Victor Davis Hanson brutally dissects the failure and immorality of America's worst President:
Jimmy Carter... almost immediately was back in the news claiming that the United States was one of the world’s great abusers of civil rights (I wonder how our internecine body count in Plains, Georgia stacks up with that in Rwanda, Kosovo, or Dafur?).
In his dotage, Carter is proving once again that he is as malicious and mean-spirited a public figure as he is historically ignorant. And for all his sanctimonious Christian veneer, and fly-fishing, ‘aw shucks blue-jeans image, he can’t hide an essentially ungracious and unkind soul.
And can Carter point to just one aspect of current American life where civil liberties are materially curtailed, in which an American can’t do what he wants? Getting on a plane without shampoo doesn’t count—or not having your family at the gate when you land either: all thanks to al Qaeda, not George Bush.
Contrast our enemies: the pope, an opera, a novel, a cartoon, a film—all either muzzled or intimidated by the mere fear of Islamic violence. Carter should reread Aristotle’s Ethics and learn what true morality is: action to combat evil, not sermonizing from the Carter Center or campaigning for a Nobel Prize at a time of war by trashing his own government.
There is another disturbing element to Cartesian maliciousness. He asks us to forget all the dilemmas of being President, the necessity of making bad choices when the alternative is usually worse. And, of course, he seems to have amnesia about his own failings that put this country in grave jeopardy. He sanctimoniously lectured us on our Cold War fixation on communism—and got a murderous Soviet invasion of Afghanistan....
He wept for the middle class, but adopted policies that led to double-digit interest rates and inflation, ensuring that only the upscale could borrow for a house or ensure their salaries would keep up with the cost of living. No need to mention his energy policy or gas lines.
Carter’s Waterloo, of course was the Iranian hostage crisis. It was not just that his gutting of the military helped to explain the rescue disaster. Far more importantly, we can chart the rise of radical political Islam with the storming of the American embassy in Teheran and the impotent response of Jimmy Carter.
Long before George Bush was elected to anything, crowds in Teheran gave us the genesis of the Great Satan and “Death to Carter”. Does he remember that so great was the Iranian Islamist hatred of him, that Iran deliberately delayed the brokered release of the hostages until he was out of office—a lesson that appeasement wins contempt as the additional wage of its failure.
One of the great failures of the Democratic Party in 2004 was giving this mangy ex-President such a high profile. Most Americans know intuitively what Hanson states above, that Carter's immoral inaction in the face of Islamic terror some 27 years ago gave rise to the perception of America as a paper tiger that could be taunted and defeated. How many innocents have died, and how many wars have we had to fight, since Carter gave fuel to the Islamic fire?
Yet the Dems let this guy speak at the convention...what kind of memories did they think he would invoke? And sitting him in a place of high honor, right next to fellow America-basher Michael Moore...well, entirely appropriate, to be sure, but I can't imagine how these two could inspire any but the already die-hard to vote Democratic...
Well, the 2006 election cycle is upon us. Let us hope we see much more of this sanctimonious moral prostitute pimping the candidates of the left - the more America sees of Jimmy Carter, the less likely they are to pull the "D" lever, knowing what type of policies he (and they) represent...
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
al-Zawahiri's Speechwriters?
Old al-Zawahiri is a pretty sharp charactor; definitely reads the Washington Post -
After two books that made President Bush look pretty good, Bob Woodward is out with a new one that comes awfully close to calling the president a liar....
What's striking, instead, is that anyone could still disagree with this assessment of the role of Iraq....the war in Iraq has worsened the terrorist threat.
- and New York Times for talking points before he gives one of his fiery jihad speeches:
...U.S. President George W. Bush, Zawahiri brands him a "deceitful charlatan" and liar, and questions: “why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and it's allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits?”
Powerline comments:
Zawahiri knows that because of the incompetence (or worse) of American journalists, he can ridicule the idea of connections between al Qaeda and Iraq, even though he himself attended, according to multiple reports, a conference of Islamic extremists in Baghdad in 1999.
It's interesting to think about the possible explanations for the fact that al Qaeda's leaders believe that their most effective public relations strategy is to repeat the Democratic Party's talking points.
Equally interesting is how the media simply reports Zawahiri's rants without qualifiers, as if it were fact, but when President Bush speaks, we get this:
President Bush today lashed out at critics of his policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, denouncing predictions of impending failure in Afghanistan and complaining that some have "selectively quoted" from a classified intelligence assessment...
....In his speech, Bush quoted what he described as a powerful answer to the critics this week by British Prime Minister Tony Blair...
The Times uses scare quotes to make their not-so-subtle point:
President Bush asserted Friday that critics who claim the Iraq war has made America less safe embrace ''the enemy's propaganda.''
When I listen to the words of the mainstream media, and the words of Ayman al-Zawahiri, I start to lose track of who is the "war critic" and who is the "enemy"....
After two books that made President Bush look pretty good, Bob Woodward is out with a new one that comes awfully close to calling the president a liar....
What's striking, instead, is that anyone could still disagree with this assessment of the role of Iraq....the war in Iraq has worsened the terrorist threat.
- and New York Times for talking points before he gives one of his fiery jihad speeches:
...U.S. President George W. Bush, Zawahiri brands him a "deceitful charlatan" and liar, and questions: “why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and it's allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits?”
Powerline comments:
Zawahiri knows that because of the incompetence (or worse) of American journalists, he can ridicule the idea of connections between al Qaeda and Iraq, even though he himself attended, according to multiple reports, a conference of Islamic extremists in Baghdad in 1999.
It's interesting to think about the possible explanations for the fact that al Qaeda's leaders believe that their most effective public relations strategy is to repeat the Democratic Party's talking points.
Equally interesting is how the media simply reports Zawahiri's rants without qualifiers, as if it were fact, but when President Bush speaks, we get this:
President Bush today lashed out at critics of his policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, denouncing predictions of impending failure in Afghanistan and complaining that some have "selectively quoted" from a classified intelligence assessment...
....In his speech, Bush quoted what he described as a powerful answer to the critics this week by British Prime Minister Tony Blair...
The Times uses scare quotes to make their not-so-subtle point:
President Bush asserted Friday that critics who claim the Iraq war has made America less safe embrace ''the enemy's propaganda.''
When I listen to the words of the mainstream media, and the words of Ayman al-Zawahiri, I start to lose track of who is the "war critic" and who is the "enemy"....
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Ramadan is Riot Time !
Yup, after a day spent fasting in quiet contemplation, and an evening dinner with the family, the best way to express the values of the faith during Ramadan is to...rampage through the streets of Europe. The Brussels Journal reports:
Around 8:30pm last night violence erupted again in Brussels, the capital of Europe. The riots centered on the Brussels Marollen quarter and the area near the Midi Train Station, where the international trains from London and Paris arrive. Youths threw stones at passing people and cars, windows of parked cars were smashed, bus shelters were demolished, cars were set ablaze, a youth club was arsoned and a shop was looted. Two molotov cocktails were thrown into St.Peter’s hospital, one of the main hospitals of central Brussels. The fire brigade was able to extinguish the fires at the hospital, but youths managed to steal the keys of the fire engine.
From Gates of Vienna:
Actually, the Brussels police released the ten vandals they captured in order to “defuse” the situation. Now tell me: how do you defuse human refuse which has the capability to spontaneously combust? “Defusing” the situation is nothing more than cowardice. It inflames that which it proclaims to tamp down. What a joke!
No doubt these youths can find some hadith in their inflammatory belief system which will cover mayhem and whatever destruction occurs to them.
And of course, the media quails in fear before their new Islamic masters, and imposes a news blackout:
What makes this story unusual is that so far, there has only been one report issued across the newswires (by Reuters) covering the events, and even though the rioting is entering its third day, not a single photographer has been dispatched to document the activities of the Muslim mob....amongst all of this meleé, the Associated Press hasn't seen fit to send a photojournalist? Nor Reuters?
Snapped Shot links us to local news report with a " more telling video ".
I'll close with the opening of a post from EU Referendum:
When is a riot not a riot? When, it seems, it involves Muslims in Brussels, at Ramadan.
And finally, for 2:31 of perfect perspective, go see the video at Average Gay Joe's place....now!
Around 8:30pm last night violence erupted again in Brussels, the capital of Europe. The riots centered on the Brussels Marollen quarter and the area near the Midi Train Station, where the international trains from London and Paris arrive. Youths threw stones at passing people and cars, windows of parked cars were smashed, bus shelters were demolished, cars were set ablaze, a youth club was arsoned and a shop was looted. Two molotov cocktails were thrown into St.Peter’s hospital, one of the main hospitals of central Brussels. The fire brigade was able to extinguish the fires at the hospital, but youths managed to steal the keys of the fire engine.
From Gates of Vienna:
Actually, the Brussels police released the ten vandals they captured in order to “defuse” the situation. Now tell me: how do you defuse human refuse which has the capability to spontaneously combust? “Defusing” the situation is nothing more than cowardice. It inflames that which it proclaims to tamp down. What a joke!
No doubt these youths can find some hadith in their inflammatory belief system which will cover mayhem and whatever destruction occurs to them.
And of course, the media quails in fear before their new Islamic masters, and imposes a news blackout:
What makes this story unusual is that so far, there has only been one report issued across the newswires (by Reuters) covering the events, and even though the rioting is entering its third day, not a single photographer has been dispatched to document the activities of the Muslim mob....amongst all of this meleé, the Associated Press hasn't seen fit to send a photojournalist? Nor Reuters?
Snapped Shot links us to local news report with a " more telling video ".
I'll close with the opening of a post from EU Referendum:
When is a riot not a riot? When, it seems, it involves Muslims in Brussels, at Ramadan.
And finally, for 2:31 of perfect perspective, go see the video at Average Gay Joe's place....now!
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Once-Great Britain
Greg Gutfeld in the Weekly Standard:
England is a country as delusional as a 35-year-old stripper--everyone in the room but her sees that her powers of attraction have faded. Her life is a loose coalition of press-on nails, fake tan, hair extensions, and implants, all held together by the duct tape of delusion.
