of the early October 2005 “baseline” before the riots. For example, about 60 cars per night continued to be burned as of December 8, 2005, and the number soared to 425 New Year’s Eve 2006, in “troubled,” i.e., Muslim neighborhoods. Then on New Years Day, teenagers of Arab Muslim origin, rampaged through a train between Nice and Lyon, intimidating and robbing passengers, and allegedly assaulting at least one young woman, sexually, prompting the creation of a special French police force to ensure security for railway passengers. During the fall 2005 intifada, the overwhelmingly Muslim rioters engaged in acts of wanton destruction, punctuated by claims of “territorial control” over sections of various French cities. In the context of this havoc, one saw repeated references to the term “Eurabia” by journalists and other media and academic elites, who, almost without exception, had no idea about the concrete origins, or significance of this term.

Iranian fatwa approves use of nuclear weapons By Colin Freeman and Philip Sherwell

2006-02-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Iranian fatwa approves use of nuclear weapons By Colin Freeman and Philip Sherwell

Imagine that, it's ok for believers in Islam to use nuclear weapons against its enemies. What a surprise. Seems to be some prep work going on here.

Iran's hardline spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of atomic weapons against its enemies.

In yet another sign of Teheran's stiffening resolve on the nuclear issue, influential Muslim clerics have for the first time questioned the theocracy's traditional stance that Sharia law forbade the use of nuclear weapons.

One senior mullah has now said it is "only natural" to have nuclear bombs as a "countermeasure" against other nuclear powers, thought to be a reference to America and Israel.

Why I Published Those Cartoons

2006-02-19T06:59:00.000-08:00

Why I Published Those Cartoons by Flemming Rose

The editor of the culture editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten speaks about why they published the cartoons and of the difference between tyranny and freedom.

On occasion, Jyllands-Posten has refused to print satirical cartoons of Jesus, but not because it applies a double standard. In fact, the same cartoonist who drew the image of Muhammed with a bomb in his turban drew a cartoon with Jesus on the cross having dollar notes in his eyes and another with the star of David attached to a bomb fuse. There were, however, no embassy burnings or death threats when we published those.

Has Jyllands-Posten insulted and disrespected Islam? It certainly didn't intend to. But what does respect mean? When I visit a mosque, I show my respect by taking off my shoes. I follow the customs, just as I do in a church, synagogue or other holy place. But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy.

At Least 15 Die in Nigeria Cartoon Protest - By NJADVARA MUSA

2006-02-19T06:51:00.000-08:00

At Least 15 Die in Nigeria Cartoon Protest - By NJADVARA MUSA

Let me get this straight. A piddling few European papers publish 12 very tame cartoons about Mohammad - and this justifies the burning of Christian churches and the killing of Christians? The fact that the enormity of the difference between slaughtering innocents and burning churches versus publishing cartoons is lost on the press is beyond me.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.

Reuters AlertNet - Italy minister resigns after Libya cartoons riot

2006-02-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Reuters AlertNet - Italy minister resigns after Libya cartoons riot

I posted about Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli earlier this month and admired his willingness to stand up to the nonsense about the Mohamad cartoons.

It now appears that any act of standing up to Islamofacists, which might result in violence, must be punished. Imagine how many politicians and public figures would have to resign or be punished if it were "insensitive" to bash Christians. The surrender of Europe continues.

An Italian minister who wore a T-shirt on state television featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that have outraged Muslims resigned on Saturday after a deadly attack on the Italian consulate in Libya.

A powerful charity led by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had blamed Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli for Friday's violence, in which at least 11 people were killed. The protest was the bloodiest so far over caricatures that Muslims regard as blasphemous.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and politicians from across Italy's political spectrum had called on Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, to step down, accusing him of stoking Muslim anger by reproducing the cartoons on a T-shirt he proudly wore on television this week.

Chavez warns US on oil after Rice remarks By Patrick Markey

2006-02-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

Chavez warns US on oil after Rice remarks By Patrick Markey

Nice to know a major supplier of our energy needs has "drawn a line". This is also the fellow snuggling up with Hamas, Iran and Cuba. Yep, a dandy kinda guy. Perhaps we should remind him that his refineries are on US soil and we have many US firms looking for refining capabilities. Maybe they could take his?

