Five Egyptian men with maps of the New York City subway system and video of New York landmarks have been arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, N.J., ABC News has learned.

Authorities Arrest Men with NYC Maps, Video

OK, seriously, if having a few maps and a video of New York City landmarks is enough to have you arrested for being a potential terrorist, there's probably a few hundred million potential terrorists out there including myself. I think I have a Frommer's guidebook somewhere too.

That being said, if these people are in this country illegally, I say send them home no questions asked.

And since we're talking about New Jersey, that wild and crazy state:

Bill Pushed to Stop Drivers From Smoking

Ashtrays have been disappearing in cars like fins on Cadillacs, and so could smoking while driving in New Jersey, under a measure introduced in the Legislature....

Assemblyman John McKeon, a tobacco opponent whose father died of emphysema, sponsored the legislation. He cites a AAA-sponsored study on driver distractions in which the automobile association found that of 32,000 accidents linked to distraction, 1 percent were related to smoking.

Perhaps the next suggestion will be to ban children from crying in a moving vehicle. I can say with confidence, as the father of two pre-schoolers, that this is a pretty big distraction. That and the billboard for the new Twin Peaks restaurant.

I'm sure he was just being a nice guy and he doesn't read Arabic, but it's worth showing. Ricky Martin Seeks End to Arab Stereotypes.



In his first visit to the Middle East, Ricky Martin declared he will try to change negative perceptions of Arab youth in the West.

"I promise I will become a spokesperson, if you allow me to, a spokesperson on your behalf. I will defend you and try to get rid of any stereotypes," the 33-year-old singer told youngsters from 16 mainly Arab countries at a youth conference on Monday...

Martin, whose hits include "She Bangs,""Shake Your Bon-Bon" and "Livin' La Vida Loca," posed for photos with fans, at one point draping over his shoulders a traditional Arab kaffiyeh headscarf with the slogan "Jerusalem Is Ours" written in Arabic on it.

Obnoxiuos with a capital "O".

Lt. gov. crashed Marine's funeral, kin say

The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war.



Hero



CHB (See here for explanation)

Osama Saeed, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain writes an editorial in the UK Guardian - Back to you, Mr Blair - It is wrong to put the onus on British Muslims to defeat terror

Never mind the idea that Great Britain has brought the terror on itself by supporting atrocities and causing great pain to Muslims around the world. Becuase we all know that no Muslims in history ever did anything bad to non-Muslims.

It's this kind of statement that gets my goat.

You can regard these [terrorist] acts as part of Islam, or as an irrational reaction to injustice taking place in the world. If it's the former you have to explain why this started only 12 years ago and not 1,400. To us it is evident that it is the latter, so we're batting the ball back in your court, Mr Blair.

12 YEARS AGO?!?!?! What about the previous 30 years of Islamic terrorism including attacks across Europe? What about the assassination of Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel? Are we to believe that the murder of innocents by Arbas in order to spread Islam is a new phenomenon? Please. Don't insult our intelligent.

Mr. Saeed, if you won't deal with the problem, the Christians, Jews and freedom-loving Muslims will, and as I can already tell, you won't be happy with the results.

Classic Mark Steyn. Most of it posted below. Too much good stuff to try to edit it myself.

...For four years, Democrats drove around with bumper stickers mocking ever more stridently the "selected President." Yet, pace Justice Stevens, the Dems' faith in the selection process -- in judges as the true parliament of this great Republic -- restored itself within weeks, at least when it comes to selecting gay marriage, abortion, affirmative action, etc. In the words of leading Democratic thinker Nancy Pelosi, "It is a decision of the Supreme Court -- so this is almost as if God has spoken." She was talking about "eminent domain" not Bush vs. Gore, but you can't have it both ways: It can't be the Word of God one day and merely "Bush's daddy's pals" the next.

The Democrats never recovered from the 2000 election. They became obsessed with the "illegitimate" Bush, and carried on obsessing no matter what lively distractions intervened: In time the Twin Towers tumbled, the Taliban crumbled, they're only here today, but hung chads are here to stay. Michael Moore couldn't make a movie about 9/11 and Iraq without a 20-minute chad-dangling opening. Even the chad-free election of 2004 -- the "sequel," as Richard Cohen coyly puts it -- only momentarily dented the party's imperviousness to reality: If you can't get Bush, get Tom Delay, or Karl Rove, or John Bolton, or some other guy nobody's heard of.

Now it's Roberts' turn. Barely had the president finished announcing the nomination when the Dems rushed Sen. Chuck Schumer on air, hunched and five-o'clock-shadowed and looking like a bus-&-truck one-man Nixon revue. Schumer's line was that, as a judge, Roberts had too thin a paper trail. His message seemed to be: Look, we Dems have the finest oppo-research boys in the business and, if we can't get any dirt on this guy, that must mean it's buried real deep and is real bad; the very fact that we can't get anything on him is in itself suspicious. Etc., etc.

Give it up, guys. Here's the John Roberts case that matters: As the Los Angeles Times put it, Roberts "said police did not violate the constitutional rights of a 12-year-old girl who was arrested, handcuffed and detained for eating a French fry inside a train station." We know what the flailing Times is clutching at here: Look, folks, this right-wing nut favors handcuffing schoolgirls for eating French fries.

No, he doesn't. As he wrote in his opinion, "The question before us, however, is not whether these policies were a bad idea, but whether they violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution" -- i.e., it may be bad legislation poorly implemented, but it's not his job to make the law. If you don't like public-transit policy on French fries, elect new councilors who'll change it. That's how free societies function.

The Democrats drew exactly the wrong lesson from their chad fever. If the case teaches anything, it's the importance of winning at the ballot box, which you do by promoting clear ideas confidently stated. The Dems prefer to leave it to the Divine Right of Judges. You might too if you believed in gay marriage and partial-birth abortion, but, simply as a matter of practical politics, it's disastrous for the party. Poor sad Richard Cohen, unabletomoveon.org after five years, is a fine emblem for the Democrats: Ask not for whom the chad hangs, it hangs for thee.

This ad is really, really freakin' big.

Great photo of Israeli soldiers and protestors praying together sent to me by e-mail from the American Jewish Committee.

More personal thoughts on terrorism that I posted at my bro-in-law's LiveJournal page.

More radical thoughts from the right...

The problem is that we as a society can't agree on the disease. Is it poverty and corruption in the third world for which we in the West are to blame? I don't think that anyone believes that if we gave governments in the third world $10000 dollars per capita as reparations for intruding on their culture and removed Coca-Cola from global store shelves that terrorism would end.

Is it the US military presence and "terrorism" in Iraq and Afghanistan and other Muslim countries? The World Trade Center was attacked years before our involvement in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Twice. We saved countless thousands of Muslims in Bosnia from ethnic cleansing by bombing Christian cities. We have given tens of billions of our hard-earned dollars in foreign aid and petrodollars to Egypt and Arab countries. As many on the left remind us, we actually helped Osama and the Muslim mujahadeen defeat the Soviets. Didn't help.

Is it the Israeli occupation? They unilaterally decided to leave Lebanon and terror remained even at the border which the UN has sanctioned as permanenet and legitimate. The Israelis are leaving Gaza next month and terror is increasing and doazens of rockets are fired over Gaza into Israel proper as the pullout date approaches.

I used to feel more strongly that giving Muslims political freedom and democracy was the answer (the neocon response), but Britain is a pretty free society and there are those who grew up there that apparently think it's A-OK to blow up their countrymen - never mind the reason.

