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June 30, 2006
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's disinterest in patriotism!
With Independence Day weekend upon us, CJ reader and occasional contributor Elaine Williams is admittedly in rant-mode, and she isn't pleased with Superman's new slant:
"Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman!" Those words thrilled us kids growing up in the 1950's. And when Superman defended "Truth, Justice and the American Way," we knew we were safe and secure. Sure, Superman is just a story but what this hero represented meant a great deal to a great many people. To learn that today's PC remake of "Superman," the movie, will not include the idea of the "American Way" doesn't really come as a surprise, but rather just another silly effort at placating our so-called friends in other countries. While our military was defending the American Way in WWII, they were also defending these same countries whom we are now so afraid of offending with anything remotely suggesting pro-American language. Well, this person, for one, will spend her American dollars in American theaters, buy American popcorn and watch a film whose producers aren't afraid not to be PC. Happy Birthday, America! And God Bless you!
Truer words never spoken, aye?
Posted by bill at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
Digesting Hamdan
There's nothing quite like a 185-page US Supreme Court decision, comprised of Parts I through "VI-D-iv," to shut me up. Short of a double-shot of Ritalin, my eyes would be bleeding and/or have popped clear out of my head had I tried to read, even peruse the Hamdan decision on the eve of my much-needed vacation. Fortunately, people who are (a) smarter; (b) more knowledgeable; and (c) better writers than me (I?) analyzed the decision overnight -- God bless 'em -- so we state school types don't have to bother doing so, at least for now:
- B.U. Law Professor Ronald Cass (the Court "found jurisdiction in the face of a statute directly taking jurisdiction away from the Court. It second-guessed the President on the need for particular security features in trials of suspected al Qaeda terrorists. And it gave hope to One-World-ers by leaning on international common law to interpret U.S. federal law. If that weren't enough, the (left, lefter, and far left) turns were executed in the course of giving a court victory to Osama bin Laden's driver.
- U. Cal. Law Professor John Yoo (the majority "tossed aside centuries of American history, judicial decisions of long standing, and a December 2005 law ordering them not to interfere with the military trials").
- J. Peter Mulhern says Hamdan is the "most arrogant and unprincipled judicial assertion of power since Hammurabi promulgated his code."
- The ACLU is ecstatic.
Posted by bill at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2006
President Bush's successes - Part Deux
While we're praising the President...my article on the US' diplomatic progress in talks on Iran has been published at the American Thinker.
Posted by bill at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
President Bush's successes
For all of his shortcomings on the economy and foreign policy (to name just two areas of deficiency that leap to mind), I still thank God that George W. Bush defeated Al "Mr. Junk Science" Gore and that French-looking husband of the pickle fortune heiress. Here are two recent reasons why, and both involve a concept anathema to liberals--protecting our national sovereignty.
Dubya's pick for UN Ambassador, John Bolton, and the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Robert Joseph, have essentially told the UN conference on global gun control on Tuesday to, in my words, screw-off.
Mr. Joseph was a bit more diplomatic:
"The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and there will be no infringement of those rights....The United States will not agree to any provisions restricting civilian possession, use or legal trade of firearms inconsistent with our laws and practices."
And yesterday, thanks in part to Dubya's nominees, the US Supreme Court ruled that we don't look to foreign courts to figure out how our police should operate. On behalf a 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. wrote that US courts--and not the International Court of Justice--have the final say on how treaties are applied inside our borders. Not surprisingly, the liberal wing of the court said the ruling represented an "unprecedented" repudiation of a valid treaty and of the international court's interpretation of the treaty. Strangely, my copy of the Constitution says nothing about international court decisions being binding on us.
I'm all for kicking our president in the shins when he deserves it. But today I send out kudos to Dubya for putting John Robert Bolton, Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., and John Glover Roberts, Jr., where they can do some good for our nation.
Posted by GadsdenFlag at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2006
I'm tellin' you baby, that's not mine
Awkward moments, indeed.
Posted by GadsdenFlag at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)
The World Cup, Euro-trash, and American frontier people
As any school child knows, the US is a relative newby in the pantheon of world nations. Well, maybe today's school kids--or their teachers---aren't aware of that simple historical reality. (Anyone ever see Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" skits which recently featured an alleged World History teacher who firmly believed that the nation was founded in 1492?) But, we are relatively new by the standards of Old Asia and Old Europe especially. As a result, nations like Germany and Great Britain have long had a superiority complex toward us, still viewing, though they’d be loathe to admit it, the insouciant upstart across the pond as presumptuous new kids on the block, lacking their ancient history, their ancient monuments, their long-established traditions and civilizations, their maturity as peoples, their civility.
That's all true, to a degree. Americans still have a sense of optimism, a cockiness, that Europeans in their advanced national years have long lost. We lack their age-old traditions and civil codes, et al. We also lack their various past efforts at world domination, their numberless bloody and senseless wars, and their stultifying societies. Still, they DO like to believe we're still just a frontier people, out-classed and out-civilized.