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday warned the United States would get no more Venezuelan oil if Washington "crosses the line" as relations between the two governments deteriorated in an escalating battle of words.

The latest exchange between the United States and top oil supplier Venezuela came two weeks after left-winger Chavez expelled a U.S. naval attaché accused of spying and Washington sent home a Venezuelan diplomat in tit-for-tat dispute.

Chavez's comments came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington wanted to curb his influence in South America by lobbying allies to criticize the former soldier allied with U.S. foe Cuba.

"The U.S. government should know that if they cross the line they will not have any Venezuelan oil," Chavez said at a public event. "I have started taking measures in that respect, I'm not going to say what," he said.

1994 - Vintage solutions from Newt Gingrich, a tireless Mr. Fixit. BY BRIAN M. CARNEY

2006-02-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

1994 - Vintage solutions from Newt Gingrich, a tireless Mr. Fixit. BY BRIAN M. CARNEY

Newt is never at a loss for ideas. What I like about them is that they are clear and well thought out. There is no dancing around an issue, just a straight-out "this is what I would do" answer. I believe he would be very hard to beat in 2008 if he gets the nod from the Republican Party.

There are few problems for which Newt Gingrich does not have a ready solution. Social Security? Check. Medicare? Sorted. Rising health-care costs? Well in hand. The rise of radical Islam and the proliferation of nuclear weapons? Tough, but doable.

Unfortunately, the former speaker of the House of Representatives has been out of government for seven years, so for the moment all his plans remain on the drawing board--a clear source of frustration for the man who led the Republican Party to victory in the 1994 congressional elections and in the process helped transform American politics. That could change; Mr. Gingrich is widely suspected to be sizing up a presidential bid in 2008. In a recent interview, your correspondent asked him whether he intended to run. "I don't know," he demurred. Hardly a commitment, but a long way from a denial.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - We Should All Be Cheering for General "Mush" by David Warren

2006-02-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - We Should All Be Cheering for General "Mush" by David Warren

General Musharraf is holding Pakistan in an iron grip. Using the Dainsh cartoons as an excuse, Islamofacists rampaged through the country, egged on by radical Imams, destroying as many western icons as possible and finally expanding into governmental assemblies. The General has acted to get a handle on the violence, but it provides a glimpse into the region without him as leader of Pakistan.

Every major city in Pakistan’s Punjab is now under lockdown, and everyone in Pakistan may soon be, as President General Pervez Musharraf tries to contain the violent riots that began as protests against those Danish cartoons. Demonstrators wrecked much of the middle of Lahore in actions which peaked on Tuesday, but which local reporters believe may peak again. In addition to such brand-name Western targets as Citibank, KFC, McDonalds, and a Norwegian cellphone company, they set fires in hotels, cinemas, and the Punjabi provincial assembly. This last is the clue that anti-Danish sentiment was merely an excuse to get people onto the streets.

Similar targets were struck in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Multan. Karachi was also partially alight, though it is harder to distinguish one riot from another there. Only towards the end of the week was the main highway into Karachi blockaded by nominally anti-Danish fanatics.

Why No Nukes for Iran? - The rules of the game. by Victor Davis Hanson

2006-02-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

Why No Nukes for Iran? - The rules of the game. by Victor Davis Hanson

Mr. Hanson lays out six solid reasons why Iran would not be a good steward of nuclear weapons and why they must not be allowed to have them. A must read.

How many times have we heard the following whining and yet received no specific answers from our leaders?

"Israel has nuclear weapons, so why single out Iran?"

"Pakistan got nukes and we lived with it."

"Who is to say the United States or Russia should have the bomb and not other countries?"

"Iran has promised to use its reactors for peaceful purposes, so why demonize the regime?"

In fact, the United States has a perfectly sound rationale for singling out Iran to halt its nuclear proliferation. At least six good reasons come to mind, not counting the more obvious objection over Iran's violation of U.N. non-proliferation protocols. It is past time that we spell them out to the world at large.

Islamic truths - Los Angeles Times

2006-02-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

Islamic truths - By Mansoor Ijaz

This is the reasoned voice of a "western Muslim". It shows me the value of integrating the western ideals of freedom and equality into the war-torn Mideast, to enable a more peaceful mutation of Islam to evolve.