Yup. And the girls are always the first to notice - like Melanie Phillips, commenting on Britain's brilliant plan to inform the Muslim community of any impending raids days, maybe weeks in the future:
...can anyone imagine the British Army or the Royal Ulster Constabulary, when the IRA terror campaign was at its height, making known to the Catholic or Protestant communities plans to conduct raids within those communities, and the intelligence on which it was based, before they took place?
...Britain has simply taken leave of its senses.
Indeed. The fact that they are prepared to cede a great amount of their sovereignty over to the EU (and by extension, to their ancient enemy France) speaks volumes:
Reports this morning appear to confirm yesterday's rumour that Britain was preparing to surrender its EU veto on policing and judicial matters...
...."Ministers will set out conditions tomorrow for the transfer of control to the EU over the creation of new crimes that will apply in Britain as well as standardised court procedures," the newspaper says.
The EU commission says that removing the veto will assist in the fight against terror. However, the European commissioner for justice Franco Frattini has his eyes on a bigger prize: He sees the new system as a means of speeding the creation of an entirely new set of pan-European laws, including incitement to racial hatred.
Ya. And whom do you think that will be applied to?
After the rapid French surrender in the early days of WWII, England stood as Europe's last fortress against Nazi terror - alone, getting pounded mercilessly, until together with the United States, they turned back the barbarians clamoring at the gate.
Will they fall this time, without a shot being fired?
England is a country as delusional as a 35-year-old stripper--everyone in the room but her sees that her powers of attraction have faded. Her life is a loose coalition of press-on nails, fake tan, hair extensions, and implants, all held together by the duct tape of delusion.
Yup. And the girls are always the first to notice - like Melanie Phillips, commenting on Britain's brilliant plan to inform the Muslim community of any impending raids days, maybe weeks in the future:
...can anyone imagine the British Army or the Royal Ulster Constabulary, when the IRA terror campaign was at its height, making known to the Catholic or Protestant communities plans to conduct raids within those communities, and the intelligence on which it was based, before they took place?
...Britain has simply taken leave of its senses.
Indeed. The fact that they are prepared to cede a great amount of their sovereignty over to the EU (and by extension, to their ancient enemy France) speaks volumes:
Reports this morning appear to confirm yesterday's rumour that Britain was preparing to surrender its EU veto on policing and judicial matters...
...."Ministers will set out conditions tomorrow for the transfer of control to the EU over the creation of new crimes that will apply in Britain as well as standardised court procedures," the newspaper says.
The EU commission says that removing the veto will assist in the fight against terror. However, the European commissioner for justice Franco Frattini has his eyes on a bigger prize: He sees the new system as a means of speeding the creation of an entirely new set of pan-European laws, including incitement to racial hatred.
Ya. And whom do you think that will be applied to?
After the rapid French surrender in the early days of WWII, England stood as Europe's last fortress against Nazi terror - alone, getting pounded mercilessly, until together with the United States, they turned back the barbarians clamoring at the gate.
Will they fall this time, without a shot being fired?
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Panic in the Halls of the Left?
Seems like the Democrats and their poodles in the media are starting to see their sure-thing fall election sweep dissapate like so many cruel Novembers past...or else why would the Democratic Hate Machine be in a full-blown fervor on September 25th?
Let's see, first Virginia Republican George Allen was a racist for using the phrase "macaca" (which apparently was offensive to three indiginous tribes back in the late 1880's), then he was a closet self-loathing Jew, and now he's just a good 'ol Southern-boy racist. Allen's campaign rebuts the charges here. But by having to now deny that he was some type of archtypical marauding bigot, he is stuck in the classic "When did you stop beating your wife" scenario of guilt by denial. Still, this is normally a late October gambit by the MSM/Democratic party - why launch this attack so early? Do we fear a little loss of momentum, my pretties?
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, dogged by scandals and polling behind the Republican candidate, saw his supporters in the streets and in the universities bust out their ace a bit early as well:
Others think Menendez's surname -- and the state's growing ethnic mix -- may be factors, too. "I'll be blunt. It's not a nice thing to say about New Jersey, but being a Latino may be costing him in some parts of the state," says David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University. That view is shared in this diverse community, part of a congressional district Menendez represented for 13 years before joining the Senate in January.
But how about the New York Times, publishing a front-page article cherry-picking negative information from a internal government intelligence report to purposely portray the war on terror and the Bush administration in a negative light? (analysis by Roger Simon is excellent) Sure, this is SOP at the Times (despite how it backfired in the "Guard Memos" scandal of N'04), but why launch this broadside with seven weeks still ahead in the campaign cycle?
Seems like the left knows it is getting late early again; but nevertheless it is surprising to already be witnessing some of the tactical shrieks of panic on display above...imagine what we'll be seeing, should current trends continue, in the days before the election....
Let's see, first Virginia Republican George Allen was a racist for using the phrase "macaca" (which apparently was offensive to three indiginous tribes back in the late 1880's), then he was a closet self-loathing Jew, and now he's just a good 'ol Southern-boy racist. Allen's campaign rebuts the charges here. But by having to now deny that he was some type of archtypical marauding bigot, he is stuck in the classic "When did you stop beating your wife" scenario of guilt by denial. Still, this is normally a late October gambit by the MSM/Democratic party - why launch this attack so early? Do we fear a little loss of momentum, my pretties?
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, dogged by scandals and polling behind the Republican candidate, saw his supporters in the streets and in the universities bust out their ace a bit early as well:
Others think Menendez's surname -- and the state's growing ethnic mix -- may be factors, too. "I'll be blunt. It's not a nice thing to say about New Jersey, but being a Latino may be costing him in some parts of the state," says David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University. That view is shared in this diverse community, part of a congressional district Menendez represented for 13 years before joining the Senate in January.
But how about the New York Times, publishing a front-page article cherry-picking negative information from a internal government intelligence report to purposely portray the war on terror and the Bush administration in a negative light? (analysis by Roger Simon is excellent) Sure, this is SOP at the Times (despite how it backfired in the "Guard Memos" scandal of N'04), but why launch this broadside with seven weeks still ahead in the campaign cycle?
Seems like the left knows it is getting late early again; but nevertheless it is surprising to already be witnessing some of the tactical shrieks of panic on display above...imagine what we'll be seeing, should current trends continue, in the days before the election....
Monday, September 25, 2006
"...for New Jersey, scandal has hit a critical mass..."
Incumbent New Jersey Senator Robert Menedez (D-NJ), is feeling the heat from this blue state; whens the last time you saw a story lead (from the Asbury Park Press) like the one below?
It may be a tough time for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez to be a Democrat.
Menendez, seeking his first full Senate term, has slipped in the polls as Gov. Corzine grapples with rising taxes, former Democratic power broker John A. Lynch Jr. awaits sentencing on federal corruption charges, and fallen Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey tells all in his book, "The Confession."
Menendez now trails Republican challenger Thomas H. Kean Jr. by six percentage points among likely voters, a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey newspaper poll shows.
Kean was supported by 44 percent of likely voters, compared with 38 percent for Menendez. Fourteen percent said they were undecided, and 3 percent backed another candidate, according to the poll.
As much as I despise Menendez's Hugo Chavez-like view of America and our President; I believe our leftist Senator is taking the fall for everything else going horribly south in New Jersey - and the so-called experts concur:
Jennifer E. Duffy, editor of the Washington D.C.-based Cook Political Report, said the Republican's lead would normally be very surprising for the Democrat-leaning state — except for everything else going on.
"It's New Jersey. It's blue. It's a terrible year for Republicans. Why is this race in single digits?" Duffy asked. "But for New Jersey, scandal has hit a critical mass. You have the (former) state senator (Lynch) who pleaded guilty, you have Gov. McGreevey out there again, which brings back memories of the "I am a gay American speech.' And yes, people associate (Menendez's home of) Hudson County with corruption."
And here's a national note for all of those incumbant Republicans running in tight races: Run with your party and President, not against them:
Menendez's campaign has attempted to link Kean with Bush and the unpopular war in Iraq. But Kean polled better or even with Menendez on Iraq, homeland security funding and immigration policy. On the question of who has higher ethical standards, 29 percent of the likely voters preferred Kean, compared with 13 percent for Menendez.
"Menendez has tried to paint Kean with the Bush paintbrush. Clearly, that's not working," said Bridget Harrison, a Montclair State University political science professor.
I smell a trend.... too bad for the Democrats the elections weren't held in late August - but Rove, like any good poker player, knows when to hedge his bets, and when to raise the ante...
Prior posts on Menendez 's sorry state here and here. Check out Enlighten New Jersey for extensive Menendez coverage; Parkway Rest Stop rants over statewide corruption here, and Fausta talks about the depravity of ex-Governor McGreevy (and Oprah Winfry!); although she neglects (as do I !) to thank him for showing up at this opportune time to remind us of the true nature of his party...
Meanwhile, in the Washington Post's quick overview; they note that ethics is what's driving the 2006 New Jersey Senatorial campaign; and comment that it is -
-the issue where Menendez is weakest.
Hey, weren't the Democrats going to run on ethics this fall? Only seems like now they are running from the issue, at least in New Jersey...
It may be a tough time for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez to be a Democrat.
Menendez, seeking his first full Senate term, has slipped in the polls as Gov. Corzine grapples with rising taxes, former Democratic power broker John A. Lynch Jr. awaits sentencing on federal corruption charges, and fallen Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey tells all in his book, "The Confession."
Menendez now trails Republican challenger Thomas H. Kean Jr. by six percentage points among likely voters, a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey newspaper poll shows.
Kean was supported by 44 percent of likely voters, compared with 38 percent for Menendez. Fourteen percent said they were undecided, and 3 percent backed another candidate, according to the poll.
As much as I despise Menendez's Hugo Chavez-like view of America and our President; I believe our leftist Senator is taking the fall for everything else going horribly south in New Jersey - and the so-called experts concur:
Jennifer E. Duffy, editor of the Washington D.C.-based Cook Political Report, said the Republican's lead would normally be very surprising for the Democrat-leaning state — except for everything else going on.