I was reminded of European pretensions recently in the aftermath of the recent World Cup game between Sweden and Germany. MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Here we had a game being contested by old rivals and being played on German soil. The operative word would be game! Now, granted Americans have never really felt the blood lust over their version of “football” that Europeans and others have long felt. We play the game, sort of, but mostly to keep elementary and secondary school kids occupied and, for the latter, their hormones tamed and their bodies exhausted. Some kids move on to college soccer, but after that soccer is just something Americans pretty much just tolerate. If that.
Not so Europeans! Many live and breathe soccer and especially the Mother of All Tournaments, the World Cup. The recent display after a game in which Germany defeated Sweden showed these Anglo-Saxon nations in their true light. Not Germany and Sweden, mind you, but Germany and England! Rioting, stampeding, destructive and violent hordes from both countries played a post-game in the streets, trying to pummel one another into the cobble stones of Stuttgart. Why? I really don’t know–or care. I’m not even sure nor do I care who won either the field game or the street battles. (I did hear that the English were upset that Sweden lost; good enough cause for a riot, I guess.) No one was killed, I don’t think, which is a good and rare thing when the Brits take on the Goths. It was just fun to watch! Here we had two of our allies mixing it up wildly on public streets, thugishly and and fiercely showing the rest of the world how civil they are.
True, we have a violent element in our own society. But we “frontier people” can watch a World Series game and then generally file out of our stadia, a bit saddened by a loss, a tad elated by a win, but file out peacefully and then head for home or a few brews. Poor us! We have so much to learn from Euro-trash!
Posted by Gene Blogger at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
What's the Russian word for, "eeeewwww"?
President Bush: when you looked into Vladimir Putin's soul, did you happen to notice any pedophilia?
Posted by bill at 01:22 PM | Comments (1)
Where is the weapons story?
Brent Bozell on last week's developments (H/T - Gadsden Flag):
This discovery should be a crucial, corrective turning point to the stuck-in-2003, pre-war obsessives. The hardened historical narrative needs to be amended. There were WMDs in Iraq that could have been used against our troops or acquired by terrorists.
An honest, nonpartisan news media that cared about the facts without political calculation would have taken care to correct the record, even if the findings were comparatively underwhelming to the pre-war scenarios. A fair and balanced story could be done. But the reception of this declassified memo shows we do not have an honest, nonpartisan news media, and political calculation is everything.
Posted by bill at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2006
Man bites dog: Sudden Influx of wack-ass headlines at Drudge Report, even by Drudge standards
Tuesday levity, because Lord knows we need some damn levity around here:
- Man bites dog, MySpace style.
- Senator Joe Biden says, "I'd rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep" than be President of the United States. That makes two of us, Mr. Senator. Ahem...err, you know what I mean.
- "I feel like I was fired," says Star Jones, who's left the building at The View to make way and/or room for former Commack High School standout and amatuer Haikuist Rosie O'Donut. See, it's really pretty simple, Star. Did you tell The View you wouldn't be working there anymore, or did The View tell you...
Posted by bill at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
More on the NY Slimes
Mish-mosh:
- Gabriel Schoenfeld: The case for prosecuting the NY Times.
- Jim Pinkerton wonders why the administration doesn't seem to be giving prosecution the consideration it deserves.
- Tony Treasury Secretary John Snow's letter to the NY Times.
Posted by bill at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2006
Update: Murtha asked NYT not to print SWIFT story
If John Murtha thinks you're too anti-Bush...Bill Keller names names: HotAir has the video of Keller's appearance on CNN tonight - Murtha was one of the three non-administration peeps who asked the Slimes not to publish Friday's story.
Good Lord. With patriots like the NY Times, who needs the jihadists?
Posted by bill at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
You had me at "Truth be Told"
With Alias having reached a conclusion, alas so too did any opportunity to look at Jennifer Garner. Be not discouraged, male readers.
Posted by bill at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Hypothetically speaking
Wonder what would happen if this were happening in the U.S. - would the NYT worry itself over "privacy concerns"?
Hee, hee. Kidding, of course.
Posted by bill at 12:26 PM | Comments (1)
News that's not fit to print by MSM
While the NYT is busy subverting anti-jihad programs, some real news today is likely to be ignored by MSM, namely, ugly evidence of ties between Saddam Hussein and the United Nations and Oil-for-Food corruption at a trial in New York. The UK Times reports, "The judge has ruled that prosecutors can present evidence of Dr Boutros [Boutros] Ghali's relationship with Tongsun Park, a South Korean businessman on trial in New York for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Saddam's Iraq."
The truth here is hard to keep down, unfortunately for those who believe the French and Russian opposition to the war resembled anything principled. Of course the trial won't receive much attention, but these things tend to disseminate.