ANOTHER WEEK, another Muslim country burns in rage over months-old Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in an unflattering light. On Friday it was Libya, and earlier in the week it was my father's homeland, Pakistan, where violent protests were scattered across the nation. Some Muslims have decided that burning cities in defense of a prophet's teachings, which none of them seem willing to practice, is preferable to participating in rational debate about the myths and realities of a religion whose worst enemies are increasingly its own adherents.

This week's events should compel those of us who claim Islam as our system of philosophical guidance to ask hard questions of ourselves in order to revive the religion's essential foundation: justice, peaceful and tolerant coexistence, compassion, the search for knowledge and unwavering faith in the unity of God.

IAEA warns may need compromise on Iranian enrichment: diplomats - Yahoo! News

2006-02-17T07:04:00.000-08:00

IAEA warns may need compromise on Iranian enrichment: diplomats - Yahoo! News

Could it be that the UN is starting to crumple a bit?? Nah, couldn't be - - - could it??? I would be shocked!! Shocked I tell you!!

UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has warned it will be hard to strike a compromise on
Iran's nuclear program without letting it do small-scale enrichment work -- something the West firmly rejects, diplomats told AFP.

A Western diplomat close to ElBaradei's A Western diplomat close to ElBaradei's said it should not be seen as the IAEA director endorsing Iran doing uranium enrichment, which can make atom bomb material, but as recognition of political reality.

Don't Burn Muhammad | The Brussels Journal

2006-02-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

Don't Burn Muhammad | The Brussels Journal By Paul Belien

Violence by Islamofacists in Europe continues to see success. Celebrations by Spaniards recalling the defeat of the Moors over 500 year ago will be discontinued, out of fear of sucicide bombers. What is that saying about those who forget history?

In 711 Muslim armies crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. They took Spain by force and remained there until they were thrown out during the reconquista in 1492. Every year, in a tradition that goes back to the 16th century, Spanish villages still celebrate the liberation from the Moors (as the Muslims were locally called) during “Moros y Cristianos” festivals in which effigies of the prophet Muhammad – the so-called “la Mahoma” – are mocked, thrown out of windows, and burned.

Now the Spanish, having witnessed what happened to the Vikings recently, are wondering whether they can still continue their tradition of “offending Muslims.” The village of Bocairent near Valencia decided this year to discontinue the century old tradition of mocking and burning effigies of Muhammad. Bocairent does not want to risk becoming the target of suicide bombers.

Power Line: Shut up, they explained - Minnesota Democrats attack a soldier's right to speak.

2006-02-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

Power Line: Shut up, they explained - Minnesota Democrats attack a soldier's right to speak.

Of course the "support the troops". As long as they shut up, vote Democrat, and do not believe in what they are fighting for. Very sad.

We've obtained a copy of a striking message sent out by Minnesota Democrats seeking to silence the television advertisements featuring soldiers and the parents of fallen soldiers supporting the war in Iraq. Why would Democrats want to silence the voices of these citizens? (You can see the two ads here.)

The surrender of Europe continues.

2006-02-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

The surrender of Europe continues.

Do these folks have any idea of the magnitude of their actions? I suspect not.

But on February 10, in Oslo, came a dramatic capitulation that seemed a classic case of sharia in action. For days, Velbjørn Selbekk, editor of the tiny Christian periodical Magazinet – the first publication to reprint the now-famous Muhammed cartoons from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten – had firmly resisted pressure by Muslim extremists (who made death threats) and by the Norwegian establishment (which urged him to give in). But then, on that morning – the day before a planned mass demonstration against the cartoons – Norway’s Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion, Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, hastily called a press conference at a major government office building in Oslo.

There, to the astonishment of his supporters, Selbekk issued an abject apology for reprinting the cartoons. At his side, accepting his act of contrition on behalf of 46 Muslim organizations and asking that all threats now be withdrawn, was Mohammed Hamdan, head of Norway’s Islamic Council. In attendance were members of the Norwegian cabinet and the largest assemblage of imams in Norway's history. It was a picture right out of a sharia courtroom: the dhimmi prostrating himself before the Muslim leader, and the leader pardoning him – and, for good measure, declaring Selbekk to be henceforth under his protection, as if it were he, Hamdan, and not the Norwegian police, that held in his hands the security of citizens in Norway.