The only thing I am left with is the disease of the mind caused by those who would preach death and hate to the ignorant. I say that anyone who preaches, advocates or excuses the destruction of their fellow countrymen or local democratic institutions needs to be deported immediately.

By the way, this includes people that think it's witty to fictionalize the how wonderful life would be after the assassination of a sitting President of the United States. I don't want them living in the same society as I do. We're at war against people who want just that and it's not funny. Criticism of any of our leaders, even personal, is fine. Demanding impeachment is fine. Flag burning doesn't threaten anybody. There is no excuse for promoting the view that your government deserves to be violently overthrown to promote your political or religious views. None. Fire in a crowded theater and all that...

Rant over :-)

P.S. More multiple bombings in Egypt. More Muslims die in global terrorsit attacks than non-Muslims. One thing that's hard for us Westerners to remember - it's not just about us - we tend to be very self-centered navel gazers. Once the world wakes up and finally agrees on what needs to be done with these people, and we lose our fear of backlash, this nightmare will be over.

As a linked post on Instapundit says this morning:

I didn't know Egypt had troops in Iraq. Otherwise, why would the terrorists target them?

The Washington Post style section lets us know that anyone who would dress conservatively in the White House is worthy of scorn.

An Image A Little Too Carefully Coordinated

There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy in pastel hues -- like a trio of Easter eggs, a handful of Jelly Bellies, three little Necco wafers. There was tow-headed Jack -- having freed himself from the controlling grip of his mother -- enjoying a moment in the spotlight dressed in a seersucker suit with short pants and saddle shoes. His sister, Josie, was half-hidden behind her mother's skirt. Her blond pageboy glistened. And she was wearing a yellow dress with a crisp white collar, lace-trimmed anklets and black patent-leather Mary Janes....

Everyone looks freshly scrubbed and adorable, just like they have stepped from a Currier & Ives landscape - she said with a sneer.

Oh, the humanity!

Perhaps the style editor would prefer the fugly look.

This opinion piece in the LA Times takes Bush hatred to a whole new level. I personally would much rather have a president who spends a little too much time exercising and setting a good example for millions as opposed to getting hummers from white house interns and debating what to give them as thank you gifts.

The (over)exercise of power

There's no denying that the results are impressive. Bush can bench press 185 pounds five times, and, before a recent knee injury, he ran three miles at a 6-minute, 45-second pace. That's better than I could manage when I played two sports in high school. And I wasn't holding the most powerful office on Earth. Which is sort of my point: Does the leader of the free world need to attain that level of physical achievement?....

Bush's insistence that the entire populace follow his example, and that his staff join him on a Long March — er, Long Run — carries about it the faint whiff of a cult of personality. It also shows how out of touch he is. It's nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does.

Jerk. Where did he find the time to right a worthless op-ed piece?

This has got to be the biggest joke yet in the Valerie Plame kerfuffle.

A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.

Plame -- who is referred to by her married name, Valerie Wilson, in the memo -- is mentioned in the second paragraph of the three-page document, which was written on June 10, 2003, by an analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), according to a source who described the memo to The Washington Post.

The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials.

Anyone reading that paragraph should have been aware that it contained secret information, though that designation was not specifically attached to Plame's name and did not describe her status as covert, the sources said.

[Ed. note] The paragraph in question also mentioned that Richard "Dick" Cheney is currently a Vice President of the United States. It is still unclear who "outed" Mr. Cheney as the second most powerful person in the Executive Branch. An investigation is expected shortly.

Puh-lease.

Check out the cool images of the Moon at Google. Make sure you click on the closest, most detailed view for a special surprise!

Just something I was thinking about while I was catching up with the latest thoughts on terrorism from Norm Geras (congrats on getting into The Guardian!), Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the Christian Science Monitor.

Anyone who believes that terrorism is a justifiable response to religious/political disagreements is really saying that you dear reader, and I, have no right to live.

I have not heard an argument from the radical left that any of the terrorist attacks of the last few years, whether the death toll is three or three thousand, is "a disproportionate response" - a charge they love to trot out against Israel. And if there's nothing wrong with the murder of three thousand innocent civilians to make a point, is there any amount of death or destruction that would be considered "wrong"? And if there is no limit to the amount of punishment that is due to be meted out to Western Society, every single person in it is a legitimate target for radical Muslim grievances. You, me, your parents, your children...we all deserve to die.

If we all deserve to die and the terrorists are willing to die themselves, what they are really saying is that they prefer a world without any of us. Their goal is a world devoid of human life as we know it, a Paradise filled with martyrs and the rest of us in Hell. A Hell on Earth for those unfortunate enough to be ruled by those "imams" who are too cowardly to die themselves.

Those of us that do not speak out or physically challenge the terrorists, but instead rationalize their behavior and look to place the blame on others, are only helping to further their goal of creating a world in which no one deserves to live. The most liberal seem to believe that it is perfectly just that we should lay down our lives for the perceived sins of Western man, hung not on the Romans' Cross but hacked into tiny pieces by the Sword of Islam.

------------

I keep thinking, what if the most important Hebrew declaration - Shema Yisrael - was used by thousands of terrorists as their joyful cry when murdering innocents? Wouldn't I feel embarassed to say it, even in the privacy of my private interactions with G-d? What does the average Muslim feel when they here "Allah hu Akbar" shouted by the jihadists? What is a non-Muslim supposed to feel when those words are broadcast from minarets in suburban American neighborhoods several times each day? How does it not begin to sound like "Heil Hitler" regardless of the lack of desire to cause discomfort to others?

----------

Thank you Thomas Friedman. From the NY Times July 22 Op-Ed Page.

We also need to spotlight the "excuse makers," the former State Department spokesman James Rubin said. After every major terrorist incident, the excuse makers come out to tell us why imperialism, Zionism, colonialism or Iraq explains why the terrorists acted. These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed. When you live in an open society like London, where anyone with a grievance can publish an article, run for office or start a political movement, the notion that blowing up a busload of innocent civilians in response to Iraq is somehow "understandable" is outrageous.

Bush makes a smart choice for his Supreme Court nomination in John Roberts.



Do I know enough about either Roberts or the law to comment - not really.

That being said, the fact that the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to place him on the DC Circuit Court not too long ago by a vote of 16-3 (Link is to people that don't like him much) may make it more deifficult for Senate Democrats to vote as a bloc against him.

A short bio from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit website:

Judge Roberts was confirmed by the Senate to a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 8, 2003, and sworn in on June 2 by Chief Justice Rehnquist. Judge Roberts graduated from Harvard College in 1976, and received his law degree in 1979 from Harvard Law School. Following graduation from law school, he served as law clerk for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the following year to then-Associate Justice Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Roberts served as Special Assistant to United States Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1982 and Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1986. He then joined Hogan & Hartson where he developed a civil litigation practice, with an emphasis on appellate matters. From 1989 to 1993 he served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He returned to Hogan & Hartson in 1993. At the time of his confirmation, Judge Roberts was the senior partner in charge of Hogan & Hartson's appellate practice. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

NARAL is already asking for donations on their home page to defeat the nomination less than 10 minutes after the nomination was made.

Another briefing document against the nomination.

At least Powerline is over the moon. Lots of good stuff here.

It's all true, and I'm one of the "people in finance".

From We Were Soldiers Once, and Broke by Ben Stein in today's NY Times.

Remember that it all depends on the fighting men and women, not on the people in finance. It depends on the guys whose names you will never know, guys who come home and work - not at jobs in which helicopters ferry them to secret-deal meetings in New York or London, but at jobs in places like a car wash in Burleson, Tex., where one of the men who captured Saddam Hussein is working without complaint and with barely mentioning that he was in Iraq.