"It's New Jersey. It's blue. It's a terrible year for Republicans. Why is this race in single digits?" Duffy asked. "But for New Jersey, scandal has hit a critical mass. You have the (former) state senator (Lynch) who pleaded guilty, you have Gov. McGreevey out there again, which brings back memories of the "I am a gay American speech.' And yes, people associate (Menendez's home of) Hudson County with corruption."
And here's a national note for all of those incumbant Republicans running in tight races: Run with your party and President, not against them:
Menendez's campaign has attempted to link Kean with Bush and the unpopular war in Iraq. But Kean polled better or even with Menendez on Iraq, homeland security funding and immigration policy. On the question of who has higher ethical standards, 29 percent of the likely voters preferred Kean, compared with 13 percent for Menendez.
"Menendez has tried to paint Kean with the Bush paintbrush. Clearly, that's not working," said Bridget Harrison, a Montclair State University political science professor.
I smell a trend.... too bad for the Democrats the elections weren't held in late August - but Rove, like any good poker player, knows when to hedge his bets, and when to raise the ante...
Prior posts on Menendez 's sorry state here and here. Check out Enlighten New Jersey for extensive Menendez coverage; Parkway Rest Stop rants over statewide corruption here, and Fausta talks about the depravity of ex-Governor McGreevy (and Oprah Winfry!); although she neglects (as do I !) to thank him for showing up at this opportune time to remind us of the true nature of his party...
Meanwhile, in the Washington Post's quick overview; they note that ethics is what's driving the 2006 New Jersey Senatorial campaign; and comment that it is -
-the issue where Menendez is weakest.
Hey, weren't the Democrats going to run on ethics this fall? Only seems like now they are running from the issue, at least in New Jersey...
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Big Bill Clinton Meltdown!
From the Washington Post:
Former president Bill Clinton angrily defended his administration's counterterrorism record during a Fox News interview to be aired today, while accusing "President Bush's neocons" and other Republicans of ignoring Osama bin Laden until the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Clinton had planned to discuss his climate change initiative during his appearance on "Fox News Sunday," but he turned combative after host Chris Wallace asked why he hadn't "put bin Laden and al-Qaeda out of business." Clinton shot back that "all the conservative Republicans" who now criticize him for inattention to bin Laden used to criticize him for over-attention to bin Laden.
Oh, Bill, blaming all of your problems on a "vast right-wing conpiracy" again? (Ignore the masthead, please! - ed.) First, we forced you to seduce a fat chick just out of college, now we tricked you into ignoring terrorism for eight years? If only us neo-cons really had the powers the left ascribes to us....
From Allegiance and Duty Betrayed:
Bill Clinton, in an interview with Chris Wallace to be aired on FoxNews Sunday (check your local listings), became incensed, and launched into a screaming harangue, when Wallace suggested that Clinton may have missed the chance to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
Former president Bill Clinton angrily defended his administration's counterterrorism record during a Fox News interview to be aired today, while accusing "President Bush's neocons" and other Republicans of ignoring Osama bin Laden until the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Clinton had planned to discuss his climate change initiative during his appearance on "Fox News Sunday," but he turned combative after host Chris Wallace asked why he hadn't "put bin Laden and al-Qaeda out of business." Clinton shot back that "all the conservative Republicans" who now criticize him for inattention to bin Laden used to criticize him for over-attention to bin Laden.
Oh, Bill, blaming all of your problems on a "vast right-wing conpiracy" again? (Ignore the masthead, please! - ed.) First, we forced you to seduce a fat chick just out of college, now we tricked you into ignoring terrorism for eight years? If only us neo-cons really had the powers the left ascribes to us....
From Allegiance and Duty Betrayed:
Bill Clinton, in an interview with Chris Wallace to be aired on FoxNews Sunday (check your local listings), became incensed, and launched into a screaming harangue, when Wallace suggested that Clinton may have missed the chance to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
As A&DB point out, He is even more red-faced and enraged than he was in the 'I ... did ... not ... have ... sex ... with ... that ... woman!' episode ...
And the same wagging finger.....
And the same denial of responsibility....
And so I cannot resist this:
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Wither Osama?
Gateway Pundit cites multiple reports claiming Osama bin Laden died in August of typhoid complications:
Saudi intelligence services have determined that terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in August, the French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported on its website on Saturday. The newspaper said it based its information on a document classified ‘defence secret’ originating in the French DGSE intelligence services. According to the story, the DGSE informed President Jacques Chirac of the Saudi report on Thursday.
The DGSE document, printed with the report, reads in part, ‘According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi intelligence services are said to have acquired the information that Osama bin Laden is dead. The information gleaned by the Saudis indicates that the head of Al Qaeda was a victim of a very strong attack of thyphoid... in Pakistan on August 23, 2006.’
If you can read French, No Parasan! links to the L'est Republicain report here.
I have my doubts; alas, we have heard this type of report before. The fact that Pakistan claims to know nothing about Osama's death increases my skepticism; somehow I think they would have pretty good information on all of this:
Pakistan has received no information from any foreign government that would corroborate a French newspaper report on Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan, a senior government official said.
"No government has shared any such information with us so far, which is the normal thing to do under such circumstances," the official, who has close knowledge of intelligence matters, said on condition of anonymity.
A senior official in Pakistan's Interior Ministry also said: "We have no information about Osama's death."
Even the feckless French seem to have their doubts:
France said it could not confirm a report on Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died in Pakistan last month...
French President Jacques Chirac told reporters after a summit with leaders of Germany and Russia that bin Laden's death "has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever, and so I have no comment to make."
One would expect Chirac to be rushing to Osama's gravesite, the way he hung about Arafat's deathbed...after all, he has a Islamist population he must prostrate himself before...
"If anyone was in the picture, I doubt it would be Saudi intelligence," said a Western diplomat in Riyadh.
"Even if Saudi Arabia had information, they'd pass it on to the United States, not France. It doesn't ring true."
More:
The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said it was not aware of any similar reports on the Internet.
"We've seen nothing from any al-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke told The Associated Press.
Al-Qaida would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.
"They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it," he said.
Sorry...maybe we'll have better luck next time. Doesn't it seem sometimes as if the meanest and most miserable get to walk the earth forever?
Saudi intelligence services have determined that terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in August, the French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported on its website on Saturday. The newspaper said it based its information on a document classified ‘defence secret’ originating in the French DGSE intelligence services. According to the story, the DGSE informed President Jacques Chirac of the Saudi report on Thursday.
The DGSE document, printed with the report, reads in part, ‘According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi intelligence services are said to have acquired the information that Osama bin Laden is dead. The information gleaned by the Saudis indicates that the head of Al Qaeda was a victim of a very strong attack of thyphoid... in Pakistan on August 23, 2006.’
If you can read French, No Parasan! links to the L'est Republicain report here.
I have my doubts; alas, we have heard this type of report before. The fact that Pakistan claims to know nothing about Osama's death increases my skepticism; somehow I think they would have pretty good information on all of this:
Pakistan has received no information from any foreign government that would corroborate a French newspaper report on Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan, a senior government official said.
"No government has shared any such information with us so far, which is the normal thing to do under such circumstances," the official, who has close knowledge of intelligence matters, said on condition of anonymity.
A senior official in Pakistan's Interior Ministry also said: "We have no information about Osama's death."
Even the feckless French seem to have their doubts:
France said it could not confirm a report on Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died in Pakistan last month...
French President Jacques Chirac told reporters after a summit with leaders of Germany and Russia that bin Laden's death "has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever, and so I have no comment to make."
One would expect Chirac to be rushing to Osama's gravesite, the way he hung about Arafat's deathbed...after all, he has a Islamist population he must prostrate himself before...
"If anyone was in the picture, I doubt it would be Saudi intelligence," said a Western diplomat in Riyadh.
"Even if Saudi Arabia had information, they'd pass it on to the United States, not France. It doesn't ring true."
More:
The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said it was not aware of any similar reports on the Internet.
"We've seen nothing from any al-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke told The Associated Press.
Al-Qaida would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.
"They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it," he said.
Sorry...maybe we'll have better luck next time. Doesn't it seem sometimes as if the meanest and most miserable get to walk the earth forever?
Koffi Annan: Hezbollah's Little Helper
A brief overview of Koffi's and the UN's actions in this summer's Mideast flareup - from the letters pages of the New York Sun:
Mr. Annan came close to accusing Israel of deliberately killing United Nations observers in Lebanon.
He grossly exaggerated at Israel's expense the number of persons found dead in Qana. He presided over a UNIFIL that was in collusion with Hezbollah.
He guaranteed that the new and enlarged UNIFIL force mandated under Security Council Resolution 1701 of August 11 would not disarm Hezbollah, a requirement of Council Resolution 1559.
He acquiesced in Lebanon's decision not to invite UNIFIL to guard Lebanon's border with Syria to prevent the rearming of Hezbollah.
And now he pressures Israel to end its sea and air blockade of Lebanon, a state that has just reaffirmed its refusal to make peace with Israel.
Mr. Annan did not even agree that Hezbollah must first return the hostages kidnapped by Hezbollah in mid-July, and the fates of the three Israeli prisoners of war, Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz, and Zvi Feldman, captured in Lebanon and held since 1982 didn't even come up.
To make matters worse, U.N. Under-Secretary-General Jan Egeland belittled Israel's concern with Hezbollah's missiles and rockets at a U.N. press conference on August 30...
And Prime Minister Ehud Olmert allows this man, and this organization, to broker a peace between Israel and the folks whom want the Jews exterminated. Well, you get what you pay for, so this pic from Little Green Footballs should be no surprise:
A Spanish U.N. peacekeeper shakes the hand of a Lebanese Hezbollah supporter wearing a
yellow T-shirt and carrying a Hezbollah flag as he marches in the southern village of Kfar Kila, Lebanon, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, on his way to attend the massive victory rally that will take place in Beirut Friday afternoon. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters from across southern Lebanon began marching on foot toward Beirut for a major rally planned Friday to showcase the group’s insistence it won’t disarm.
Nice job, Ehud - hey, remember that movie "The Lost Boys"?
Don't ever invite a vampire into your house, you silly boy. It renders you powerless.
And so you have rendered Israel...maybe that's why this is no surprise:
Israelis would vote Prime Minister Olmert out of office if elections were held now, polls indicated yesterday, as the defiant premier defended his performance in the Lebanon war and lashed out at his critics...