Posted by bill at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2006
Something tells me we're onto something good
Bravo to New York Rep. Peter King, who became the first elected leader I'm aware of to call for a criminal prosecution of the NY Times following its disclosure Friday of the SWIFT anti-terrorism program, calling the Times "treasonous." Let's hope others follow.
Wizbang has links.
Meanwhile, don't question John Murtha's patriotism, but according to an Arizona paper he thinks the "American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran."
Funny that Murtha, Kos, John Kerry, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, etc. haven't said boo about the Times story - is it a Republican position to believe legal, civil liberties-sensitive classified American defense programs shouldn't be in the newspaper? Is this what Democrats' have been reduced to?
Posted by bill at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2006
Is nothing sacred?
The NY Sun's Josh Gerstein has taken the lead on the NY Times' newest betrayal of American citizens -- disclosing, contrary to a request by the Bush administration, the feds' terrorist banking surveillance program, one described as affording the US a "unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks."
UPDATE (6/24) - My article, suggesting that the Attorney General pursue an indictment, has been published at the American Thinker. Thanks to Gadsden Flag for his input. Also, Pundit Review radio will be discussing the Times's latest subterfuge with Janey Levy of the Jihad Watch Project; and Realclearpolitics is stuffed to the gills with reaction to yesterday's story; and the commenters over at Hot Air offer some great insights.
Posted by bill at 09:24 AM | Comments (3)
WMD or not WMD? Part II
Hugh Hewitt says the WMD story needs to be told carefully, starting with:
Did Saddam and/or his inner circle know where these WMD had been hidden?
How did we find them?
Answers to just those two questions will provide extremely crucial information to a public still intensely and rightly interested in the case for war in 2003.
And the Bush Administration should want the whole record out, no matter what it shows. Though there may be some danger of assisting terrorists in their hunt for other caches of buried WMD, the facts surrounding these finds ought to be able to be disclosed in such a fashion as to serve both the need for the public to understand the entire picture and of course to keep other as-yet-undiscovered WMD out of terrorist hands.
Posted by bill at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2006
Thanks for the memories
For all those looking for the infamous Connie Chung farewell-to-sanity video...
Posted by bill at 05:10 PM | Comments (0)
WMD or not WMD?
It strikes me that conservatives' message on newly-disclosed sarin and mustard gas munitions in Iraq is a bit off-key. Let's face facts: a majority now believe the war was a mistake, and this is mainly because the "Bush lied" meme is having its intended effect. The great purple middle, having heard "no WMD" for years, regards this as a "known fact." And the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" is itself almost at a point in the talking point lifespan that it's regarded mostly with either extreme skepticism or outright disdain. That's the problem with neat labels --few now consider what those three words put together mean. So instead, shed that talking point and give us bare, non-technical facts: How are sarin and mustard gas used? How might Saddam have used them, or planned to - why did he have them? What countries could they reach? How many would have died? Thousands? Millions? Could they or the technology have been sold? To whom? I also don't want to hear how many "cannisters," or "munitions," or "shells." Like most people, these terms have little real significance to me.
Just the facts - so we know how awful sarin and mustard gas are, and we'll use our own labels.
Gadsden Flag adds:
I would go so far as to say that the term WMD has almost come to be a badge of scorn, or an albatross hung around Bush's neck, as if the mere mention of the term is cause for snide laughter. Sort of like Bush's Monica Lewinsky.
What troubles me about the latest WMD info is not so much that it appears to be pre-Gulf War I stockpile (and thus no support for Saddam having an active WMD program prior to the invasion). As long as he had them, he could use them, and we know he did in the past. What does trouble me is the administration's silence over these findings for too long. I read that France, China and Russia have their dirty fingerprints on the precursors, and I think there is also more evidence that Russia agreed to transport the WMD to Syria prior to the invasion. Is Bush so reluctant to disclose this because it implicates 3 members of the UN Security Counsel? Why should Bush, and the US, take a bullet for three countries that aren't doing us any favors? Would revealing this information some how track back to us during the time we supporte Iraq over Iran?
Posted by bill at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2006
The ravages of political correctness
When one of Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich's political appointees, Robert Smith, had the gall to say that "Homosexual behavior, in my view, is deviant. I'm a Roman Catholic," the Governor faced a choice: fire Smith for the transgression of committing a thought crime; or not fire Smith, then face accusations the Governor protected Smith's "hate speech." Bear in mind Smith's appointment is to the board of the metro transit authority -- not quite a nerve center for anti-gay policy-making. Still, Ehrlich took the easiest path, and fired Smith.
I have to think that Ray Bradbury's fictional firemen would approve. Anyway, as John Leo describes, if it's true that calling homosexuality "deviant" is grounds for dismissal and "unacceptable," gays are evidently the next "favored class" in America. Wonder how blacks feel about this?
Posted by bill at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)
Good Lord
Hot Air bids farewell to two MSM icons, legends in their own minds, Connie Chung and Dan Rather. This is coffee-spitting funny.
Posted by bill at 01:06 PM | Comments (1)
Soccer anyone?