That is, if they come home with all their limbs - or if they come home at all.

From today's Meet The Press.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me go through the public pronouncements from the White House. Here's President Bush on September 30, 2003, about the leak.

(Videotape, September 30, 2003):

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.

(End videotape)

Yet minutes later, John Podesta, President Clinton's former chief of staff seems not to have been paying attention...

MR. PODESTA: And I think that the one thing that is unassailable at the end of this week is that Mr. Rove did not tell the truth in 2003, and I think given that, he's hurting the president by staying there and I think he has a duty to the president--and, quite frankly, the president said he would fire leakers, not lawbreakers. And I--you know, I think if he's a man of his word, he'll take that seriously.

Inigo Montoya has a challenge for you...ride with the Jewish people...or prepare to die!

An Imam from a Detroit mosque has discovered the root causes of terrorism - Bush, Rumsfeld and the Jews.

The current issue of Time magazine quotes Sir Ivor Roberts, Britain's ambassador to Italy, as saying "the best recruiting sergeant" for al-Qaida was none other than President George W. Bush.

Some unthoughtful words by the president and some irresponsible statements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- combined with the scandals at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Guantanamo detention center -- helped al-Qaida recruit more extremists to its army.

To win the war against terror, force alone is not enough. Honesty and openness come first. The double standard on democracy and human rights doesn't help.

As long as Jews can immigrate to Israel by the tens of thousands each year while Palestinians stay hungry and homeless, I am afraid this will contribute to the violence in the Middle East and elsewhere.

It is time for all of us to take a stand against terrorism and eliminate its causes.

Maybe if his Muslim buddies didn't hate Jews so much in places like France, there would have been less need for Jews to immigrate to Israel.

We have been hearing the cries of innocent victims of terrorism in so many countries, New York City, Karachi, Madrid, Beirut, Bosnia, Jakarta, Israel, Palestine and now London.

I wasn't aware of any recent religiously inspired suicide bombings in "Palestine" committed by Jews which killed dozens, hundreds or thousands of people. Would someone like to help me here?

The Dallas News takes a stand on principle, and challenges the more liberal media not to wallow in their usual moral equivalency.

Call Them What They Are: Those who murder Iraqi civilians are terrorists

Today, this editorial board resolves to sacrifice another word – "insurgent" – on the altar of precise language. No longer will we refer to suicide bombers or anyone else in Iraq who targets and kills children and other innocent civilians as "insurgents."

The notion that these murderers in any way are nobly rising up against a sitting government in a principled fight for freedom has become, on its face, absurd. If they ever held a moral high ground, they sacrificed it weeks ago, when they turned their focus from U.S. troops to Iraqi men, women and now children going about their daily lives....

Train bombers in Madrid? Terrorists.

Chechen rebels who take over a Russian school and execute children? Terrorists.

Teenagers who strap bombs to their chests and detonate them in an Israeli cafe? Terrorists.

IRA killers? Basque separatist killers? Hotel bombers in Bali? Terrorists all.

Just in case there's any Bush haters out there who continue to claim not only that Osama Bin Laden wan't tied to Saddam Hussein, but that they actually hated each other becuase of religious/secular differences, perhaps they should listen to this ABC News report from 1999.

And did I mention the ties between Saddam and the most notorious terrorists in the world? There's supposed to be video here too.

I think this was before the Bush White House was controlling the spin on Iraq since there was no Bush White House.

Saddam Hussein, if left in power, could very well have helped Osama Bin Laden obtain WMDs which he has declared that he would then use. Period. End of story.

I'm pretty sure this story clears Karl Rove in the Plame thing, but the Democrats always find an angle.

Source: Rove Got CIA Agent ID From Media

Presidential confidant Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative originally from journalists, then informally discussed the information with a Time magazine reporter days before the story broke, according to a person briefed on the testimony.

The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.

I know that the media, the NY Times in particular is very proud of reporters that go off to jail for protecting sources, but wouldn't someone who leaks grand jury testimony be a criminal source? Why do they think facilitating a crime or illegal activity is noble work?

UPDATE: Via Instapundit - In a conversation on CNN with Wolf Blitzer yesterday, Joe Wilson said "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity."

What the hell are we arguing about then?

UPDATE: And what's with this headline on CBSMarketWatch of all places?

Rove passes buck

First of all, written in the present tense this makes it seem like Rove just did something when in fact the article is about his Grand Jury testimony which was given a long time ago. Second, I can't see how Rove is trying to avoid responsibility ("passing the buck") for anything by claiming that Novak told him about Plame. Unless of course you were a liberal media person and absolutely certain that Rove is guilty. Disgusting.

Is justice finally coming to Argentina?

Argentine Ruling Revives Cases of 'Dirty War' Victims

One of the words that I most strongly asociate with Argentina, where I lived for a year and a half, is "impunidad" - impunity. The worst criminlas just never seem to get punished. Hopefully that is changing - slowly.

For nearly 30 years, Mr. Poblete's relatives have been blocked in their efforts to bring his tormentors to justice. But last month, the Argentine Supreme Court, acting in response to a complaint brought on behalf of his family, declared two amnesty laws from the 1980's to be unconstitutional. Now the Poblete case, which has been detailed in testimony from fellow prisoners who survived, along with hundreds more like it, is to be revived.....

Though the amnesty itself has been overturned, the pardons granted later to more than 400 former senior officials of the military dictatorship still stand. President Néstor Kirchner has decided not to annul the pardons himself or to ask Congress to pass a law to that effect, but rather to let the issue make its way through the courts....

"The justice system is treating this as a common crime and saying that if there are no witnesses, there is no proof, and if you can't prove the crime, it doesn't exist," Ms. Gutiérrez complained. "They don't seem to realize that nobody was tortured or killed with a notary public present, that nobody saw what happened and that what they are demanding is impossible."

Does anybody actually believe this stuff?

Mashaal: Group Committed to Israel Truce

The political leader of the Hamas militant group said Thursday it and other Palestinian factions remained committed to a truce with Israel, despite recent violence.

I mean, really.

Woman killed in rocket attack outside Gaza Strip

Dana Galkovitch, 22, was killed and her boyfriend was moderately wounded in Thursday afternoon barrages inside and just outside of the Gaza Strip.

Galkovitch was sitting on the porch around 5:45 p.m. with her boyfriend, Amir Ragolsky, when a mortar scored a direct hit above them, crashing through the tin roof of the Ragolsky's Netiv Ha'asara home and killing Dana. Amir was wounded in the attack.

Good thing we're giving them all of Gaza so that Israel will have the moral high ground when Palestinians kill more Jews on internationally recognized Israeli soil.

Guest columnist Sarah Vowell thinks that George Bush should own up to the terrible state that America is in and that like Jimmy Carter, he should just tell us the terrible truth.

The Speech the President Should Give

Of course, Ms. Vowell thinks that times are bad. Let's compare shall we?

Inflation - Carter era: 11-14% Bush era: 2-3%
Unemployment - Carter era: 6-8% (and going up) Bush era: 5-6% (and going down)
Interest Rates - Carter era: 18% Bush era: 3% (and that's high)
Budget Deficit - Carter era: 2.5-3.0% Bush era: 3.5% of GDP (could be better, but not terrible in comparison and already closer to 3%)

Foreign Affairs - Carter era: Radical Muslims hold Americans hostage. Bush era: Americans hold Radical Muslims in prisons in their own countries (and Cuba)

Nuclear threat - Carter era: America threatened by agressive Soviet Union with thousands of nuclear warheaeds, constant worry about Mutual Assured Destruction. Bush era: No other superpowers, worry that someone muight have the capability to deliver a dirty bomb, maybe.