...Two polls published yesterday indicted Mr. Olmert was rapidly losing support and that the leader of the hawkish Likud, archrival Benjamin Netanyahu, was poised for a comeback...
....A survey by the Dialog polling company, published in the Ha'aretz newspaper, showed 68% of Israelis were unhappy with Mr. Olmert, compared with 40% on August 1, midway through the war. Just 22% were satisfied with his performance, compared with 48% in the previous poll...
If an election were held today, Likud would double its strength, winning 24 of 120 parliament seats — making it the largest party and Mr. Netanyahu the possible premier — while Mr. Olmert's centrist Kadima would fall to 16 seats from 29, according to the poll. Elections are not scheduled until 2010, but no Israeli government in the past decade has completed its four-year term.
In a survey in the Yediot Achronot daily, 27% said Mr. Netanyahu was most suited to be prime minister, compared to just 7% who chose Mr. Olmert.....
Beauty of a democracy, I guess - losers in the West don't get to stand over the smoking rubble of their once-revitalized nation and claim victory, they are sent to a well-deserved political oblivion instead...
But Koffi, as we noted above, does everything in his power to slam the democracies and prop up the Hezbollahs of the world...that's why he's usually pictured smiling; the results have been going in his direction for a while now...
UPDATE: If I may take one more shot at Ehud Olmert... apparently, Lebanese Cedar Trees are more valuable than the lives of Jews:
On Rosh Hashana, as Is raelis reflect on what the war in Lebanon means to their future, they know they must solve such problems as Hezbollah's secret "nature preserve."
Israeli intelligence allowed the air force to KO all of the guerrillas' long-range missiles, warehoused in the Bekaa Valley, in the war's first 39 minutes.
But Iranian engineers and Hezbollah had built an underground arsenal some 12 miles long by nine miles wide, a senior government official said.
And that let Hezbollah hide - under the forest - short- and medium-range missiles built by Syria based on Chinese technology. Using hydraulic systems and other innovations, missile launchers would surface, then quickly go back below. The heavy bushes and vegetation hid all.
As Israel grew suspicious of the preserve, it weighed its options, including burning off the trees and vegetation with napalm. That was rejected for fear of world reaction to the use of Vietnam-era weaponry to destroy the legendary cedars of Lebanon.
Of course there would have been an outcry, but there always is when those pesky Jews dare to defend their lives instead of just quietly rolling over and dying. Napalming the forest would have brought about condemnation, to be sure, but it also would have engendered a healthy debate over enviornment versus human life. After all, trees can always be replanted...
But according to Olmert, the risk of negative PR was too great. Instead, current and future generations of Jews will be slaughtered by Hezbollah's terrorists, so that the Lebanese Cedars can stand tall.
How comforting!
Mr. Annan came close to accusing Israel of deliberately killing United Nations observers in Lebanon.
He grossly exaggerated at Israel's expense the number of persons found dead in Qana. He presided over a UNIFIL that was in collusion with Hezbollah.
He guaranteed that the new and enlarged UNIFIL force mandated under Security Council Resolution 1701 of August 11 would not disarm Hezbollah, a requirement of Council Resolution 1559.
He acquiesced in Lebanon's decision not to invite UNIFIL to guard Lebanon's border with Syria to prevent the rearming of Hezbollah.
And now he pressures Israel to end its sea and air blockade of Lebanon, a state that has just reaffirmed its refusal to make peace with Israel.
Mr. Annan did not even agree that Hezbollah must first return the hostages kidnapped by Hezbollah in mid-July, and the fates of the three Israeli prisoners of war, Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz, and Zvi Feldman, captured in Lebanon and held since 1982 didn't even come up.
To make matters worse, U.N. Under-Secretary-General Jan Egeland belittled Israel's concern with Hezbollah's missiles and rockets at a U.N. press conference on August 30...
And Prime Minister Ehud Olmert allows this man, and this organization, to broker a peace between Israel and the folks whom want the Jews exterminated. Well, you get what you pay for, so this pic from Little Green Footballs should be no surprise:
A Spanish U.N. peacekeeper shakes the hand of a Lebanese Hezbollah supporter wearing a
yellow T-shirt and carrying a Hezbollah flag as he marches in the southern village of Kfar Kila, Lebanon, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, on his way to attend the massive victory rally that will take place in Beirut Friday afternoon. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters from across southern Lebanon began marching on foot toward Beirut for a major rally planned Friday to showcase the group’s insistence it won’t disarm.Nice job, Ehud - hey, remember that movie "The Lost Boys"?
Don't ever invite a vampire into your house, you silly boy. It renders you powerless.
And so you have rendered Israel...maybe that's why this is no surprise:
Israelis would vote Prime Minister Olmert out of office if elections were held now, polls indicated yesterday, as the defiant premier defended his performance in the Lebanon war and lashed out at his critics...
...Two polls published yesterday indicted Mr. Olmert was rapidly losing support and that the leader of the hawkish Likud, archrival Benjamin Netanyahu, was poised for a comeback...
....A survey by the Dialog polling company, published in the Ha'aretz newspaper, showed 68% of Israelis were unhappy with Mr. Olmert, compared with 40% on August 1, midway through the war. Just 22% were satisfied with his performance, compared with 48% in the previous poll...
If an election were held today, Likud would double its strength, winning 24 of 120 parliament seats — making it the largest party and Mr. Netanyahu the possible premier — while Mr. Olmert's centrist Kadima would fall to 16 seats from 29, according to the poll. Elections are not scheduled until 2010, but no Israeli government in the past decade has completed its four-year term.
In a survey in the Yediot Achronot daily, 27% said Mr. Netanyahu was most suited to be prime minister, compared to just 7% who chose Mr. Olmert.....
Beauty of a democracy, I guess - losers in the West don't get to stand over the smoking rubble of their once-revitalized nation and claim victory, they are sent to a well-deserved political oblivion instead...
But Koffi, as we noted above, does everything in his power to slam the democracies and prop up the Hezbollahs of the world...that's why he's usually pictured smiling; the results have been going in his direction for a while now...
UPDATE: If I may take one more shot at Ehud Olmert... apparently, Lebanese Cedar Trees are more valuable than the lives of Jews:
On Rosh Hashana, as Is raelis reflect on what the war in Lebanon means to their future, they know they must solve such problems as Hezbollah's secret "nature preserve."
Israeli intelligence allowed the air force to KO all of the guerrillas' long-range missiles, warehoused in the Bekaa Valley, in the war's first 39 minutes.
But Iranian engineers and Hezbollah had built an underground arsenal some 12 miles long by nine miles wide, a senior government official said.
And that let Hezbollah hide - under the forest - short- and medium-range missiles built by Syria based on Chinese technology. Using hydraulic systems and other innovations, missile launchers would surface, then quickly go back below. The heavy bushes and vegetation hid all.
As Israel grew suspicious of the preserve, it weighed its options, including burning off the trees and vegetation with napalm. That was rejected for fear of world reaction to the use of Vietnam-era weaponry to destroy the legendary cedars of Lebanon.
Of course there would have been an outcry, but there always is when those pesky Jews dare to defend their lives instead of just quietly rolling over and dying. Napalming the forest would have brought about condemnation, to be sure, but it also would have engendered a healthy debate over enviornment versus human life. After all, trees can always be replanted...
But according to Olmert, the risk of negative PR was too great. Instead, current and future generations of Jews will be slaughtered by Hezbollah's terrorists, so that the Lebanese Cedars can stand tall.
How comforting!
Friday, September 22, 2006
Thailand: Taken by Islamists?
Thailand gets taken over by a Muslim general while its President is at the United Nations, and our media yawns...here are the facts:
Thailand’s southern Muslims, who widely despised ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, say they hope the Muslim general who overthrew him will follow through on his offer to hold peace talks with Islamic separatists.
“I hope that (General Sonthi Boonyaratglin) will be able to solve the problem in the south as he himself is Muslim and can reach out to villagers,” said Kordiya Mapae, 45, a Muslim worker in Yala province.
The three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia have been plagued by separatist violence and other unrest since January 2004, and Thaksin’s decision to impose emergency rule there in 2005 was widely criticized.
“Thaksin was pretty much loathed among many in the south....."
If only Thaskin had reached out, and try to win the hearts and minds of the rampaging Thai Muslims, perhaps they would not have had to stage an illegal third-worldesque military coup to get their way. I mean, how dare he try to impose law and order while the Islamists of Thailand were exercising their allah-given rights to slaughter anyone who do not worship as they do?
The folks around the hooka in the Middle East coffee bars like to ask, after one cataclysmic event or another, "who benefits most from this?" Well, here's a thought:
An exiled Muslim rebel leader has welcomed Thailand's military coup, saying that he hoped the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could help resolve a bloody Islamic insurgency in the nation's south...
"It is the right thing that the military has taken power to replace the Thaksin Shinawatra government," said Lukman Lima, an exiled leader in one of several groups fighting the central government for a separate Muslim state.
"We hope that the political (situation) can be resolved under General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin as the new leader," Lukman said
And I wonder how he would like to see it resolved?
And I wonder how long until Sharia law is imposed upon Thailand?
Thailand’s southern Muslims, who widely despised ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, say they hope the Muslim general who overthrew him will follow through on his offer to hold peace talks with Islamic separatists.
“I hope that (General Sonthi Boonyaratglin) will be able to solve the problem in the south as he himself is Muslim and can reach out to villagers,” said Kordiya Mapae, 45, a Muslim worker in Yala province.
The three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia have been plagued by separatist violence and other unrest since January 2004, and Thaksin’s decision to impose emergency rule there in 2005 was widely criticized.
“Thaksin was pretty much loathed among many in the south....."
If only Thaskin had reached out, and try to win the hearts and minds of the rampaging Thai Muslims, perhaps they would not have had to stage an illegal third-worldesque military coup to get their way. I mean, how dare he try to impose law and order while the Islamists of Thailand were exercising their allah-given rights to slaughter anyone who do not worship as they do?