WorldNetDaily: Boy Scouts 'a religion'?

2006-02-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

WorldNetDaily: Boy Scouts 'a religion'? By Rees Lloyd

Golly, now I belong to two religions - the Catholic church, and Boy Scouts!! Since I'm an Assistant Scout Master, does that make me a deacon or something??? Deacon Bill, I kinda like that!!

Arguments in a major Boy Scouts case argued in Pasadena, Calif., before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – a case that is certain to be headed for the Supreme Court -- centered on the contention that the revered organization is actually a religion and should therefore not be given a lease of public land.

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.

The agnostics sued the city on a claim that the lease to the Boy Scouts – out of more than 100 leases, including to the YMCA, a number of Jewish groups, one of which conducts Sabbath services on parkland, and the Girl Scouts – violates the Establishment of Religion Clause of the First Amendment, and that they are suffering "inferior usage" thereby because they don't want to have to apply for permits, or pay usage fees, to the BSA. The case is Barnes-Wallace, et al. v. Boy Scouts of America, Nos. 04-55732, 04-56167.

A federal judge in San Diego granted the summary judgment to the agnostics, finding that the Boy Scouts are a "religion" because of the Boy Scout Oath, which includes doing one's duty to "God and my country," and the Boy Scout Law, which includes "reverence" as one of 12 precepts. Also, the Scouts require a belief in God as a condition of membership.

FrontPage magazine.com :: No True Glory by David Forsmark

2006-02-16T05:14:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: No True Glory by David Forsmark

Sounds like a book worth reading.

Never in American history have we known less about the soldiers fighting our war than in the current Iraq War—and there has never been less of an excuse for that exclusion than today.

With embedded reporters, instant communication, and the military granting unprecedented access to personnel, there is only one conclusion: the mainstream media is practicing self-censorship. After all, back in the day of crackling “wireless” reports and the teletype, Americans somehow learned the names of Chesty Puller, Dick Bong, Audie Murphy and “Pappy” Boyington, and details of their heroic exploits.

Even in Korea—hardly a popular war among the press—F-86 ace “Mac” MacConnel achieved some fame and had a movie made about him; while Vietnam fighter ace Randy “Duke” Cunningham was given just enough attention to parlay it into a Congressional seat (which he recently sullied in a most disgraceful fashion).

But in the Iraq War, the names Jesse Grapes and Timothy Connors are unknown to a public who would thrill to their stories if given a chance. Worse, the best-known names of enlisted personnel who have served in Iraq are undoubtedly Lindy Englund and Casey Sheehan (though the fact that he RE-enlisted during the war is left out of most stories which focus on his loony mother).

That’s the ultimate point of Bing West’s latest war classic, No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah. The press template for soldiers in Iraq War can be summed up in two words: villains and victims.

Are WE opening a can of worms???

2006-02-16T04:59:00.000-08:00

Why are WE opening a can of worms?

Another “on-line debate” has occurred with one of my buddies on a stock board. He lives in Germany, did not agree with the invasion of Iraq - - - well, why not just let him tell it.

Yes, many lessons learned. And an important lesson is, it is easier to win the war as to it is to win the peace. I never thought that it was in the best interests of the U.S. to invade Iraq (and please, no more rehashing that issue), but now that we are there, I believe we must stay the course. You are actually suggesting an invasion of Iran, a larger country, which in quasi-elections has shown that a significant portion of the population support the Islamic regime. Why open that can of worms (and where are you going to find the soldiers?) when there are other options, e.g. a few cruise missiles (Hell, I even bet the Israelis would do it for us...)

His response was to yet another post about lessons learned in Iraq. What bothered me most was his phrase: “Why open that can of worms.” Making the assumption that WE were doing the opening. My response:

Could in not be that Iran, in threatening to blow Israel off the face of the earth is opening the can of worms?

Could it not be that Iran, in being the major supporter of Islamic terrorists world wide is opening the can of worms?

Could it not be that Iran, in purchasing long range missiles and refitting them to carry nuclear weapons is opening the can of worms?