Cost of Oil per Barrel - Carter era: $94 in 2005 dollars Bush era: $60 dollars

I think the author is this Sarah Vowell who if the age is reported correctly would be 5 years younger than me. That would mean that she would have no real political recollection of what life was like in the Carter era. Which mean that her reminiscing of life in the Carter era as a 7 year old is just a bunch of B.S.

Is it racism or "Islamaphobia"?

Islamophobia blamed for attack

A Muslim man has been beaten to death outside a corner shop by a gang of youths who shouted anti-Islamic abuse at him, the Guardian has learned.

Nottinghamshire police described the incident as racially aggravated, not as Islamophobic, angering Muslim groups and surprising some senior officers.

Racists in Britiain have a long history of abusing "Pakis" which as nothing to do with Islam. I guess the anti-racism people and the anti-Islamophobia people are going to have to fight it out amongst themselves for who gets to be the voice of the victims going forward.

Is it just me, or whenever the media reports good economic news it's always "unexpected"?

Sharp Increase in Tax Revenue Will Pare U.S. Deficit

For the first time since President Bush took office, an unexpected leap in tax revenue is about to shrink the federal budget deficit this year, by nearly $100 billion.

Hmm, maybe Bush was right that cutting various tax rates would actually increase tax revenues. In fact, if Congress could hold off on the spending increases, we'd probably have close to a balanced budget, even while we're fighting a war or two.

Sarah Boxer of the New York Times apparently feel that:

a) Terrorists are always of the "have-not" class, i.e. poor.
b) Anyone who is not poor does not have the moral right to be happy that they are alive or criticize terrorists (who must have become poor at the expense of the rest of us.)

On the Web, Fearlessness Meets Frivolousness

But more and more, there's a brutish flaunting of wealth and leisure. Yesterday there were lots of pictures posted of smiling families at the beach and of people showing off their cars and vans. A picture from Italy shows a white sports car and comes with the caption: "Afraid? Why should we be afraid?"

A few days ago, We're Not Afraid might have been a comfort. Today, there's a hint of "What, me worry?" from Mad magazine days, but without the humor or the sarcasm. We're Not Afraid, set up to show solidarity with London, seems to be turning into a place where the haves of the world can show that they're not afraid of the have-nots.

Perhaps I'm misreading this and the use of the term "have-nots" really refers to brains or human decency.

Dennis Prager shows why the Left's claim that they "Support the Troops" is absolutely illogical. Thanks to LGF.

The Left’s message is this: “You troops may think you are winning; you may think you are doing good and moral things in Iraq; you may believe you are fighting the worst human beings of our age and protecting us against the scourge of Islamic terror. But we on the Left believe none of that. We believe this war is being fought for oil and for Halliburton and other corporations; we believe you are waging a war that is both illegal and immoral; we believe you have invaded a country for no good reason and have killed a hundred thousand Iraqis [the Left’s generally mentioned number] for no good reason; but, hey, we sure do support you.”

Honest people on the Left need to understand that the two positions are not reconcilable. A German citizen during World War II could not have argued: “The Nazi regime’s army is engaged in an evil war of aggression and is slaughtering millions of innocent people, and I therefore completely oppose this war, but I sure do support the Nazi troops.”

Or as Senator Dick Durbin would say our "Nazi-like" troops.

Juan Cole, a "professor of history", makes stuff up relating to the 9/11 Commission Report.

Straw seems unaware that according to the September 11 Commission report, al-Qaeda conceived 9/11 in some large part as a punishment on the US for supporting Ariel Sharon's iron fist policies toward the Palestinians. Bin Laden had wanted to move the operation up in response to Sharon's threatening visit to the Temple Mount, and again in response to the Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, which left 4,000 persons homeless.

The Israeli operation in Jenin happened in April 2002 which makes it a little difficult for it to have been a potential trigger event for 9/11. Much more detailed criticism here.

In looking into this I found a great site where you can do a search through the 9/11 Report here.

I understand Cole may have cleaned up his comments with a pretty lame excuse. See here for more.

I cried for the children in England and for the children in Russia. And I cried along with those in Spain. I cried for them all.

But none ever cried for me.

Tom Friedman - I encountered traveling in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank: a groundswell of relief that both sides have found a way, even temporarily, to stop the insane cycle of Palestinian suicide bombing and Israeli retaliations that totally distorted daily life here. - July 6, 2005

Netanya mall suicide bomb blast kills 2, wounds dozens - July 12, 2005

At least two people were killed and 37 people were wounded when a major explosion occurred at an intersection near the Sharon Mall in Netanya around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Sources close to the prime minister responded to the deadly attack, saying firmly that Israel would react with a heavy hand.

Ooh, that would be so insane, wouldn't it Tom.

For the first time in 2000 years, Israel will next year become the largest Jewish community in the world, figures released by a Jewish Agency think tank revealed Sunday.

A light-hearted comedy lampooning Jewish life in Germany and shattering post-war taboos in the process stole the show at the German Film Prize, winning six awards in the world's most lucrative film contest.

"Alles auf Zucker" the first Jewish comedy made in Germany since World War II, won "Lola" awards for best film, best director and best actor, as well as top honors for screenwriting, costume and music.

Interesting. Never happen. Would make very interesting initiative though if some other benefit was the end product.

U.S. Jewish group touts Israeli citizenship for Diaspora Jews

The plan would restrict eligibility for citizenship to Diaspora Jews who show a triple commitment to Israel: financial investment, cultural investment and military training. Jews who want to become eligible for Israeli citizenship would have to invest at least $1,000 in the Israeli economy - whether by purchasing real estate, or by buying shares in Israeli companies or government bonds.

They would have to undergo basic military training in a special week-long course. According to the RAJI leaders, the training "would qualify the new citizens to bear arms on behalf of the State of Israel if a desperate need arises."

In addition, applicants would have to prove proficiency in Hebrew at a level that permits them to take an active interest in life in Israel.

When I was younger I used to think it would be cool to go on one of those Israeli army volunteer trips. Today, I couldn't even imagine doing it without some kind of similar commitment to the U.S. military.

The New York Times prints an article today about how having f*ck buddies should be an integral part of the life of every single woman.

If It Were Raining Men, She Would Forgo the Umbrella

Portfolio dating, my system for personal fulfillment, entails collecting people, not eliminating them. The point is to assemble an array of relationships with people who possess all the qualities you need, much like assembling a diverse stock portfolio maximizes long-term gain.

I separate my portfolio into three main categories. Type I, the Hookup Pal; Type II, the Platonic Boyfriend or Girlfriend; and Type III, the Motivator. In a perfect day, you have brunch with your Type II, and an afternoon date with your Type I, and you discuss book-jacket designs over late cappuccinos with your Type III. You can also have hybrid Type I/III relationships that satisfy both carnal and cerebral desires.

Regardless of whether or not you think this "lifestyle" is OK, why does this person think it's something to be proud of?

Ron, you ignorant slut!

Christopher Hitchens gives a history lesson to Ron Reagan Jr on MSNBC. Video here.

Money shot...How can you know so little about this, and be occupying a chair at the time that you do?

Of course my reference above in the first line relates to Dan Akroyd's classic comeback line in his point-counterpoint debates with Jane Curtain on Saturday Night Live. To show that nothing ever changes in political debate, here's a transcript of one such encounter that sounds like something I could have TIVO'd today.