The folks around the hooka in the Middle East coffee bars like to ask, after one cataclysmic event or another, "who benefits most from this?" Well, here's a thought:
An exiled Muslim rebel leader has welcomed Thailand's military coup, saying that he hoped the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could help resolve a bloody Islamic insurgency in the nation's south...
"It is the right thing that the military has taken power to replace the Thaksin Shinawatra government," said Lukman Lima, an exiled leader in one of several groups fighting the central government for a separate Muslim state.
"We hope that the political (situation) can be resolved under General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin as the new leader," Lukman said
And I wonder how he would like to see it resolved?
And I wonder how long until Sharia law is imposed upon Thailand?
Thursday, September 21, 2006
United Nations Finds a New Bottom!
Captain Ed captures my disdain for the United Nations perfectly:
When the leader of one sovereign nation uses the UN dais to issue thinly-veiled demands for the annihilation of another nation, and gets followed by a circus act that makes him look like a moderate, then we know that the inmates are running the Turtle Bay asylum
Many found this to be the most disturbing part of Hugo Chavez's sick speech:
...Chavez' rant went a long way to prove conservatives correct about endemic anti-Americanism in the United Nations. Even other nations appeared stunned by the ferocity of the remarks, such as China's foreign minister, who had to ask for confirmation of his remarks out of disbelief. The warmth of the reception of these remarks provided a stunning look at the hostility that the non-democratic nations have for the United States, especially in the General Assembly. It will add fuel to the fire for conservative skepticism of the body's effect on spreading freedom and liberty around the world, which is supposed to be one of the UN's core missions.
Instead, we see that the organization has increasingly been hijacked by petty petrocrats and hallucinating dictators as a vehicle for hatred and obloquy....
But this is at least one Democrat who sides with Hugo:
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a democrat, today defended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's United Nations speech in which Chavez called President George Bush the devil. Harkin said the comments were "incendiary", then went on to say, "Let me put it this way, I can understand the frustration, ah, and the anger of certain people around the world because of George Bush's policies." Harkin continued what has been frequent criticism of the president's foreign policy.
Via Powerline:
One might have hoped that Hugo Chavez would be too visibly nuts to be embraced by even the most liberal of Democrats. Apparently not.
Does Harkin side with Amadinejad as well? Seems like the UN does:
Iran's President Mahmoud Amadinejad told reporters that Kofi Annan advised him to IGNORE the United Nations Security Council deadline placed on Iran for stopping their nuclear program, according to Fox News Channel, Brit Hume's program...
There is something so natural about picturing Koffi and Amadinejad together, working towards a common twisted goal (of what? nuclear holocaust? a world without America?), that I have virtually no doubt this story is true. And how much taxpayer-money is going to support this organization? Shoot, why not just wire it directly to Osama's cave ?
And finally, if you still believe the nations' university system is not in the hands of the far-left, well...even this may not dissuade you:
Columbia University has invited the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to give a speech tomorrow at the Morningside campus, Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, announced late last night...
....Columbia's offer to the president, a Holocaust denier with nuclear ambitions who was labeled by Israel's foreign minister yesterday as the greatest threat to the world's values, is sure to re-ignite protest at a campus that was rocked by a controversy over its anti-Israel professors less than two years ago.
Sadly, I doubt we will see that protest "re-ignite"...instead we have more propoganda for Ahmadinejad to bring home to Iran...
When the leader of one sovereign nation uses the UN dais to issue thinly-veiled demands for the annihilation of another nation, and gets followed by a circus act that makes him look like a moderate, then we know that the inmates are running the Turtle Bay asylum
Many found this to be the most disturbing part of Hugo Chavez's sick speech:
...Chavez' rant went a long way to prove conservatives correct about endemic anti-Americanism in the United Nations. Even other nations appeared stunned by the ferocity of the remarks, such as China's foreign minister, who had to ask for confirmation of his remarks out of disbelief. The warmth of the reception of these remarks provided a stunning look at the hostility that the non-democratic nations have for the United States, especially in the General Assembly. It will add fuel to the fire for conservative skepticism of the body's effect on spreading freedom and liberty around the world, which is supposed to be one of the UN's core missions.
Instead, we see that the organization has increasingly been hijacked by petty petrocrats and hallucinating dictators as a vehicle for hatred and obloquy....
But this is at least one Democrat who sides with Hugo:
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a democrat, today defended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's United Nations speech in which Chavez called President George Bush the devil. Harkin said the comments were "incendiary", then went on to say, "Let me put it this way, I can understand the frustration, ah, and the anger of certain people around the world because of George Bush's policies." Harkin continued what has been frequent criticism of the president's foreign policy.
Via Powerline:
One might have hoped that Hugo Chavez would be too visibly nuts to be embraced by even the most liberal of Democrats. Apparently not.
Does Harkin side with Amadinejad as well? Seems like the UN does:
Iran's President Mahmoud Amadinejad told reporters that Kofi Annan advised him to IGNORE the United Nations Security Council deadline placed on Iran for stopping their nuclear program, according to Fox News Channel, Brit Hume's program...
There is something so natural about picturing Koffi and Amadinejad together, working towards a common twisted goal (of what? nuclear holocaust? a world without America?), that I have virtually no doubt this story is true. And how much taxpayer-money is going to support this organization? Shoot, why not just wire it directly to Osama's cave ?
And finally, if you still believe the nations' university system is not in the hands of the far-left, well...even this may not dissuade you:
Columbia University has invited the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to give a speech tomorrow at the Morningside campus, Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, announced late last night...
....Columbia's offer to the president, a Holocaust denier with nuclear ambitions who was labeled by Israel's foreign minister yesterday as the greatest threat to the world's values, is sure to re-ignite protest at a campus that was rocked by a controversy over its anti-Israel professors less than two years ago.
Sadly, I doubt we will see that protest "re-ignite"...instead we have more propoganda for Ahmadinejad to bring home to Iran...
New Jersey Senate: Kean (R)! Ahead Of Menendez
Yup, in blue New Jersey, an incumbant Democratic Senator is falling behind in the polls:
New Jersey State Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican challenger, leads Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez 48 - 45 percent among New Jersey likely voters, including leaners, in the U.S. Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 6 percent remain undecided.
By a 40 - 13 percent margin, New Jersey voters say Kean is "honest and trustworthy," with 47 percent undecided. By a 33 - 24 percent margin, voters say Menendez is "honest and trustworthy," with 43 percent undecided.
In a state riddled by government corruption at all levels, this may be key. More:
Menendez is part of the ethics problem, 31 percent of voters say, while 28 percent say he is part of the solution, with 42 percent undecided.
Kean is part of the solution to the problem of ethics in government, 36 percent of voters say, while only 18 percent say he is part of the problem...
This one is going to go down to the wire, with Menendez chanting "BushBushBush" on a daily basis, and Kean going after Menendez for his ethical issues. The Democrats have no chance of recapturing the Senate if New Jersey is lost; watch for them to bring in the big guns to fire as much mud as possible in the closing weeks of the campaign.
This is gonna get ugly....
UPDATE: And a black Republican is leading the Maryland Senate race....those Democrats that talk about an "electoral landslide" in November; you know, I do not think it means what they think it means...
New Jersey State Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican challenger, leads Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez 48 - 45 percent among New Jersey likely voters, including leaners, in the U.S. Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 6 percent remain undecided.
By a 40 - 13 percent margin, New Jersey voters say Kean is "honest and trustworthy," with 47 percent undecided. By a 33 - 24 percent margin, voters say Menendez is "honest and trustworthy," with 43 percent undecided.
In a state riddled by government corruption at all levels, this may be key. More:
Menendez is part of the ethics problem, 31 percent of voters say, while 28 percent say he is part of the solution, with 42 percent undecided.
Kean is part of the solution to the problem of ethics in government, 36 percent of voters say, while only 18 percent say he is part of the problem...
This one is going to go down to the wire, with Menendez chanting "BushBushBush" on a daily basis, and Kean going after Menendez for his ethical issues. The Democrats have no chance of recapturing the Senate if New Jersey is lost; watch for them to bring in the big guns to fire as much mud as possible in the closing weeks of the campaign.
This is gonna get ugly....
UPDATE: And a black Republican is leading the Maryland Senate race....those Democrats that talk about an "electoral landslide" in November; you know, I do not think it means what they think it means...
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
That Wacky Sunfish!
Yeah, this is kinda irrelevant and I'm sure most people have seen this, but I love this story. As a kid, I caught dozens upon dozens of these beautiful fish in the lakes and ponds of the Catskills and Adirondack Mountains; and just this weekend unhooked more than a handful of the little buggers while trying to fish for late summer big game in the backwoods of New Jersey.
So I am proud to present the North American Sunfish, staunch defender of the peoples of the United States in a time of war:
A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism.
San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegills also known as sunfish or bream as a sort of canary in a coal mine to safeguard their drinking water.
Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegills that occur in the presence of toxins.
"Nature's given us pretty much the most powerful and reliable early warning center out there," said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corporation, a Southern California company that makes and sells the bluegill monitoring system. "There's no known manmade sensor that can do the same job as the bluegill."
Bluegills a hardy species about the size of a human hand are considered more versatile. They are highly attuned to chemical disturbances in their environment, and when exposed to toxins, they experience the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills to expel unwanted particles.
The computerized system in use in San Francisco and elsewhere is designed to detect even slight changes in the bluegills' vital signs and send an e-mail alert when something is wrong.
San Francisco's bluegills went to work about a month ago, guarding the drinking water of more than 1 million people from substances such as cyanide, diesel fuel, mercury and pesticides. Eight bluegills swim in a tank deep in the basement of a water treatment plant south of the city.
New York City has been testing its system since 2002 and is seeking to expand it. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection reported at least one instance in which the system caught a toxin before it made it into the water supply: The fish noticed a diesel spill two hours earlier than any of the agency's other detection devices.
The Daily News has this:
The sensitive fish can amazingly detect a host of hazards - even from divers kicking up dirt in the water from as far away as 50 miles...
..."Nothing touches the fish. There are sensors in the aquarium," said Lawler. The sensors measure the electrical signals given off by the fish, and those signals are amplified 10,000 times by a computer software program.
So I am proud to present the North American Sunfish, staunch defender of the peoples of the United States in a time of war:
A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism.