Could it not be that Iran, in denying the holocaust and demanding the Jews be removed from the Mideast is opening the can of worms?

Could it not be that Iran, by blowing off over 2 years of effort and negotiations by the EU and recalling those diplomats involved is opening the can of worms?

Could it not be that Iran, by rejecting Russia’s offer to enrich the uranium for their reactors and demanding that they, and they alone will do this task is opening the can of worms?

How about this? Europe failed. The US was hammered and hammered for our approach to Iraq. We lacked diplomatic skills. We were too blunt. Yadda – yadda – yadda. So, we backed off and let Europe take its best. They failed. They blew it. They screwed it up. All they got for their trouble was Madrid, London, Theo, weeks of Islamic riots in France, burned embassies and continued threats of violence unless proper respect is shown to Islam. You now have a press corps afraid to take a dump without asking the local Imam if it’s OK. Welcome to the new Eurabia. Have you bought the women in your family a burka yet? How about you buy your family some of the new T-shirts with good old Mohammad on the front and let them walk around Berlin for awhile. Feel safe?? Shouldn’t you??? Is that not your right??? Are you willing to give that up???

As for troops, how about Germans, French (no, lest pass on them, they just say “I give up” - scratch them), British, Danish, Dutch, Swedes. How about them? I am so DAMN tired of the US taking on global threats, sacrificing our sons and daughters and then getting crapped on by countries that would be living under the boot of dictators and animals were it not for us.

So, why even do it? How about global survival? You want to see the government of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia be the primary authority in Europe? Do you want to see a nuclear Iran in control of a new caliphate from Spain to Afghanistan that controls a substantial part of the world’s energy reserves? Do you honestly believe the world can tolerate a nuclear Iran? Really????? So, we will once again take the crap and do the job that the citizens of Europe do not have the stomach for – simply because it needs to be done.

As for a few cruse missiles – hardly. Thousands maybe. Dozens of EMP weapons. Hundreds of bunker busters. A whole new vision of stone age will emerge.

FrontPage magazine.com :: Muslim Bites Dog by Ann Coulter

2006-02-16T04:49:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: Muslim Bites Dog by Ann Coulter

One thing I always like about Ann, there is never doubt where she stands.

The amazing part of the great Danish cartoon caper isn't that Muslims immediately engage in acts of mob violence when things don't go their way. That is de rigueur for the Religion of Peace. Their immediate response to all bad news is mass violence. That's a "dog bites man" story and belongs on page B-34, next to the grade school hot-lunch menu and the birth notices.

Over the Top By Brandon Crocker

2006-02-16T04:41:00.000-08:00

Over the Top By Brandon Crocker

Are the Democrats dangerously close to becoming the party opposed to America's very existence. Perhaps.

When news of the National Security Administration's warrantless wiretapping program targeting communications into and out of the United States by suspected al-Qaeda operatives (often mislabeled by Democrats and the Press as a "domestic surveillance program") was leaked, Democratic senator Chuck Schumer suggested that the leaker of this classified information, which undoubtedly compromised one of the most effective weapons we have to prevent another 9/11 attack, should be shielded from prosecution as a "whistleblower" (despite the fact that key members of Congress, of both parties, were routinely briefed on the program). That stance, of course, is in stark contrast to the Democratic leadership's position on the leaker who revealed that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA in a non-covert position. That leak, after all, exposed Joe Wilson's claim that the Vice President had recommended him for his Niger expedition as a lie, and that was a grievous blow to national security.

Overhaul of U.N. rights body hits snag�-�World�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

2006-02-16T04:18:00.000-08:00

Overhaul of U.N. rights body hits snag By David R. Sands

Golly, a world wide ban on "defamation of religions and prophets". I am sure that this will allow Christians and other religions full rights and freedoms in Saudi, Iran and other places.

Let's not worry about silly little freedoms, like freedom of speech for example. I tell ya, there is more to this dramatic push by Islamofacists right now than meets the eye, and it is all tied to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

A drive by a bloc of Islamic nations for a global ban on "defamation of religions and prophets" has thrown a major kink into U.S. hopes for an overhaul of the leading U.N. human rights body.
The proposal by the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), floated last week amid violent protests over the publication in Europe of cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad, came as U.N. delegates were trying to negotiate the charter for a new Human Rights Council.
"It's a giant monkey wrench in the process, and that is what it was designed to be," said Hillel C. Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based United Nations Watch, a watchdog group that has closely followed the talks.
"To include this in the charter, just as an appeasement to violence, would taint the body before it even began," he said.