Curtin: "Dan, only a reactionary ass such as yourself could oppose full diplomatic relations with China. As President Carter said, it's a simple recognition of reality. How can we ignore eight hundred million people? But, then again, I guess it's your habit to ignore reality. You're a paranoid schizophrenic, Dan, whose politics are obviously born out of some buried infantile trauma. You hide from reality, constructing a hostile world to justify your own incapacity for love and compassion. Go ahead, Dan, live in your dark, lonely world..."

Aykroyd: "Jane, you ignorant slut. My personality profile is not at issue here, any more than is your inability to achieve orgasm. The issue is Taiwan. How can we expect to have the confidence of any free nation when we stab one of our most faithful allies in the back? I suppose you'd like to conduct our foreign policy the way you conduct your private life, hopping from bed to bed with anyone who can do you some good. Then what do you have? An old, dried-out scuz that no decent man would be seen with. Is that what you want for America? It's too late for you, Jane, but our country still has some dignity left, you hosebag!"

In an article in the Canadian media, the President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association of Canada, Gerry Fedchun, opines as to why Toyota chose to build RAV-4s in Ontario as opposed to the Southeast U.S.

Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.

He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

"The educational level and the skill level of the people down there is so much lower than it is in Ontario," Fedchun said.

So here we have a person who's sole job responsibility is to shill for the Canadian auto industry. He gloats about how stupid Americans are and on Daily Kos this is taken as gospel proof that Canada's education and health care systems are better than ours.

Let's forget that you can't compare Canada's federal policies to local policies of a single state or two. Let's also forget that most funding of schools and such is local and the Democratic Party is solidly in charge of the Alabama State Legislature (at least prior to the 2004 elections.)

Could there possibly be a less reliable source for information as to why Toyota made their decision? Does anyone really believe that the car companies are hiring illiterate people in the southern U.S.? Wouldn't the fact that they couldn't fill out an employment application be some kind of hint before they were hired?

There's nothing wrong with criticizing policies or people in order to improve your country, but when you're so willing to believe (and broadcast) the belief that your own countrymen are idiots because a foreigner who's job it is to convince people that the U.S. sucks says so, to call this attitude unpatriotic does not seem inappropriate.

The King is Dead, Long Live The King?

Is Infinity Broadcasting thinking of replacing the middle-aged, oversexed Jewish guy with long dark hair with a middle-aged, oversexed Jewish guy with long blond hair?

Infinity Broadcasting isn't commenting on an online report penned by a former Howard Stern Show regular that suggests David Lee Roth will be one of the personalities that ultimately replaces the ribald DJ on the airwaves.

Sweet Jesus!

One could say that St. Mark United Church of Christ is bee-deviled. The church in Clarion County, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, has been infested with bees in its walls for about seven years. The church tried an exterminator and that didn't work. Now the problem has gotten so bad that honey oozes through its walls.

I just figured that as a counterpoint to those who would blame the London bombings on the war in Iraq, I'd troll the web for examples of people who predicted this would happen even before the war.

I came up with something better.

From a JihadWatch post on April 18, 2004, quoting a report from Reuters:

LISBON (Reuters) - Several Islamic militant groups are preparing attacks on London, making such a strike unavoidable, a radical Muslim cleric said in an interview with a Portuguese magazine.

"It's inevitable. Because several (attacks) are being prepared by several groups," Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad told Lisbon's Publica magazine from London, where he is based.

One "very well organised" group in London calling itself al Qaeda Europe "has a great appeal for young Muslims", he said. "I know that they are ready to launch a big operation."

London police said they were not prepared to discuss the claims, but the country's most senior police officer, Sir John Stevens, has previously said that an attack on the capital was inevitable.

The firebrand cleric, who has outraged moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike with his uncompromising views, gave no further details.

Of course if you're CNN, with investigative powers perhaps unrivaled in the world today, you might have this to say...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A previously unknown group calling itself the "Secret Organization group al Qaeda Organization in Europe" released a statement Thursday claiming responsibility for the subway and bus bombings in London earlier in the day.

One of the bombs in London today occurred in the Edgeware Road station which is across the street from a Hilton I stayed at a several years ago with my wife and daughter. I remember walking back to the hotel one evening amazed at the number of Muslim businesses in the neighborhood. I can only imagine it has grown since. All I want to do is echo the thought that aside from the general senselessness of the attack, why pick a spot in the heart of the Muslim community?

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

TERRORIST BLASTS ROCK LONDON

I can only hope is that these were suicide bombers and that they are currently being given a newcomer's guided tour in hell.

Ken Livingstone (yes, Red Ken) made a statement today that out-Giulianied Giuliani on behalf of the people of London and freedom.

It's hard to beilieve, but Giuliani actually was in London during the attacks and was only "yards from" one of the explosions.

British Muslims utterly condemn acts of terror

Quotes from those who say that Londoners deserved what they got. From Londoners. Including hero of the Left George Galloway.

From Captain's Quarters:

AQ does not exist because of Bush or Blair. AQ has attacked Western interests since at least 1993 because of who we are and what we represent. They have no ideology except that of hatred for freedom and the imposition of Taliban-like tyranny across Southwest Asia and eventually the world. Everywhere they have ruled, such as Afghanistan, Fallujah, Ramadi, Qaim, and other areas, they have brutally suppressed freedom of expression and civil rights.

Ignoring them does not work. Sympathizing with them encourages their bloody attacks. Disarming ourselves in the face of their attacks only confirms our weakness and stokes their apocalyptic dreams. Just as with other lunatic vanguards of fascism, the only option that will put an end to their deadly efforts is to crush them and to spread freedom and democracy to completely discredit their despotic philosophies.

C-SPAN is broadcasting BBC Newsnight live. There's a point-counterpoint type discussion with a Muslim who is Principal of Muslim College who claims that he's unsure that the terror attack was caused by Muslims. He also says that Al-Qaeda is a myth. There's also former MP Tony Benn who claims that these type of attacks are a result of the war in Iraq. When asked about 9/11 which happened a year and a half before the invasion, he said "but Bush was planning the war beforehand".

Interesting point from an article in the Jerusalem Post about reaction in the Arab community outside of England.

"London was the last place in the West where we Arabs were respected when we showed up at the airport," Ashraf said. "At US airports, I get poked, prodded and asked many questions. But I could go for 24-hours to London, leave, come back three days later and no one would think I'm suspicious."

But not anymore.

Thomas Friedman has apparently taken a long nap and has arisen in the land of Oslo make-believe. I of course am referring to the happy place where all Palestinians want peace with Israel and nothing ever bad happens if you squeeze your eyes shut really, really tight.

Investing in Gaza

No leader or party can ignore how much people want this calm to hold - even Hamas. As Ghazi Hamad, editor of the Hamas newspaper Al Risalat, said to me, "One reason Hamas agreed to the cease-fire was to give people a chance to breathe and rest."

Rest before doing what? In an interview several weeks ago with a Canadian newspaper, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said, “There is no problem [with a] step-by-step solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. We can now accept Gaza and West Bank; in the future, all [of] Palestine.”

Instead of 72 virgins, Friedman dreams of secure borders.....

Will the U.N. confirm the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as it did from Lebanon, creating an internationally recognized border that will also constitute what a Haaretz essayist, Ari Shavit, calls "an invisible wall of international legitimacy"? (Even terrorists today are deterred by the legality of the Israel-Lebanon border.)