Lessons in diversity: In keeping with the New Editorial Policy, and to avoid charges of hemispherism, here's a little taste of Brazil's soccer fan-dom (via Fox Sports).
Posted by bill at 10:19 AM | Comments (2)
June 19, 2006
Clipped at Winged Foot
For a while yesterday, I thought Phil Mickelson was going to give hope to all of us golfers who cannot hit those oversized drivers straight, and who smack errant tee shots into trees and, occasionally, buildings/houses. Alas, Winged Foot wasn't so forgiving. Those are fine lines between fearless and foolish, between bold and arrogant, and at yesterday's 18th hole the golf world was aghast as Mickelson leapt over them. He's a helluva guy and one of the few professional athletes who looks as though he's having the time of his life on a golf course, and yesterday's collapse on the 18th hole was confounding and car-accident horrifying, in equal doses. In the end, though, Lefty was humbled by the game of golf - just like the rest of us.
Posted by bill at 09:44 AM | Comments (1)
June 16, 2006
Liberals, say it with me: "Bush did not lie..."
The Democrats' timing is impeccable. As many liberals in the House and Senate try to rally the "cut and run" contingent, new developments on Saddam Hussein's link to Al Quaeda and his WMD (more here) give the lie to the Kerry/Murtha "Bush lied, withdraw troops now" meme.
(H/T: Gregg Jackson.)
Posted by bill at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2006
Skeletons in the freezer
Whatever use Democrats hope to make of the Jack Abramoff scandal and the supposed "Republican culture of corruption" heading into November 2006, it's apparent Rep. William Jefferson's big giant bags of ca$h are muddying things up. The Democratic leadership simply can't be happy Jefferson didn't resign his Ways & Means Committee seat, as they'd asked him to do -- now, after Nancy Pelosi's efforts for a quiet resolution failed, a confrontation looms. After a secret ballot today, the full House will decide whether Jefferson will keep his seat. And the Congressional Black Caucus purportedly believes "race is a factor" (read: the corrupt person is black) and may very well make a stink.
Posted by bill at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2006
Annoy a liberal. Fly or email a flag.
Tomorrow is Flag Day, a holiday meant for Americans to encourage and display our pride in a flag that represents our country, and the promise America holds as that "shining city on a hill." It's also an occasion, I think, to remind ourselves that "freedom" and "liberty" meant very little until the US fought for these ideals and did so under Old Glory.
Anyway, with this patriotic stuff being the kind of thing that annoys our liberal friends to no end, why not find a flag tomorrow and fly/pin/post it? Many liberals seem are happier flying Che Guevera or gay pride banners than waving an American flag, and seem more pleased burning the American flag than waving it. So if nothing else, copy this picture, then email it to some liberals and wish them a happy Flag Day.
Posted by bill at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)
Philadelphia Freedom
Is Joey Vento becoming immigration's Rosa Parks?
If you haven't heard, Vento is the owner of Geno's, the legendary cheesesteak shop in South Philly. Months ago Vento posted this Hurtful and Intimidating sign: This is AMERICA ... WHEN ORDERING SPEAK ENGLISH" (the gall!). Now the Philadelphia Society of Pantload Bureaucrats Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations is worried about -- get this -- Philadelphia's "image" and has sicked its lawyers on Vento, slapping him with a lawsuit that accuses him of violating two sections of the city's antidiscrimination laws: "denying service to someone because of his or her national origin, and having printed material making certain groups of people feel their patronage is unwelcome," reports the Inquirer. (AP report is here.)
I am a red state-type simpleton, so my first reaction to these things is to think the city has no business regulating a private restaurant. But without researching this, it seems probable the CHR is within its rights to harass Vento, because the law generally gives city government wide latitude to regulate "public accomodations" (read: everything). The Philly ordinance takes what it's given, regulating the conduct of all "public accomodations" ("any person being the owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement"; the full text is below the fold).
However nauseating, the CHR is probably within its rights, and Vento's cause might face a tough road in the courts. But the democratic process works, too - if Philadelphia voters agree with Vento, nothing's stopping them from creating real headaches for city politicians. Let's hope they do.
(Incidentally, if you did read the Philly code below, you may be asking yourself, "Did Bill make up Section "c"? And the answer is, "No, I did not up Section "c." Philadelphia is a proud, progressive, and non-nipplephobic community.)