The Shooting Party by Tony Blankley

2006-02-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

The Shooting Party by Tony Blankley

The MSM gets a good spanking from Tony!

In the absence of any pressing news these days -- other than Iran's nuclear weapons development crisis, the election of Hamas terrorists in Palestine, ongoing worldwide Muslim riots and killing in reaction to a cartoon, Al Gore's near sedition while speaking in Saudi Arabia, the turning over of our East Coast ports to be managed by a United Arab Emirates firm, the criminal leaking of vital NSA secrets to the New York Times, Mexican military incursions across our southern border, the Iraqi crisis, Congress's refusal to deal with the developing financial collapse of Social Security and Medicare, inter alia -- the White House press corp has exploded in righteous fury over the question of the vice president's little shooting party last weekend.

The American Spectator

2006-02-15T05:59:00.000-08:00

Shaving Like a Man By Mark Gauvreau Judge

I like this story, brought back "fond" memories. The Gillette safety razor was the razor of choice in basic training. You could unscrew the handle and tuck the whole thing in your shirt (just above your belt) for a quick shave before open-line-inspection. The joys of "dry shaving". Our TI always used prefer seeing a little blow flowing down your face than to see a whisker growing somewhere. Ah the simple pleasures of a good shave!

I have gone AWOL in the blade wars.

My desertion happened when I noticed that Gillette had issued Fusion, a razor with five, yes five, blades. This is in response to Schick's Quattro four-blade razor, which itself was a response to Gillette's three-blade Mach3 and Mach3Turbo, which uses a battery to make the razor vibrate and followed the Gillette two-blade Sensor, which was in competition with Schick's...

Italian minister puts Mohammad cartoon on T-shirts By Crispian Balmer

2006-02-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

Italian minister puts Mohammad cartoon on T-shirts By Crispian Balmer

Suddenly, I LOVE Italians.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli has had T-shirts made emblazoned with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a move that could embarrass Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, told Ansa news agency on Tuesday that the West had to stand up against Islamist extremists and offered to hand out T-shirts to anyone who wanted them.

"I have had T-shirts made with the cartoons that have upset Islam and I will start wearing them today," Ansa quoted Calderoli as saying.

He said the T-shirts were not meant to be a provocation but added that he saw no point trying to appease extremists.

"We have to put an end to this story that we can talk to these people. They only want to humiliate people. Full stop. And what are we becoming? The civilization of melted butter?" Calderoli said.

Investor's Business Daily: The Shame Of Al Gore

2006-02-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

Investor's Business Daily: The Shame Of Al Gore

Yet another review of Al Gore's tirade in Saudi Arabia.

What possesses a former vice president of the U.S. to travel to the birthplace of Islamist terrorism and denounce his country? Only a special breed of demons, apparently, can explain Al Gore.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - What Will Europe Really Do? by Victor Davis Hanson

2006-02-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - What Will Europe Really Do? by Victor Davis Hanson

A look into the crystal ball to devine Europe's future interaction with Islamofacists. Read it all.

Nothing is quite as surreal as the Islamic world’s fury at the liberal and innocuous Danes. How could anyone wish to burn their embassies and kill their citizens, when they have always offered all the politically correct, multicultural platitudes and welcomed in any and all from the Middle East?

Now the furor over the cartoons, coming on the heels of the bombings in Madrid and London, the French rioting, the murders in Holland, and the failed European negotiations with the Iranian theocracy have shaken Europe to its foundations.

If the most liberal and tolerant states in Europe such as Holland and Denmark have the most problems with Islamic radicals, then what does that say about the continent as a whole? Why were not the calculating jihadists singling out a more unapologetic Catholic Poland that has larger contingents in Iraq and is far prouder of its Christian roots?

Do the Europeans sense that the more open, free-wheeling and non-judgmental the culture, the more it is hated by the jihadists? If Europe as a whole is more pro-Palestinian than the United States, disapproved of Iraq, and yet is still hated as much, is magnanimity at last exposed as appeasement—earning only contempt from an emboldened enemy?