San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegills also known as sunfish or bream as a sort of canary in a coal mine to safeguard their drinking water.
Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegills that occur in the presence of toxins.
"Nature's given us pretty much the most powerful and reliable early warning center out there," said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corporation, a Southern California company that makes and sells the bluegill monitoring system. "There's no known manmade sensor that can do the same job as the bluegill."
Bluegills a hardy species about the size of a human hand are considered more versatile. They are highly attuned to chemical disturbances in their environment, and when exposed to toxins, they experience the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills to expel unwanted particles.
The computerized system in use in San Francisco and elsewhere is designed to detect even slight changes in the bluegills' vital signs and send an e-mail alert when something is wrong.
San Francisco's bluegills went to work about a month ago, guarding the drinking water of more than 1 million people from substances such as cyanide, diesel fuel, mercury and pesticides. Eight bluegills swim in a tank deep in the basement of a water treatment plant south of the city.
New York City has been testing its system since 2002 and is seeking to expand it. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection reported at least one instance in which the system caught a toxin before it made it into the water supply: The fish noticed a diesel spill two hours earlier than any of the agency's other detection devices.
The Daily News has this:
The sensitive fish can amazingly detect a host of hazards - even from divers kicking up dirt in the water from as far away as 50 miles...
..."Nothing touches the fish. There are sensors in the aquarium," said Lawler. The sensors measure the electrical signals given off by the fish, and those signals are amplified 10,000 times by a computer software program.
All hail the mighty sunfish! (this one, hardy as his reputation, survived slipping off the hook and going MIA in the weeds and rocks for a time...he swam away happily; only to be caught again on the same worm a short time later...)
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sanctions on Iran? Non, Nyet, Not....
Terrorist poodle Jacques Chirac seems to be most honest when he's backpedaling; in this case from the thought of placing sanctions on Iran for, you know, planning a nuclear genocide:
French President Jacques Chirac' said on Monday talks with Iran on its nuclear ambitions should be pursued since U.N. sanctions have never worked well, a fresh hint of EU misgivings over Washington's calls for punishing Tehran.
The Washington Post goes further:
French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that he is "never in favor of sanctions" and suggested that the United States and other nations could begin talks with Iran on its nuclear program before Iran formally suspends its nuclear activities
The next time France (or the NY Times) calls for sanctions, we should heed Jacques' words...meanwhile, the Iranians can smell fear, and they are advancing on a cringing Europe:
Iran's atomic energy chief repeated Tehran's insistence that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes, its wish for talks without preconditions and a veiled threat to bar U.N. inspections if met by sanctions
So they offer us...nothing, and threaten us if we act to prevent them fropm becoming a 7th century regime with a 21st century weapon. Well, I guess that outcome is better than sanctions, no?
The BBC would agree, as it is already laying down the foundation for an anti-sanctions campaign with lies and disinformation. Drinking from Home exposes their breathtaking manipulations:
A recent BBC online article about the crash of a Russian-built plane in Iran included a disgraceful attempt by the BBC’s Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison to blame the accident on US sanctions...
Harrison obviously took offence because she's been at it again, this time on the World Service’s Newshour. This seems to be part of a wider drive by the BBC to undermine any talk of action, sanctions or otherwise, against Iran. Here’s Harrison’s BBC colleague Julian Marshall introducing her report:
Washington talks about smart sanctions which target the government and not the Iranian people, but Iran has already been under American sanctions for three decades and every year Iranian civilians die as an indirect result. Current US sanctions prevent Iran buying new planes or spare parts for their ageing fleet. Since 2000 there have been 9 plane crashes killing nearly 700 people.
Drinking does his research and discovers:
Julian Marshall gave the clear impression that since the year 2000 nearly 700 Iranian civilians have died in air crashes as a result of American sanctions. I have identified 11 crashes with a wide variety of causes resulting in 675 deaths. Of these accidents, five were in American-built planes, and only one of those was a civilian flight in which just 3 civilians died, including a child who fell in a river exiting the plane.
Doesn't matter to the BBC (or Chirac); their religion is anti-Americanism, and like radical Islam, it is impervious to fact and reason...
French President Jacques Chirac' said on Monday talks with Iran on its nuclear ambitions should be pursued since U.N. sanctions have never worked well, a fresh hint of EU misgivings over Washington's calls for punishing Tehran.
The Washington Post goes further:
French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that he is "never in favor of sanctions" and suggested that the United States and other nations could begin talks with Iran on its nuclear program before Iran formally suspends its nuclear activities
The next time France (or the NY Times) calls for sanctions, we should heed Jacques' words...meanwhile, the Iranians can smell fear, and they are advancing on a cringing Europe:
Iran's atomic energy chief repeated Tehran's insistence that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes, its wish for talks without preconditions and a veiled threat to bar U.N. inspections if met by sanctions
So they offer us...nothing, and threaten us if we act to prevent them fropm becoming a 7th century regime with a 21st century weapon. Well, I guess that outcome is better than sanctions, no?
The BBC would agree, as it is already laying down the foundation for an anti-sanctions campaign with lies and disinformation. Drinking from Home exposes their breathtaking manipulations:
A recent BBC online article about the crash of a Russian-built plane in Iran included a disgraceful attempt by the BBC’s Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison to blame the accident on US sanctions...
Harrison obviously took offence because she's been at it again, this time on the World Service’s Newshour. This seems to be part of a wider drive by the BBC to undermine any talk of action, sanctions or otherwise, against Iran. Here’s Harrison’s BBC colleague Julian Marshall introducing her report:
Washington talks about smart sanctions which target the government and not the Iranian people, but Iran has already been under American sanctions for three decades and every year Iranian civilians die as an indirect result. Current US sanctions prevent Iran buying new planes or spare parts for their ageing fleet. Since 2000 there have been 9 plane crashes killing nearly 700 people.
Drinking does his research and discovers:
Julian Marshall gave the clear impression that since the year 2000 nearly 700 Iranian civilians have died in air crashes as a result of American sanctions. I have identified 11 crashes with a wide variety of causes resulting in 675 deaths. Of these accidents, five were in American-built planes, and only one of those was a civilian flight in which just 3 civilians died, including a child who fell in a river exiting the plane.
Doesn't matter to the BBC (or Chirac); their religion is anti-Americanism, and like radical Islam, it is impervious to fact and reason...
The Pope Quotes an Authority...
...on Muslims when he used the words of Emperor Manuel II Paleologus in his little speech that seemed to upset so many the other day. Peter Robinson at The Corner says Manual has got some serious "street cred" on the subject:
Manuel II Paleologus reigned as emperor of Byzantium from 1391, the year in which he is believed to have composed the text from which the Pope quoted last week, until his death in 1425. A brief overview of his experience of Islam:
1390: Manuel is sent as a hostage to the court of Sultan Bayezid I. As his writings demonstrate, he reads widely in Muslim texts and engages in repeated debates with Muslim scholars. He is also forced to participate in an attack on his own people, the siege of Philadelphia, which eliminated the last Byzantine settlement in Anatolia.
1394-1402: The Ottomans besiege Constantinople. For some five years, Manuel directs the defense of the city in person. Then he entrusts Constantinople to his nephew and embarks on a tour of the West, seeking assistance.
1422: The Ottomans attack Manuel in Constantinople once again.
By the time of his death in 1425, Manuel had spent virtually his entire adult life in the struggle against an armed and expansionist Islam...What one may not, argue, I think, is that Manuel lacked the authority or knowledge to speak about Islam. When he described efforts “to spread by the sword the faith [the Prophet] preached,” he wasn't mouthing some sort of ignorant medieval prejudice. He knew exactly what he was talking about.
...and so did the pope, when he invoked Manual.
Want to be an expert on the matter? Gates of Vienna has an incredibly in-depth dissertation on the pope's challenge to Islam; read it all and be the first in your neighborhood to be able to speak knowingly about "the Roman contribution to Christian praxis"...
At The Brussels Journal they concur with Robinson...
The Pope referred to a Byzantine Emperor, one suspects, purposefully. He may have wished to remind the Turks whom he is due to visit in November that Constantinople is a glorious prize wrested – by jihad, no less – from a predecessor more sublime than the Sublime Porte ever was. Or he may have wished to recall the extinguishing of the Eastern Empire by the very phenomenon of jihad that he condemned.
...and claim that the Muslim response gives the pope a moral victory:
I think that in fact the Pope is the moral victor of the conflict, but whether the Islamic religious and political leaders who have mobilized against him will ever understand (or be able to understand) is another question...
....The fact is that today large parts of the Islamic world apparently do not need reason to mobilize against the Christian world, and incorrect reports can spread through the region at lightning speed while religious or political leaders do nothing to calm down people or bring them to reason...
Quite some moral and intellectual bankruptcy, and how convincing as the ultimate proof that Islam is all about peace and love.
Score it: Pope - 1,
Muslim World and Western Apologists - 0
Manuel II Paleologus reigned as emperor of Byzantium from 1391, the year in which he is believed to have composed the text from which the Pope quoted last week, until his death in 1425. A brief overview of his experience of Islam:
1390: Manuel is sent as a hostage to the court of Sultan Bayezid I. As his writings demonstrate, he reads widely in Muslim texts and engages in repeated debates with Muslim scholars. He is also forced to participate in an attack on his own people, the siege of Philadelphia, which eliminated the last Byzantine settlement in Anatolia.
1394-1402: The Ottomans besiege Constantinople. For some five years, Manuel directs the defense of the city in person. Then he entrusts Constantinople to his nephew and embarks on a tour of the West, seeking assistance.
1422: The Ottomans attack Manuel in Constantinople once again.
By the time of his death in 1425, Manuel had spent virtually his entire adult life in the struggle against an armed and expansionist Islam...What one may not, argue, I think, is that Manuel lacked the authority or knowledge to speak about Islam. When he described efforts “to spread by the sword the faith [the Prophet] preached,” he wasn't mouthing some sort of ignorant medieval prejudice. He knew exactly what he was talking about.
...and so did the pope, when he invoked Manual.
Want to be an expert on the matter? Gates of Vienna has an incredibly in-depth dissertation on the pope's challenge to Islam; read it all and be the first in your neighborhood to be able to speak knowingly about "the Roman contribution to Christian praxis"...