Yet, just a few days ago...

The Hizbullah squad that infiltrated Israeli territory in the Mount Dov region last week had apparently been part of an overall plan to kidnap IDF soldiers, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz said on Sunday.

He said equipment left behind by the terrorists indicated that it was a special squad that had intended to stay in the field for several days.

I cannot believe that Friedman could be so cavalier about the attitudes and actions of Arab terror groups.

UPDATE: Just for fun, more news from the land of the truce, reported not an hour ago - UNREST AT GAZA SETTLEMENT

Israeli soldiers have shot and killed a Palestinian militant who was trying to enter the Jewish settlement of Morag in the Gaza Strip.

A second Palestinian who had taken part in an attack on the settlement was wounded but managed to flee.

The kids have Harry Potter, I have Bernard Goldberg. Be back soon...gotta run to Barnes and Noble...



It's already #16 on Amazon.com.

Sign the Declaration of Independence yourself. Come on, you know you want to. I did.

Nice words about Bush's Africa Policy from Nicholas Kristof.

Bush, a Friend of Africa

But the fact is that Mr. Bush has done much more for Africa than Bill Clinton ever did, increasing the money actually spent for aid there by two-thirds so far, and setting in motion an eventual tripling of aid for Africa. Mr. Bush's crowning achievement was ending one war in Sudan, between north and south. And while Mr. Bush has done shamefully little to stop Sudan's other conflict - the genocide in Darfur - that's more than Mr. Clinton's response to genocide in Rwanda (which was to issue a magnificent apology afterward).

Then it gets good...

The liberal approach to helping the poor is sometimes to sponsor a U.N. conference and give ringing speeches calling for changed laws and more international assistance.

In contrast, a standard conservative approach is to sponsor a missionary hospital or school. One magnificent example is the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, where missionary doctors repair obstetric injuries that have left Ethiopian women incontinent.

Liberals also often focus on changing laws, but in a poor country, the legal system is often irrelevant outside the capital. Sudan, for example, banned female genital mutilation back in 1957; since then, the practice has expanded steadily. Sure, lobbying for better laws is important, but it's usually much more cost-effective to vaccinate children or educate girls. Nobody gets more bang for the buck than missionary schools and clinics, and Christian aid groups like World Vision and Samaritan's Purse save lives at bargain-basement prices.

Hummus Place - another restaurant to try (that I'll probably be too exhausted to go to) the next time I'm in NY.

One notable success in the effort to convince the people of the Middle East that America is not an evil place.

Year in U.S. shifts Muslim teens' views

"Before, I thought the Americans were like the Europeans - no religion, no moral values, taking drugs, having sex, drinking all the time," said Sirine, an earnest 17-year-old Tunisian who stayed with an Atlanta-area family. "But my opinion changed."

Hey, it's not like we don't have sex....

Seriously, this sounds like a great program. If 300 kids took part, that means a view of the real America will be transmitted to thousands of people in the Muslim world.

The exchange students' view that Americans are ignorant of world affairs doesn't surpise me. I know my in-laws in Argentina have a hard time understanding that nobody here cares about what goes on in Argentina when they care so much about the U.S. attitude towards their own country.

On the protest front we have the country's number one feminist demanding more rights for men who, even if they were innocent of the charge of being terrorists, would probably want to see her silenced and wearing a black shroud for the rest of her life.

I would like to suggest that we free the Guantanamo prisoners and send Ms. Steinem a one way ticket to the Afghan/Pakistan border, the land of the free.

Feminist author Gloria Steinem on Monday joined about 200 protesters to demand the closure of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, saying holding prisoners indefinitely without charging them violates the values upon which the United States was founded.

Steinem compared Guantanamo to the kind of autocratic rule early colonists were trying to flee.

I'm sure her British friends are thrilled with that comparison.

It must absolutely make these people's head spin when they read about the spread of democracy in Iraq.

Sunni Group Calls on Iraqis to Register to Vote

After an electoral boycott that many moderate Sunnis privately regard as disastrous, a major Sunni umbrella group called on its people today to register for the next round of elections and participate "despite our reservations," possibly a sign of a new political landscape taking shape for the next round of voting.

Adnan Al-Dulaimi, the head of the group, called the Sunni Endowment, said in a press briefing in Baghdad that clerics would be asked to issue fatwas, or religious rulings, essentially ordering Sunnis to vote in the elections. Among its other functions, the Sunni Endowment is charged with oversight of Sunni Arab mosques and holy sites throughout Iraq, giving it wide influence among clerics.

"I ask all Sunni people to register their names for the next election, because we are in a political battle that depends on the vote," Mr. Dulaimi said.

Don't they know that the insurgency is winning and that according to our media victory is almost theirs? And why would they want to join a government that we are told by the media has had no noticeable effect in Iraq?

Deep Impact Success!

60 seconds before impact:



Mission Accomplished:

Ah, Shea Stadium, The Worst Ballpark in the World.

"...Shea...was supposed to be a showcase for the world of tomorrow. You could tell this because it looked breezy, and fun, and half-finished - all bright, garish colors, flimsy new materials and unadorned concrete and pipes and steel cables laid out in that functional, neglected-housing-development style that modern architects used to assure us was the best future we could hope for."

A history here.

After catching some snippets of the Live 8 concerts on TV and online, I'm kind of sorry that I ignored all the hype. I did catch Pink Floyd reunited (wow!), Duran Duran (Simon LeBon got heavy!), Green Day and Bill Gates (not singing of course).

You can actually sign the Live 8 List, a petition against hunger that over 25 million people have signed as of this writing. You put in your name and country and it appears shortly thereafter on a list of people who have signed from around the world.

You can also see the events re-broadcated on AOL Music and go to the individual artists' sites within AOL Music to see videos of their performances.

I'm not sure whether this falls under being America-centric, liberal bias or just plain laziness, but this AP report on the offensive Mexican stamp controversy (see post below) describes it this way:

The White House and black activists in the U.S. on Thursday criticized the stamp featuring Memin Pinguin, a sort of Jim Crow-era image of a black child that has been a cartoon character since the 1940s.

The last time I checked, Mexico didn't have Jim Crow laws and therefore didn't have a "Jim Crow era".

Trust me - go check out this week's Pearls Before Swine comic strip. It's been a long time since I laughed this hard while reading the morning paper.

Innocents at Guantanamo

Turns out a background piece on the cartoonist (if you can call him that) appears on MSNBC/Newsweek online - A ‘Pearl’ of a Strip

Can you call people who enter a foreign country uninvited and blow things up, insurgents? Our media does.

Most suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners

The vast majority of suicide attackers in Iraq are thought to be foreigners — mostly Saudis and other Gulf Arabs — and the trend has become more pronounced this year with North Africans also streaming in to carry out deadly missions, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

The bombers are recruited from Sunni communities, smuggled into Iraq from Syria after receiving religious indoctrination, and then quickly bundled into cars or strapped with explosive vests and sent to their deaths, the officials told The Associated Press. The young men are not so much fighters as human bombs — a relatively small but deadly component of the Iraqi insurgency.

My impression was that suicide bombers were causing by far the most deaths in Iraq. This last sentence seems to want to explain them away as relatively unimportant.

Also, can we call this the Iraqi insurgency if the majority of the damage is inflicted by non-Iraqis? Words mean a lot and the American people shouldn't be getting the impression that this insurgency is "popular" or of the local people.

Of course all this may be news to MSNBC, but the Washington Post reported this a month and a half ago, and our military has been saying this for a lot longer than that.