§9-1105. Unlawful Public Accommodations Practice. [668]
(A) It shall be an unlawful public accommodations practice:
(1) For any person being the owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement to:
(a) Refuse, withhold from, or deny to any person because of his race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap or marital status, either directly or indirectly, any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges of such place of public accommodation, resort or amusement.[669]
(b) Publish, circulate, issue, display, post or mail, either directly or indirectly, any written or printed communication, notice or advertisement to the effect that any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of any such place shall be refused, withheld or denied to any person on account of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap or marital status, or that the patronage of any person of any particular race, color, sex, religious creed, ancestry, national origin, physical handicap or marital status is unwelcome, objectionable or not acceptable, desired or solicited.[670]
(c) Prohibit a breastfeeding mother from or segregate a breastfeeding mother within any public accommodation where she would otherwise be authorized to be, irrespective of whether or not the nipple of the mother’s breast is covered during or incidental to breastfeeding.[671]
Posted by bill at 10:07 AM | Comments (1)
June 12, 2006
More from the religion of peace
Jihadi for "progress": The Muslim prophet Muhammad married a 9 year-old boy. Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi had a 16 year-old wife when he was killed last week. (Let's assume for banter's sake that they were married for less than 7 years.)
Posted by bill at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
Way better than coffee
Via Michelle Malkin:
I'll take the "bimbo" over the witch any day.
Posted by bill at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2006
Lessons in marital bliss
In keeping with previously announced New Editorial Policy, I am posting some Katherine Heigl -- ROI for being subjected to "Grey's Anatomy" every Sunday night by my lovely wife, who incidentally doesn't necessarily care for the New Editorial Policy one bit.
Posted by bill at 04:09 PM | Comments (1)
New York, New York, a helluva town...
Person 1: "Excuse me, I think you have my cell phone."
Sashacristal8905: "i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it."
Story (and pictures) here; excerpted below the fold.
The people in the pictures below have my friend’s T-Mobile Sidekick. Instead of doing the honorable thing when finding someone’s phone in a taxi, they instead kept it.
I have found 8 cell phones in the last couple years in taxis. EVERY single one I have contacted the owner (by leaving a message on their voice mail or by answering their phone and telling their friends that I have the phone) and returned it promptly. When people have found my phone, they have also in turn returned it.
When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves.
I immediately contacted the AOL name: Sashacristal8905 and requested that the Sidekick be returned. I was immediately told that my “white ass” didn’t deserve it back. That she was not a “white bitch” (my friend who is a blonde white girl had pics on the phone this person had obviously seen) stupid enough to return a phone she found. After lots of threats, she said she and her boy would wait for me at:
Sashacristal8905: i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it
Posted by bill at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
"Requiem for a Nightmare"
James Poulos is an exceptional young conservative writers and it's been my privilege that he's written here as both a blogger and submitting occasional articles. His latest is a fabulous piece entitled, "Requiem for a Nightmare," an obituary for Al-Zarqawi appearing in the American Spectator:
Zarqawi made of that trauma his true religion, and of its harrowing a remorseless science. He did so at a time when a new legitimacy of order -- in Iraq, in Islam, in the Middle East, in foreign relations, and in international law -- is desperately needed and not yet established. He worked actively to destroy all legitimacies of order, by deploying weapons of de-civilization not used so frankly for thousands of years. He exacerbated the standing dilemma of an America deserted by the United Nations, but left to enforce the integrity of an international law which too few truly wanted enforced. And he brought unbearable dilemmas to Iraq's unfortunates, hopeless souls not knowing whether it was worse to spare themselves or survive on complicity in the deaths of Americans and their own unknowing countrymen. For all these reasons, which shall never cease to be true, all of us -- historians, Americans, Iraqis, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and atheists -- can share a moment of solemn resolve, joined in the certitude that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, if he has not received it already, shall face his final judgment.
James blogs at Postmodern Consverative. Certainly worth adding to "Favorites."
Posted by bill at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2006
Suitably blunt
I don't care all that much for Ann Coulter, and her comments to Matt Lauer this week were in bad taste, if only because they were so carelessly stated. Anyone who visits this blog semi-regularly knows I'm not a fan of cliche and eupehmism, but Coulter managed to offend even me, which is no small accomplishment.
That said, Coulter's "liberal infallability" line is probably a valid one - we're not supposed to criticize John Murtha, because he served in Viet Nam; we can't question Markos' patriotism, either, or Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's insight on gun control, or Cindy Sheehan's anti-war nuttery; and remember Ron Reagan speaking at the 2004 convention? Don't you dare question his stem-cell insight!
Coulter is probably onto something. Sensitivity is nice, but it tends to squelch actual debate, and when we're talking about people - and Congressmen, for God's sake - who hold ridiculous views, we can't be expected to muzzle it.
And it is just infuriating to watch the Dems and their medialand cohorts trot out another token at every turn. Today, on the heels the Al-Zarqawi news, they turned to Michael Berg, the father of Nick Berg (beheaded in Iraq in 2004) to blunt today's optimistic vibe. "I don't think that Zarqawi is himself responsible for the killings of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq," he said. "I think George Bush is."
Whadda pantload. As I said I'm not a big fan of Ann Coulter's, but when the media resorts to this kind of nonsense, I suppose I am glad someone says the unsayable.
Posted by bill at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
Happy happy joy joy, and the left is stuck on stupid.
Where's my virgins at?
Terrorist and beheader maniac Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is dead thanks to a US airstrike. Fox News:
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening at around 6:15 p.m. local time in a bombing raid on a building in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province.