WorldNetDaily: '3rd intifada on its way'

2006-02-14T05:23:00.000-08:00

WorldNetDaily: '3rd intifada on its way' By Aaron Klein

This is a discouraging interview with the leaders in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza. You would think, at some point, you would find leaders that want peace for their children rather than a bomber's belt.

With Hamas now in power, the long-ruling Fatah party and its "military wing" Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades forced into the opposition, and Israel announcing it will soon withdraw from the West Bank, Palestinian terror leaders tell WorldNetDaily recent events here are leading them to launch what they call a third intifada – or violent confrontation – against Israel consisting of suicide bombings, rocket attacks against Jewish communities and "a few new surprises in our arsenal."

Some terror leaders, particularly from the Al Aqsa Brigades, whose associated Fatah party scored poorly in last month's parliamentary elections, say they are planning massive violence against Israeli civilians mostly to revolt against the new Hamas-controlled Palestinian government.

"The new intifada is only a question of time and this will be the hardest and the most dangerous one. It's just about timing until the order to blow up a new wave of attacks will be given," Abu Nasser, a senior Al Aqsa Brigades leader from the Balata refugee camp in northern Samaria told WorldNetDaily in an interview.

Annan calls for U.S. calm on Iran - By Bill Sammon

2006-02-14T05:08:00.000-08:00

Annan calls for U.S. calm on Iran - Nation/Politics -By Bill Sammon

Kofi Annan continues to believe that the UN plays some significant roll in the world. Amazing. The UN could have prevent the Iraq war, but many members prefered to line their pockets with billions in oil kickbacks rather than holding Saddam's feet to the fire. Then there was the complite wiff on the nuclear program in North Korea and in Lybia. And now, they are telling President Bush they must be given the chance to find a diplomatic solution with Iran, that HE should not "escalate" tensions. Breathtaking!

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday warned President Bush not to "escalate" tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions because the world wants to "find a way out of this crisis."
"We need to be able to resolve it, and I hope there will be no steps taken to escalate this approach," Mr. Annan told the president at the end of a meeting in the Oval Office.
Mr. Bush did not publicly mention Iran, although he discussed the topic with Mr. Annan before reporters were ushered in at the conclusion of the meeting.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan later railed against Iran without escalating the administration's rhetoric.
"Iran has shown that they can't be trusted with nuclear technology because they have hidden their activities for some two decades," he said. "They failed to comply with their international obligations."
The meeting came as Iran announced that it was postponing a planned resumption of negotiations with Russia and also would restart its uranium enrichment.
The Moscow talks, which had been designed to assuage world concerns about the Islamic republic's intentions by having Russia enrich uranium for Tehran, had been scheduled to resume Thursday.
"We support the proposal that was offered by Russia," Mr. McClellan said. "But what you see coming from the regime is continued defiance of the world, a continued disregard for their international obligations and a continued thumbing of their nose to what the world has demanded."
Mr. Annan later told CNN that no one wants to see a "military escalation in the region. And Iran should cooperate and cooperate fully. And I have urged them publicly to freeze the nuclear program."

Thank goodness the told them to shape up! I feel much safer now.

FrontPage magazine.com :: How the Cartoon Protests Harm Muslims by Daniel Pipes

2006-02-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

FrontPage magazine.com :: How the Cartoon Protests Harm Muslims by Daniel Pipes

The distance between Muslims and the West continues to grow. What does this say about the future of these countries and the opportunities they can provide their people?

What are the long-term consequences of the Muhammad cartoon furor? I predict it is helping bring on not a clash of civilizations but their mutual pulling apart. This separation, which has been building for years, has dreadful implications.

Signs of disengagement are all around.

Gore's Remarks in Saudi Arabia Draw Strong Criticism -- By Patrick Goodenough

2006-02-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

Gore's Remarks in Saudi Arabia Draw Strong Criticism -- By Patrick Goodenough

Al Gore continues his meltdown. Does this man even think any more or has his hatred for America totally consumed him?

A speech in which former Vice President Al Gore told a mostly Saudi audience that the U.S. had committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after 9/11 continues to make waves, with critics calling the remarks disloyal and "inappropriate during a time of war."