Brooke Shields sends a nastygram to Tom Cruise via the New York Times. You go girl.

War of Words

I WAS hoping it wouldn't come to this, but after Tom Cruise's interview with Matt Lauer on the NBC show "Today" last week, I feel compelled to speak not just for myself but also for the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered from postpartum depression. While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not "understand the history of psychiatry," I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.

Ouch.

There is much talk about how the folks at NBC news, including Brian Williams and Andrea Mitchell believe that the Founding Fathers of the United States were equivalent to hostage-taking Islamo-fascists, so "who are we to judge them"?

Michelle Malkin has the round-up. BRIAN WILLIAMS SAID WHAT?

I just have to link to the video clip myself. (Under "free video: Nightly News." Click on "Iran's incoming president a hostagetaker?" Go to 2:52 on the 3:21 clip.)

Yessir, I can imagine the great thinkers of late 18th century England thinking to themselves, "Gee Henry VIII was a bloody bastard killing his wives and all, and remember how we used to burn those witches? Who are we to judge this Washington fellow?"

Garry Trudeau deserves many thanks for truly supporting the troops.

‘Doonesbury’ comes to aid of Fisher House

Love him or hate him, Garry Trudeau, the man responsible for the “Doonesbury” comic strip, is doing his part to help wounded troops and their families.

Trudeau is donating all his proceeds from the sale of his newly released book “The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time” to the Fisher House Foundation. Also, Andrews McMeel Publishing, the book’s publisher, is contributing 10 percent of its take from the book to Fisher House.

Yup, there's still racism in the south. More south than you think though.

New Racial Gaffe in Mexico; This Time It's a Tasteless Stamp Set



In at least one other Latin American country with almost no black population (Argentina), this would not be seen as a big deal. Below is a product from one of the more popular local brands in Argentina, Blancaflor. Blancaflor oddly enough means "white flower" in English.

How to fold a t-shirt...fascinating video.

In The Army's Hard Sell, Bob Herbert is being totally disingenuous when he tries to show that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was initially unprepared for how long the "war" in Iraq would last. He quotes the secretary as saying:

"I can't say if the use of force would last five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that."

Secretary Rumsfeld was clearly talking about the use of force against the Iraqi military in the traditional campaign to liberate the country and evict Saddam from power. It's even more obvious when you read "Iraqi Army is Tougher Than US Believes" from commondreams.org, a liberal organization who tried to pursuade the public that our campaign would be significantly more difficult than the first Gulf War. Secretary Rumsfeld's comments were judged as, "ideologically driven and strategically ill-informed."

The war began on March 20, 2003 and Baghdad was captured on April 9, 2003 less than 3 weeks later.

-----------------

In addition, much is made of the fact that the Army has not met it's recruiting goals for the last several months. What is not taken into account is that these goals are calculated by simply dividing the annual target by twelve, regardless of the fact that the majority of recruiting success takes place in the summer after graduations.
Also, retention goals have been met or exceeded which would seem strange if those currently enlisted thought they were part of a lost cause.

While recruiting numbers for May were lower than hoped - something defense officials acknowledged was expected during the slow spring recruiting season - every service met or exceeded its retention goals for the month.

And as Secreatry Rumsfeld said yesterday, "the Army retention is going very well. In fact, it's higher for the people who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan than it is for the Army people who have not."

Another funny thing is that I've seen several articles mention that it's actually the strength of the economy in part that's causing the slowdown in recruiting, but that's another story.

I'm not afraid to admit it - I think that I would be Orthodox if it were easier. Conservative Judaism is just too easy in America. Here we are constantly travelling great distances to and from work and living far from other family or community members. Also with Conservative Judaism you accept most of the same rules as the Orthodox without any of the guilt or ostracism if you don't follow them.

In Israel, the Conservative (Masorti) movement continues to struggle because it's so easy to be Orthodox, or at least benefit from the abundance of cheap Orhtodox institutions.

I sure wouldn't want to be there when the parents get that thick book of student loan payment coupons from the bank...

HARVARD GRAD'S DEATH FALL

A new Harvard graduate died yester day after a night of celebratory drinking with fellow classmates, when he accidentally toppled out a sixth-floor window of a friend's Upper West Side apartment, police sources said.

OK, today is my anti-NY Times day. In As Serious as a Heart Attack the Times call for banning a certain ingredient because it's not the most healthy alternative.

The ultimate aim, however, should be to end the widespread use of partially hydrogenated oils. As things now stand, the F.D.A. acknowledges that trans fats are unhealthy at any level, and yet maintains that the partially hydrogenated oils that contain them are basically safe. The agency can't have it both ways. Public health would be greatly improved if the F.D.A. prohibited their use.

Is the Times for banning smoking and other activities or foods that they consider dangerous or addictive? What about chocolate?

So now they are for the government taking our property whenever it pleases them and banning foods that we like becuase they are not healthy enough.

If Uncle Joe Stalin were running on the Democratic ticket in 2008, I'm sure he would get the Times' hearty endorsement. (I hearby invent "Goodman's Law" - the use of Joseph Stalin in any political debate is directly proportional to the author's knowledge of Godwin's Law)

One funny side note to the property rights thing - the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Connecticut city to transfer the rights of individual property owners to a real estate developer.

This ruling came almost exactly a year after this:

Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland (R) announced his resignation Monday, as his three-term rule collapsed after revelations that he had accepted tens of thousands of dollars of gifts from state contractors and top aides.

How the hell did the liberal Supreme Court justices decide to give so much power to the perenially corrupt and big business?

Another thing about that NY Times editorial.

The war has not made the world, or this nation, safer from terrorism.

First of all, this is as stupid as saying in February 1944 that World War II had not made the world safe from fascism. What kind of idiots feel they can determine the success of a war in the middle of the war, especially one which was predicted from the beginning to be a long slog? Did this take the Times by surprise? Is any war longer than 3 months a quaqmire? One can even argue that the only reason the war is still going on is becuase the liberal part of us (all of us) doesn't just want to bomb Iraq into the stone age and be done with it. I'm sure if we drove out or killed all the Sunnis the war would be over. Ending the war is easy. Ending it while trying to avoid punishing the local population unnecessarily and fostering hope for the future is, as liberals like to laught at, indeed "hard work".

Second of all, we haven't even had a terorrist pipe bomb go off in the U.S. in the almost 4 years since 9/11. How is that "not safer" in a country that experienced Oklahoma City, the two World Trade Center attacks and several embassy bombings where hundreds died in the decade prior to 9/11?

The Times should just have the guts to say "our soldiers lives have been wasted and their sacrifice means nothing and hasn't helped anybody. In fact they've made things worse."

Finally, and I swear I'll be done with this, I don't care why one thinks we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but to totally ignore the brutality of the regimes we have replaced and the flowering democracies there reflects a disgusting "me-first", "who cares about the brown people" Western attitude of the worst kind.

The NY Times tries to rewrite the history of the war on terrorism before it's even finished.

Three Things About Iraq

The most cynical recent example was Karl Rove's absurd and offensive declaration this week that conservatives and liberals had different reactions to 9/11. Let's be clear: Americans of every political stripe were united in their outrage and grief, united in their determination to punish those who plotted the mass murder, and united behind the war in Afghanistan.

Bullsh*t. And Karl Rove knows it.