Loud applause broke out as al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, made the announcement at a news conference in Baghdad Thursday that Zarqawi was "terminated."
Mark in Mexico says that, "All in all, probably a bigger day for the Iraqi people than the day Saddam was captured or the day that his two maniac sons were killed."
Congrats to the US troops in Iraq.
Michelle Malkin has a round-up.
Soon after Saddam was captured in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld gave an interview to, I think, 60 Minutes. As usual the questions were "stuck on stupid" and attempted to portray Hussein's capture as less significant that the rest of us believed. It was absolute nonsense, and Rumsfeld hit back, and hard, making the interviewer look positively stupid. Over at the foreign policy think-tank known as Daily Kos, it's apparent Al-Zarqawi's death will be greeted much the same - by downplaying its importance ("the contribution it may make to the development of a democratic Iraq at peace with itself is uncertain at best"; "Killing the leaders doesn't really seem to matter that much in this sort of conflict. Others just pop up to replace them"; "this makes such good election campaign fodder for the Americans, doesn't it? Expect a rise in those Bush poll numbers for sure"; "Beware of fairy-tale propaganda. Trust nothing that they say" etc.).
Posted by bill at 09:09 AM | Comments (1)
June 06, 2006
W: premature lame duck
When President Bush announced his immigration plan last month, I wrote that his Administration had "jumped the shark." Sadly, the agenda since then is vindicating me -- it's driven by the kind of political impotence that ordinarily awaits the lame duck years. But with 5 months remaining, functionally, in the Bush presidency, W is suffering from premature lameness:
- His sudden boldness on gay marriage doesn't pass the stink test. Given that no one thought it'd pass, it's pandering; and it won't energize the base whatsoever (note to White House: we're not idiots), which makes it "desperate." For once, props to Kos.
- Today's announcement on Iran is a capitulation that adopts the liberals' worldview and approach to the Mullahcracy. The administration has given up on generating support to confront the Mullahs, mostly because their message on Iraq and the war on terror, is a muddled, imcomprehensible mess.
Posted by bill at 03:24 PM | Comments (2)
Franco-American relations: could be worse
In keeping with the previously announced New Editorial Policy, I give you Melissa Theuriau, whose French-ness I can forgive. As IS notes, Melissa has possible "done more to improve American attitudes on France and French culture than any other living person." Who can argue?
Posted by bill at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
What to my wondering eyes should appear
Yesterday in New York:
- Around 6:30 pm, I almost physically ran into John F. Kerry, as he tore himself from the embrace of Morley Safer, and hopped into a waiting limo on East 43rd Street in Manhattan. (Safer looked positively smitten.) For a moment I paused and thought about shaking Kerry's hand, asking whether he's running again, etc. ("I loved you in Swift Boat"). But then I thought, nah.
- Geraldo Rivera, at 49th Street and 7th Avenue at around 10:00 am, possibly looking for hidden treasure.
- The contemptible Kofi A. Annan on the opinion page of yesterday's Wall Street Journal, making a pro-immigration pitch: "All in all, countries that welcome migrants and succeed in integrating them into their societies are among the most dynamic--economically, socially and culturally--in the world." The WSJ's leftist view on immigration stems purely from economics, which I can understand, but I cannot imagine Kofi lends any credibility to the pro-illegals side; in fact anything Kofi supports is immediately suspicious to me.
Posted by bill at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2006
About that "aggressive tone"
More via Gadsden Flag...Earlier today we pointed out the "aggressive tone" footnote to the AP story on the lead Canadian terrorist. For more on what you're not hearing from the US media about the Mississauga bust, we evidently must rely on The Mississauga News here ("Suspect's angry rants shocked MP"):
Streetsville area MP Wajid Khan was so concerned with the radical preachings of a Mississauga terror suspect that he visited a storefront mosque in Meadowvale last year to hear him speak.
Khan visited the Ar-Rahman Islamic Centre, a storefront mosque sandwiched between a Hasty convenience store and a beauty salon in a small Meadowvale strip mall, to hear the angry rants of 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal.
"I was concerned that he had found a bunch of young kids and he was able to influence them," Khan told an American newspaper yesterday. "I think we have to be extremely vigilant in the Muslim community. We have to watch out for people who are trying to teach disaffected youths that it's the Muslims against the rest, a war of civilizations."
...Jamal's belief that the West is at war with Muslims, boiled over at the mosque, others say. His preaching was so strident it startled Khan, who said he stopped at the mosque last year on his regular rounds of his riding."
...and here ("Terror suspect preached to youth"):
Sources say that during the 2004 federal election campaign, Jamal told members that Islam "forbid" participation in politics and more recently accused Canadian soldiers of going to Afghanistan to rape women....When asked by reporters yesterday why he was so certain of the men's innocence, Lela said, "Because these people are so obvious, they are here all the time. Terrorists tend to be hidden...underground...Although many have described Jamal as soft-spoken, it was his outspoken Wahhabist views..."