At The Brussels Journal they concur with Robinson...
The Pope referred to a Byzantine Emperor, one suspects, purposefully. He may have wished to remind the Turks whom he is due to visit in November that Constantinople is a glorious prize wrested – by jihad, no less – from a predecessor more sublime than the Sublime Porte ever was. Or he may have wished to recall the extinguishing of the Eastern Empire by the very phenomenon of jihad that he condemned.
...and claim that the Muslim response gives the pope a moral victory:
I think that in fact the Pope is the moral victor of the conflict, but whether the Islamic religious and political leaders who have mobilized against him will ever understand (or be able to understand) is another question...
....The fact is that today large parts of the Islamic world apparently do not need reason to mobilize against the Christian world, and incorrect reports can spread through the region at lightning speed while religious or political leaders do nothing to calm down people or bring them to reason...
Quite some moral and intellectual bankruptcy, and how convincing as the ultimate proof that Islam is all about peace and love.
Score it: Pope - 1,
Muslim World and Western Apologists - 0
Sunday, September 17, 2006
"The American Hiroshima"
Are the Islamists preparing a nuclear attack within the United States? We posted Thursday on the FBI's frantic search for Adnan al-Shukrijumah; now more information is coming out - My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy reports, after checkimg out the Northeast Intelligence Network and CanadaFreePress.com :
Urgent news from Abu Dawood, the newly appointed commander of the al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan:
* Final preparations have been made for the American Hiroshima, a major attack on the U. S. * Muslims living in the United States should leave the country without further warning.
* The attack will be commandeered by Adnan el Shukrijumah (“Jaffer Tayyer” or “Jafer the Pilot”), a naturalized American citizen, who was raised in Brooklyn and educated in southern Florida.
* The al Qaeda operatives who will launch this attack are awaiting final orders. They remain in place in cities throughout the country. Many are masquerading as Christians and have adopted Christian names.
* Al Qaeda and the Taliban will also launch a major strike (known as the “Badar offensive” against the coalition forces in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan.
* The American people will be treated to a final audio message from Osama bin Laden which will be aired within the next two weeks.
And from World Net Daily:
Abu Dawood told Hamid Mir, a reporter who has covered al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden, the attack is being coordinated by Adnan el-Shukrijumah and suggests it may involve some form of weapon of mass destruction smuggled across the Mexican border.
"Our brothers are ready to attack inside America. We will breach their security again," he is quoted as saying. "There is no timeframe for our attack inside America; we can do it any time."
...(President) Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn’t want to panic his people. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims.
Nothing in the MSM about this; hopefully, we are just seeing the al-Qaeda version of psy-ops in an attempt to spread panic and fear. Of course, the MSM might not want to print anything that might make it seem as if President Bush's demands for stricter interrogation measures on detainees might have just cause, so their silence may actually be quite revealing...
Or perhaps it is yet another "failure of imagination", as Graham Allison fears at at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. His thoughts, via The Belmont Club:
Prior to 9/11, most Americans found the idea that international terrorists could mount an attack on their homeland and kill thousands of innocent citizens not just unlikely, but inconceivable. Psychologically, Americans imagined that they lived in a security bubble....
As we approach the fifth year without a second successful terrorist attack upon U.S. soil, a chorus of skeptics now suggests that 9/11 was a 100-year flood. They conveniently forget the deadly explosions in Bali, Madrid, London, and Mumbai, and dismiss scores of attacks planned against the United States and others that have been disrupted. ...
As one attempts to assess where we now stand, and what the risks are, the major conclusion of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission deserves repetition: The principal failure to act to prevent the September 11 attack was a "failure of imagination." A similar failure of imagination leads many today to discount the risk of a nuclear 9/11.
And Ramadan is almost upon us...
Urgent news from Abu Dawood, the newly appointed commander of the al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan:
* Final preparations have been made for the American Hiroshima, a major attack on the U. S. * Muslims living in the United States should leave the country without further warning.
* The attack will be commandeered by Adnan el Shukrijumah (“Jaffer Tayyer” or “Jafer the Pilot”), a naturalized American citizen, who was raised in Brooklyn and educated in southern Florida.
* The al Qaeda operatives who will launch this attack are awaiting final orders. They remain in place in cities throughout the country. Many are masquerading as Christians and have adopted Christian names.
* Al Qaeda and the Taliban will also launch a major strike (known as the “Badar offensive” against the coalition forces in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan.
* The American people will be treated to a final audio message from Osama bin Laden which will be aired within the next two weeks.
And from World Net Daily:
Abu Dawood told Hamid Mir, a reporter who has covered al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden, the attack is being coordinated by Adnan el-Shukrijumah and suggests it may involve some form of weapon of mass destruction smuggled across the Mexican border.
"Our brothers are ready to attack inside America. We will breach their security again," he is quoted as saying. "There is no timeframe for our attack inside America; we can do it any time."
...(President) Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn’t want to panic his people. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims.
Nothing in the MSM about this; hopefully, we are just seeing the al-Qaeda version of psy-ops in an attempt to spread panic and fear. Of course, the MSM might not want to print anything that might make it seem as if President Bush's demands for stricter interrogation measures on detainees might have just cause, so their silence may actually be quite revealing...
Or perhaps it is yet another "failure of imagination", as Graham Allison fears at at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. His thoughts, via The Belmont Club:
Prior to 9/11, most Americans found the idea that international terrorists could mount an attack on their homeland and kill thousands of innocent citizens not just unlikely, but inconceivable. Psychologically, Americans imagined that they lived in a security bubble....
As we approach the fifth year without a second successful terrorist attack upon U.S. soil, a chorus of skeptics now suggests that 9/11 was a 100-year flood. They conveniently forget the deadly explosions in Bali, Madrid, London, and Mumbai, and dismiss scores of attacks planned against the United States and others that have been disrupted. ...
As one attempts to assess where we now stand, and what the risks are, the major conclusion of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission deserves repetition: The principal failure to act to prevent the September 11 attack was a "failure of imagination." A similar failure of imagination leads many today to discount the risk of a nuclear 9/11.
And Ramadan is almost upon us...
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Regrets, not Apologies....
The Washington Post tells the story one way:
Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely regrets" that Muslims have been offended by some of his words in a recent speech in Germany, the Vatican said Saturday- stopping short of issuing an apology the Islamic world has demanded.
I like that - it is akin to saying, "I'm sorry that you feel that way", which is a way of expressing regret for someone's emotion, but not taking responsibility for causing that emotion to arise.
However, Reuters claims that the same sentence is actually an apology to Muslims, which of course is nowhere near good enough:
Pope sorry for remarks
Pope Benedict is sorry Muslims were offended by a speech that provoked fury in the Islamic world and led to calls for the leader of the Catholic church to apologize personally, the Vatican said on Saturday...
"The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers," Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in a statement.
In an early reaction to the Vatican statement, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said it was not enough and they wanted "a personal apology."
"We feel he has committed a grave error against us and that this mistake will only be removed through a personal apology," the Brotherhood's deputy leader, Mohammed Habib, told Reuters.
I think the WaPost gets it, while Reuters is following a predetermined storyline; they seem unable to conceive that a Western leader may be nuancing his words and not actually groveling before the Islamic hordes. Let's hope the pope remains firm; after all, to quote TigerHawk:
Never in the history of Christianity has a pope been proven correct so quickly and demonstrably.
As can be seen here, and also over here. TigerHawk goes on to bash the New York Times' predictable sympathy to the rioters and antaganism towards the pope:
The editors of The New York Times said this morning, to the eternal discredit of that once great paper, that:
[t]he world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology, demonstrating that words can also heal.
This is obscene. Apart from its factual inaccuracy -- there is no evidence that any of the enraged Muslims "listened carefully" to the words of the pope -- this is like blaming a beaten wife for provoking the bastard who throttles her. It is the leaders of prayers in the mosques of the Muslim world who call on their faithful to riot in the streets. It is they who sow pain and incite violence, and anybody unburdened by a loathing of Western civilization knows it. Pope Benedict has nothing to apologize for. The leading clerics of the Muslim world have a great deal to apologize for.
Indeed. But with the media behind them, and most of the Western world quailing before them, why should they?
UPDATE: Captain's Quarters reports, and opines:
Two churches in the West Bank were hit by firebombs early Saturday, witnesses and clergy said, and a group claiming responsiblity said the attacks were meant as a protest against comments by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam...
...People use words to criticize Islam; Muslims use stones, fire, and eventually bombs to protest back. When was the last time Christians threw firebombs at a mosque to protest Muslim imams characterizing Christianity as polytheistic? When have we seen Jews firebomb mosques for Muslim leaders calling them the descendants of pigs and monkeys, a common insult from both religious and secular Muslims in the Middle East? Muslims have proven Benedict prophetic, and don't think for a moment that this wave of violence has peaked.
UPDATE: Tim Blair has some Tales of Arabia; or some mind-blowing reactions from the Middle East on the pope's quotation of a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. My favorite:
Afghanistan’s Taliban on Saturday demanded Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for remarks linking Islam with violence.
Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely regrets" that Muslims have been offended by some of his words in a recent speech in Germany, the Vatican said Saturday- stopping short of issuing an apology the Islamic world has demanded.
I like that - it is akin to saying, "I'm sorry that you feel that way", which is a way of expressing regret for someone's emotion, but not taking responsibility for causing that emotion to arise.
However, Reuters claims that the same sentence is actually an apology to Muslims, which of course is nowhere near good enough:
Pope sorry for remarks
Pope Benedict is sorry Muslims were offended by a speech that provoked fury in the Islamic world and led to calls for the leader of the Catholic church to apologize personally, the Vatican said on Saturday...
"The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers," Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in a statement.
In an early reaction to the Vatican statement, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said it was not enough and they wanted "a personal apology."
"We feel he has committed a grave error against us and that this mistake will only be removed through a personal apology," the Brotherhood's deputy leader, Mohammed Habib, told Reuters.