Some also challenged Gore's reported assertion that "thoughtless" U.S. visa policies towards Arabs were playing into al Qaeda's hands. The most serious questions, however, involved Gore's decision to criticize his country's policies while abroad -- at a time when Muslim feelings against the West are running high.

A letter from the Mayor of Tall 'Afar, Iraq to the men and women of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and their families.

2006-02-13T20:01:00.000-08:00

A letter from the Mayor of Tall 'Afar, Iraq to the men and women of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and their families.

This is our mission, this is the result of the sacrifice of our young men and women, this is "what it's all about".

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful

To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Read it all.

globeandmail.com : Calgary magazine reprinting cartoons

2006-02-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

Calgary magazine reprinting cartoons - Hate-crime charges could follow decision by Western Standard, Muslim warns By JEFF GRAY

Of course, this "hate crime" must submit to the Islamic muzzle. We have got to get a handle on this dangerous thinking folks, or the values we treasure as a free country will fade from our country.

The Western Standard, a political magazine based in Calgary, will today reprint eight of the 12 Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that have caused riots and controversy around the world, and one Canadian Muslim leader warns that hate-crime charges may follow.

Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant, a former Reform and Canadian Alliance activist, calls the cartoons "innocuous" and accused Canada's "mainstream media," including The Globe and Mail, of failing to stand up for free speech for refusing to print the images.

"I was prepared to see the most outrageous, depraved, blasphemous cartoons," Mr. Levant said in an interview yesterday. "I was surprised by how tame they were."

But the leader of the Canadian Islamic Congress, Mohamed Elmasry, warned yesterday that his organization will seek to have charges laid against the magazine under Canada's laws against distributing hate literature.

"It's unfortunate," said Mr. Elmasry, who had urged Mr. Levant not to republish the images. "I think he really goes against the will and the values of Canadians by this provocative action."

The Calgary Sun - Media runs scared

2006-02-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

The Calgary Sun - Media runs scared By Ezra Levant

At least one editor in Canada gets it. My hat is off to you sir.

But I believe Canadian publishers and TV producers have not been fully candid about the choice they've all made. Not a single publisher, editor or reporter has admitted they have blocked the cartoons for fear of an economic backlash. Perhaps none of them thought about lost business when they made their decision. But if any did, they probably wouldn't admit it -- that would make them seem like callow, profit-driven commercial journalists, and that's contrary to the careful image the media has cultivated as being somehow more noble or idealistic than other industries.

And none of them have admitted what we all know is true, at least a little bit: That these riots are scary.

They're scarier than any letter-writing campaign or boycott or protest rally that has occurred in recent memory.

Journalists and other artists have been killed by Muslim radicals. Several of the Danish cartoonists are in hiding, for fear of assassination. This is really happening.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World News - Report: Iran Begins Uranium Enrichment

2006-02-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World News - Report: Iran Begins Uranium Enrichment

The proper response to this action would be to eliminate this plant. Immediately. Completely. Without hesitation.

Iran has started small-scale enrichment of uranium — a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or bombs, diplomats said Monday.

"Uranium gas has been fed into three machines," one senior diplomat familiar with Iran's nuclear file said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

Is Islam Evil?? Shouldn't we at least talk about it? By Jasonb Pappas

2006-02-13T18:27:00.000-08:00

Is Islam Evil?? Shouldn't we at least talk about it? By Jasonb Pappas

Is Islam evil? Shouldn't we at least discuss whether a religion that enslaves women, promises rewards in the afterlife for suicide bombers and preaches the destruction of Israel and the West may, indeed, be evil?

"Sophisticated" critics usually react to the word "evil" with condescension and derision. Describing something as "evil," in their view, generally brands one as an unenlightened throw-back to the dark ages -- or the equivalent of a televangelist preaching hellfire and damnation. Who forgets the outcry when President Reagan described the Soviet Union as the "Evil Empire?" Or today, when President Bush refers to the "Axis of Evil?" Commentators unequivocally condemn the word as an outmoded judgmental term unfit for today's multi-cultural world. Unless, of course, one wants to use it to describe the United States of America or Western Civilization itself.