...and here ("Six suspects attended Meadowvale mosque"):
"[Jamal] spent a lot of time with youth," said Faheem Bukhari, a director of the Mississauga Muslim Community Centre who attends prayers at the Ar Rahman mosque. He said Jamal never openly embraced violence, but was "very vocal and ... could incite these young kids for jihad."
Posted by bill at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)
Drowning in eupehmisms
Via Jules from down the Hall, it looks as though Islamapologists around the US and Canada are predictably dismissive of this weekend's terrorist bust in Canada. The AP turns in a canned "religon of peace" lecture, relying on Imam Qamrul Khanson of the Al-Rahman Islamic Center for Islamic Education (sounds so harmless, doesn't it?) -- the staging area for the Canada 17. Khanson earns the award for sheer absurdity with this gem: "Here we always preach peace and moderation. I have faith that they have done a thorough investigation. But just the possession of ammonium nitrate doesn't prove that they have done anything wrong" [emphasis mine] (the AP calls it "potential bomb-making material").
Gadsden Flag notes, "True, possession by itself doesn't mean they did anything wrong. Maybe they had an enormous farm in Mississauga that needed to be fertilized. Let's look at what Wikipedia says about that town...Oh, wait--Mississauga isn't farm country but an urban/suburban area that sprawls into Toronto with mostly tract housing and high-rise condos? Maybe their mosque had a really, really big garden." And, what, exactly does the Imam mean when he says the language of [suspect]"Jamal's Friday night prayers had a more aggressive tone than other prayer leaders', but there was never any talk of terrorism or violence"? Aggressive tone?
Posted by bill at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)
Carson Palmer, Cornholer
Call me childish, but I wonder whether the Cincinatti Bengals' front office has any idea of the double entendres involved with the "Carson Palmer Cornhole Classic." Then again, it's the Bengals.
UPDATE: Cult radio icon The Paragon of Excellence adds, "They've had cornholling events in Cincinnati for years. True story-Paul and I interviewed the President of the Cincy Corholling Association on the air a couple years ago, and believe me when I say we didn't miss an opportunity for an entendre. Good to see Carson Palmer get behind a worthy cause."
UPDATE II: Tom L. adds, "'Palmer developed the idea for the event soon after being introduced to the sport of cornhole while living in Cincinnati'"? I thought Kimo von Oelhoffen introduced him to old-fashioned "cornholing" during last year's playoffs?"
Posted by bill at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2006
Must be because Canada invaded Iraq
Today, Canadian police arrested "youths" "from a variety of backgrounds" planning attacks in Ontario. The group had acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate (perspective: one ton was used in Oklahoma City). At this point Canadia authorities believe they were "inspired by" but not yet known to be "linked to" Al Quaeda.
Counterterrorism Blog says those busted were "Muslim but not Arab" and has gobs of info and links; Michelle Malkin has a round-up, too.
Note: the "youths" "from a variety of backgrounds" are:
Fahim Ahmad, 21, Toronto
Zakaria Amara, 20, Mississauga, Ont.
Asad Ansari, 21, Mississauga
Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30, Mississauga
Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, Mississauga
Mohammed Dirie, 22, Kingston, Ont.
Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, Kingston
Jahmaal James, 23, Toronto
Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, Toronto
Steven Vikash Chand alias Abdul Shakur, 25, Toronto
Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, Mississauga
Saad Khalid, 19, of Eclipse Avenue, Mississauga
Posted by bill at 05:31 PM | Comments (0)
Papers? You don't need no stinking papers
If an election can turn on a sentence, this could be the one: "You don't need papers for voting."
On Thursday night, Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District, was speaking before a largely Latino crowd in Escondido when she uttered those words. She said yesterday she simply misspoke. But someone taped it and a recording began circulating yesterday. After she made that statement at the meeting, Busby immediately said: "You don't need to be a registered voter to help (the campaign)."
She said that subsequent statement was to clarify what she meant.
Posted by bill at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2006
State of Fear
Life imitates Michael Crichton novel:
The environmental activist group Greenpeace wanted to be prepared to counter President Bush's visit last week to Pennsylvania to promote his nuclear energy policy.
"This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet, decrying the "threat" posed by the reactors Bush visited in Limerick.
But after that assertion, the Greenpeace authors were apparently stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor.
"In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]," the sheet said.
(H/T: Florida Cracker.)
Posted by bill at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
Friday melange and New Editorial Policy
- I don't share Michelle Malkin's (and my wife's) enthusiasm for ABC's prime-time spelling bee last night. The kids are impressive (orsprack!), and I appreciate wholesome family programming as much as the next conservative, but where have the writers gone?
- Yankee fans know Jeffrey Maier - in a 1996 playoff game vs. Baltimore, he converted a Derek Jeter fly out/single/double into a home run that jump-started the late-90's Yankees dynasty and sent the Orioles franchise into a decade-long tailspin. Turns out Maier can throw and hit, too; he's a promising minor league pitcher - who may well land in the Orioles' farm system.