I think the WaPost gets it, while Reuters is following a predetermined storyline; they seem unable to conceive that a Western leader may be nuancing his words and not actually groveling before the Islamic hordes. Let's hope the pope remains firm; after all, to quote TigerHawk:
Never in the history of Christianity has a pope been proven correct so quickly and demonstrably.
As can be seen here, and also over here. TigerHawk goes on to bash the New York Times' predictable sympathy to the rioters and antaganism towards the pope:
The editors of The New York Times said this morning, to the eternal discredit of that once great paper, that:
[t]he world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology, demonstrating that words can also heal.
This is obscene. Apart from its factual inaccuracy -- there is no evidence that any of the enraged Muslims "listened carefully" to the words of the pope -- this is like blaming a beaten wife for provoking the bastard who throttles her. It is the leaders of prayers in the mosques of the Muslim world who call on their faithful to riot in the streets. It is they who sow pain and incite violence, and anybody unburdened by a loathing of Western civilization knows it. Pope Benedict has nothing to apologize for. The leading clerics of the Muslim world have a great deal to apologize for.
Indeed. But with the media behind them, and most of the Western world quailing before them, why should they?
UPDATE: Captain's Quarters reports, and opines:
Two churches in the West Bank were hit by firebombs early Saturday, witnesses and clergy said, and a group claiming responsiblity said the attacks were meant as a protest against comments by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam...
...People use words to criticize Islam; Muslims use stones, fire, and eventually bombs to protest back. When was the last time Christians threw firebombs at a mosque to protest Muslim imams characterizing Christianity as polytheistic? When have we seen Jews firebomb mosques for Muslim leaders calling them the descendants of pigs and monkeys, a common insult from both religious and secular Muslims in the Middle East? Muslims have proven Benedict prophetic, and don't think for a moment that this wave of violence has peaked.
UPDATE: Tim Blair has some Tales of Arabia; or some mind-blowing reactions from the Middle East on the pope's quotation of a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. My favorite:
Afghanistan’s Taliban on Saturday demanded Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for remarks linking Islam with violence.
I simply have no response to that...
Friday, September 15, 2006
Pope Speaks Truth, Draws Unintentional Laughs...
In his speech at the University of Regensburg, Pope Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammad brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Benedict repeatedly quoted Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable, adding: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."
The reaction was swift.
"It is obvious from the statements that the Pope doesn't have a correct understanding of Islam," said Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.
That's right!
More clarification here...
Some photos containing the "correct understanding of Islam":
Benedict repeatedly quoted Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable, adding: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."
The reaction was swift.
"It is obvious from the statements that the Pope doesn't have a correct understanding of Islam," said Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.
That's right!
More clarification here...
Some photos containing the "correct understanding of Islam":
Burning the religious leader of the West for a "remark" certainly seems like a "proportionate" and peacful response...
A masked Palestinian man from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade attends a rally in Gaza to protest against remarks regarding Islam made by Pope Benedict XVI September 15, 2006.
Yeah.
The Washington Post brings us more guffaws:
A medieval reference in an academic lecture by Pope Benedict XVI unleashed a wave of denunciations, outrage and frustration across the Muslim world Friday...
Yup! Just takes a reference to unleash waves of outrage...sounds like the WaPost is trying to tell us to shut up; and not to make them mad....and of course, they block for the seething mobs:
The reception to the pope's speech in Germany on Tuesday was a reminder of the precarious, suspicious state of affairs between a West that often views Islam as a faith in need of reform and a Muslim world that feels besieged in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks...
I'm so sorry you feel beseiged! How do you think these folks felt?
And just what was the reference that set the Religion of Peace atwitter?
The pope began his lecture at the University of Regensburg by quoting from a 14th-century dialogue between the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologos, and a Persian scholar.... in which Manuel questioned the teachings of Islam's prophet, Muhammad.
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," Benedict quoted the emperor as saying.
The pope neither explicitly endorsed nor denounced the emperor's words, but rather used them as a preface to a discussion of faith and reason.
If that's enough to cause angst among the Muslim faithful, what right of revenge do the Jews have, after being called "pigs" and "apes" by virtually every Mufti in the Middle East?
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Nuclear Attack on U.S. Soil Planned for Ramadan?
Forget about 8/22...how's September 24th (the first day of Ramadan, praise the "religion of peace") looking for you? Any room for a nuclear holocaust on your schedule?
Hot Air reports the FBI is looking frantically for one Adnan al-Shukrijumah:
Shukrijumah is suspected to have had contacts with 9/ll hijack leader Mohammed Atta before leaving the United States shortly before the attacks…
Virtually every one of the FBI’s 56 field offices are involved in the hunt, according to Stuart McArthur, the assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, who heads up the bureau’s hunt for Shukrijumah...
....A one-time Florida chemistry student has the FBI worried and working overtime…
[A]s the clock ticks they fear he will help guide al Qaeda to another terrorist attack somewhere inside the United States.
Riehl World View has more of the story:
According to Gertz in the Washington Times, he's been spotted in Canada allegedly in search of Dirty Bomb materials.
"A key al Qaeda terrorism suspect was in Canada looking for nuclear material for a "dirty bomb," The Washington Times has learned.
Adnan El Shukrijumah is being sought by the FBI and CIA in connection with a plot to detonate a dirty bomb - a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material."
Right Truth:
...bin Laden has assigned a man named Adnan Al-Shukri Juma to carry out a new attack within the US which is intended to be larger than the 11 September, 2001 attacks. According to (Pakistani Journalist with known al-Qaeda connections) Hamid Mir, Adnan Jumaa has smuggled explosives and nuclear materials into the US through the Mexican border over the last two years and is hiding somewhere in America where the FBI has not been able to locate him....
....Jumaa has earned the nickname "Al-Qaeda nuclear whizz" and is tagged to play the same role in a future attack as Mohammed Atta did in the 9/11 attacks....
Wonder how the Democrat's love of "open borders" will play out if terrorists are found to be infiltrating the United States via Mexico? We can't close off the border, it'll mean the terrorists have won!
More:
Adnan Al-Shukri's name has been mentioned in many Western media reports claiming that Al-Qaeda has acquired nuclear technology. The American writer, Paul Williams, in his book " The Al-Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse", says he was among a number of Al-Qaeda members trained for the nuclear technology.
From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
Terrorism officials inside and outside the government say they believe Shukrijumah is a major al-Qaida figure, and the hunt for him is intense, with an FBI team tracking him virtually full time. So
far, their quarry has remained elusive.
Whereas the core of al-Qaida’s followers are young, poor and relatively uneducated, Shukrijumah has been to college and is comfortable with technology. He’s also a naturalized U.S. citizen whose appearance would allow him to pass as Hispanic, Indian or Mideastern and who speaks English with no discernible accent, officials say.
That background makes Shukrijumah especially threatening, counterterrorism authorities say. He is dangerous “because he is so trusted in the organization and because he has traveled in the Western world and is familiar with its customs and procedures,” said Joseph Billy Jr., assistant FBI director for counter-terrorism.
“He is part of al-Qaida Stage 2,” ...
Scary - we'll keep an eye on it...
Update: Gateway Pundit has video of Shukrijumah teaching "English as a Second Language"...and some photos and information about his possible whereabouts here... And Gates of Vienna carries a fuller version of the al-Qaeda communique....
Updated post (9/17) here
Hot Air reports the FBI is looking frantically for one Adnan al-Shukrijumah:
Shukrijumah is suspected to have had contacts with 9/ll hijack leader Mohammed Atta before leaving the United States shortly before the attacks…
Virtually every one of the FBI’s 56 field offices are involved in the hunt, according to Stuart McArthur, the assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, who heads up the bureau’s hunt for Shukrijumah...
....A one-time Florida chemistry student has the FBI worried and working overtime…
[A]s the clock ticks they fear he will help guide al Qaeda to another terrorist attack somewhere inside the United States.
Riehl World View has more of the story:
According to Gertz in the Washington Times, he's been spotted in Canada allegedly in search of Dirty Bomb materials.
"A key al Qaeda terrorism suspect was in Canada looking for nuclear material for a "dirty bomb," The Washington Times has learned.
Adnan El Shukrijumah is being sought by the FBI and CIA in connection with a plot to detonate a dirty bomb - a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material."
Right Truth:
...bin Laden has assigned a man named Adnan Al-Shukri Juma to carry out a new attack within the US which is intended to be larger than the 11 September, 2001 attacks. According to (Pakistani Journalist with known al-Qaeda connections) Hamid Mir, Adnan Jumaa has smuggled explosives and nuclear materials into the US through the Mexican border over the last two years and is hiding somewhere in America where the FBI has not been able to locate him....
....Jumaa has earned the nickname "Al-Qaeda nuclear whizz" and is tagged to play the same role in a future attack as Mohammed Atta did in the 9/11 attacks....
Wonder how the Democrat's love of "open borders" will play out if terrorists are found to be infiltrating the United States via Mexico? We can't close off the border, it'll mean the terrorists have won!
More:
Adnan Al-Shukri's name has been mentioned in many Western media reports claiming that Al-Qaeda has acquired nuclear technology. The American writer, Paul Williams, in his book " The Al-Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse", says he was among a number of Al-Qaeda members trained for the nuclear technology.
From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
Terrorism officials inside and outside the government say they believe Shukrijumah is a major al-Qaida figure, and the hunt for him is intense, with an FBI team tracking him virtually full time. So
far, their quarry has remained elusive.Whereas the core of al-Qaida’s followers are young, poor and relatively uneducated, Shukrijumah has been to college and is comfortable with technology. He’s also a naturalized U.S. citizen whose appearance would allow him to pass as Hispanic, Indian or Mideastern and who speaks English with no discernible accent, officials say.
That background makes Shukrijumah especially threatening, counterterrorism authorities say. He is dangerous “because he is so trusted in the organization and because he has traveled in the Western world and is familiar with its customs and procedures,” said Joseph Billy Jr., assistant FBI director for counter-terrorism.
“He is part of al-Qaida Stage 2,” ...
Scary - we'll keep an eye on it...
Update: Gateway Pundit has video of Shukrijumah teaching "English as a Second Language"...and some photos and information about his possible whereabouts here... And Gates of Vienna carries a fuller version of the al-Qaeda communique....
Updated post (9/17) here
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