- Jed Babbin on Haditha: "We don't know what happened at Haditha...No matter how quickly military investigators work, and no matter how firmly any crimes are punished, the anti-war left won't be satisfied unless Haditha becomes the lever that pushes President Bush to admit the war was wrong and set a time to withdraw from Iraq."
- According to voters in a poll over at Powerline blog, the greatest American novel of all time is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (And to think I only read the Cliff Notes.) Atlas Shrugged was not on the ballot because it's hardly "literature" - anyone who's tried to read the last 100 or so pages of that book know what I mean. Who is John Galt? A guy who talks a lot.
- I don't agree with much over at Slate, but the writing there can be very good; almost everyday there's an article on the obscure-but-interesting. Today Jack Shafer discusses our plague of cliches.
- New Editorial Policy: In a shameless effort to boost traffic I will now be posting pictures of smokin' hot babes. Call it un-conservative, and apologies to my mother and sisters who are (I think) regular visitors to the site. Today's installment is the hot chick formerly known as Winni Cooper from the Wonder Years:
Fred Savage, eat your heart out.
Posted by bill at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2006
Just a regular Joe having a few friends over
Joe Paterno the football coach is not fond of the media (probably fair), and they are not fond of him either (the hell with 'em). And that's why I am fascinated, almost bemused by this story: The University, and JoePa, invited a busload of reporters to Joe's unpretentious, regular-Joe ranch home about a block north of the Penn State campus - for some ice cream and cake, more or less.
And that's why we love Joe Paterno.
Posted by bill at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)
So what else is new?
The "other man's freedom fighter", in Hamas Weekly:
via Palestinian Media Watch/LGF. PMW points out it's really nothing new:
Visual and verbal attacks on US symbols are standard components of Palestinian Authority hate incitement, and the Statue of Liberty is a symbol that has been mocked and denigrated in PA cartoons for years.Palestinian cartoons of the Statue of Liberty, include [see visuals below] :
Palestinian child urinating on the Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty as a suicide terrorist
The Statue of Liberty's torch igniting the world's fires
The Statue of Liberty as a prostitute
The Statue of Liberty being imprisoned by the FBI and CIA
The Statue of Liberty as an evil Condoleezza Rice, representing Israel
The Statue of Liberty destroyed with Superman at the "Gates of Baghdad"
The Statue of Liberty symbol as a heroic Palestinian woman. However, instead of representing freedom, the defiant Palestinian Statue represents violence and terror, wears a crown of machines guns and holds an infant grasping a stone.
It should be noted that except for this week's Hamas cartoon, all the previous cartoons denigrating the US symbol of freedom were in newspapers controlled by Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.
PMW has the whole collection.
Posted by bill at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
Pie in the Sky from Peggy
The estimable Peggy Noonan has "a feeling we're at some new beginning, that a big breakup's coming," and that means the trashing of the two-party paradigm. She cites out-of-control spending and a dysfunctional immigration policy as having brought us to the tipping point. Or maybe close to it:
"I don't see any potential party, or potential candidate, on the scene right now who can harness the disaffection of growing portions of the electorate. But a new group or entity that could define the problem correctly--that sees the big divide not as something between the parties but between America's ruling elite and its people--would be making long strides in putting third party ideas in play in America again."
But Noonan overestimates American's dissatisfaction with their masters in Washington:
"On the ground in America, people worry terribly--really, there are people who actually worry about it every day--about endless, weird, gushing government spending. But in Washington, those in power--Republicans and Democrats--stand arm in arm as they spend and spend. (Part of the reason is that they think they can buy off your unhappiness one way or another. After all, it's worked in the past. A hunch: It's not going to work forever or much longer. They've really run that trick into the ground.)
There are just not enough people who "worry terribly" about such things, and "that trick" will indeed keep working for the foreseeable future. Sure, poll after poll shows dissatisfaction with Congress as a whole. But the polls--and more importantly, the nearly 100% retention rate of incumbents--show that people like their Representative. The other guy is the problem. As long as the pork keeps coming home, the majority of people tend to send their guy or gal back to the Capitol. And why should they worry? They've got more important concerns, like who'll be the next American Idol, Brangelina's baby, Barry Bonds' home run count, and whether they can fit that new 50" flat screen in the back of the SUV.
It takes a metaphorical whack in the head with a two-by-four to get most people to pay attention to serious, national issues. Today's Americans can't seem to understand that the whacks we take are usually preventable and always costly. The last big whack we took killed a few thousand Americans in downtown Manhattan, at the Pentagon, and on three airliners. But the damage from uncontrolled immigration and reckless government spending is less like a whack in the head than the proverbial exercise in boiling a frog.
It's starting to get hot in this pot, but not enough will notice until it is too late. Did Taylor Hicks get his record deal yet?
Posted by GadsdenFlag at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)