"I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States," said Lee. "However, difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint." - Berkeley's congresswoman, Barbara Lee - October 2001

"I'm not so sure that President Bush, members of his administration or the military have thought this action out completely or fully examined America's cause," said McDermott." - Washington State Congressman Jim McDermott - October 2001

"Nearly two-thirds of Americans favor use of U.S. ground troops to carry out President Bush's war on terrorism in Afghanistan, according to a poll released Friday by CNN/Time." - CNN Poll - September 28, 2001

That tells me that slightly more than a third of Americans polled were against military action, even when bodies were still being pulled from the rubble. Now read the Times quote above again.

More from MoveOn.Org who claimed that 700,000 signed this on-line petition in the days after 9/11.

We implore the powers that be to use, wherever possible, international judicial institutions and international human rights law to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, rather than the instruments of war, violence or destruction.

I was just thinking the other day - I belief that conservatives' primary emotions after 9/11 were fear and anger. What liberals felt were fear and shame.

What a pleasure to see Maureen Dowd's column replaced by Dining With Jeff by Patricia Nelson Limerick.

When I find myself puzzled and even vexed by the opinions and beliefs of other people, I invite them to have lunch. Multiple experiments have supported what we will call, in Jeff's honor, the Limerick Hypothesis: in the bitter contests of values and political rhetoric that characterize our times, 90 percent of the uproar is noise, and 10 percent is what the scientists call "signal," or solid, substantive information that will reward study and interpretation. If we could eliminate much of the noise, we might find that the actual, meaningful disagreements are on a scale we can manage....

But even if I dine alone, I'll still hold to the conviction that American citizens have the ability to explain themselves to one another, and to let friendship redeem the Republic.

Indeed.

Why I don't like Oprah

French Luxury Store Apologizes to Oprah

Hermes has to apologize to Oprah for not letting her and her entourage into a store after closing time, and Oprah's planning on accusing them of racism - "her Crash moment" - as described by her producer.

Hermes ties are the only ones I wear for business and I look forward to buying a few more in the near future. I keep looking for one in what I call "George Bush blue".

In addition:

Winfrey's Chicago-based Harpo Productions confirmed that the daytime diva canceled a recent order for one of Hermès' Birkin bags following the incident. The exclusive purses can cost as much as $6,500, and Winfrey reportedly already owns a dozen of them.

The poor littly piggy got turned away from the trough becuase feeding time was over. Too too bad. I'm white and considerably well off and I still feel uncomfortable walking into a Hermes store. They're French for chrissake. You're supposed to feel unwelcome.

Just for laughs - Tom Cruise Kills Oprah

For those of you who are still unsure why Israel really isn't a product of 20th century European colonialism, you must read this.

The short version:

Jews came to a land where they had a history and a population, they were not seeking to settle "unexplored" territory

Jews came not to acquire, but to escape genocide or second-class citizenship

Most Jews in Israel are descended from immigrants from the East not the West

Most colonial powers never agreed to various partition plans with the "native population"

The argument is not that Palestinians haven't suffered, just that to lump Zionism with traditional colonialism is way off the mark.

Haven't watched this in a long time. I still cry.

Other memories from the best SuperBowl halftime performance. Ever.

Kofi Annan writes a letter to those who mught be depressed by yesterday's USAToday poll which showed "satisfaction with the way things are going in the war on terrorism is at a new low: 52%, down from 75% in September 2002." You know they really mean "War in Iraq".

There's Progress in Iraq

Today I am traveling to Brussels to join representatives of more than 80 governments and institutions in sending a loud and clear message of support for the political transition in Iraq....

In a media-hungry age, visibility is often regarded as proof of success. But this does not necessarily hold true in Iraq. Even when, as with last week's agreement, the results of our efforts are easily seen by all, the efforts themselves must be undertaken quietly and away from the cameras.

If we need Kofi Annan to cheer us up on Iraq, President Bush is obviously not doing his job.

Wasn't there supposed to be a truce? These are excerpts from just one article in Ha'aretz, the liberal Israeli paper.

In response to the string of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis, the Palestinian Interior Ministry on Monday warned Islamic Jihad and figures in the Fatah movement against a further escalation in violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Two Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the past two days.

Islamic Jihad gunmen near the northern West Bank city of Tul Karm opened fire on a car carrying two Israeli civilians in an ambush early Monday, killing the driver, identified as Yevgeny Reider, 28, from Hermesh, and lightly wounding his 15-year-old passenger. The day before, an Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed by gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip.

Later on Monday, IDF soldiers arrested a female would-be suicide bomber at the entrance to the Erez crossing on the border with the northern Gaza Strip.

Khadr Adnan, an Islamic Jihad spokesman in the West Bank, said Monday the ambush attack didn't signal the end of the group's cease-fire with Israel. "We are still committed to calm," he said. (Ed. - ?!?)

In the morning ambush, the militants fired from the sides of a road near homes in the village of Baka al-Sharkiyeh, a few hundred meters from the Green Line border of the West Bank. The victims' car was driving from the nearby settlement of Hermesh.

Following the succession of attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis in the territories, the United States said on Monday that the PA must take immediate action against terrorist groups.

Several hours after the deadly West Bank shooting attack, IDF soldiers caught a female would-be suicide bomber at the entrance to the Erez border crossing on the edge of the Gaza Strip.

The would-be bomber, 21-year-old Wafa Samir Ibrahim, resident of the Jabalya refugee camp was dispatched by the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, a military offshoot of the Fatah movement, to carry out a suicide attack.

Ibrahim had been in the past to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva to receive medical treatment for severe burns she sustained from a gas balloon that exploded next to her six months ago. She needed to reach the hospital for medical tests.

The woman said she did not plan on carrying out the attack at the Soroka hospital but in another hospital, not specifying its name.

"There has been a very serious escalation in the number of incidents in the sector secured by the brigade, including mortar shelling, Qassam rockets and light arms fire. The [PA}, we can say, is not doing its part in preventing such incidents," Levy concluded.

Also on Monday afternoon, Border Police troops arrested a Palestinian youth who tried to stab yeshiva student in Jerusalem near their base in the city's Ma'alot Dafna neighborhood. The assailant's friend fled the scene with the knife and police were searching for him, Israel Radio reported.

Palestinian gunmen opened fire late Monday afternoon on an Israeli vehicle near the northern West Bank settlement of Paduel. There were no casualties in the attack, Israel Radio reported.

Police arrested Monday evening two Palestinian youths who threw firebombs at the Beit Orot yeshiva in Jerusalem's A-Tur neighborhood, the radio reported.

Militants hurled four more Molotov cocktails at an Israeli car driving northwest of Ramallah during the night, but no one was hurt in the incident, according to the report.

Also Monday night, Palestinian gunmen opened fire a number of times with light arms and mortar shells on IDF positions across the Gaza Strip. There were no casualties but one home was damaged by a mortar impact in northern Gaza.

If you really wanted to know whether our fight in Iraq was in any way comparable to the Vietnam War, who would you ask? A university professor? An interpid war reporter who spent a few months in each place? USA Today is the first publication I've seen that asks the only people who really know. And they put it on the front page.

Vietnam vets in Iraq see 'entirely different war'

If there are parallels between Iraq and Vietnam, these graying soldiers and the other Vietnam veterans serving here offer a unique perspective. They say they are more optimistic this time: They see a clearer mission than in Vietnam, a more supportive public back home and an Iraqi population that seems to be growing friendlier toward Americans....

Miles says the biggest difference he saw was that, over time, Iraqi civilians grew more positive toward U.S. forces. He says he saw more people smiling and waving near his base here than there were 10 months ago when he arrived.....

On this day, there are a couple of reminders of Vietnam. One of the Iraqi marshlands near the Tigris River looks a lot like the Mekong Delta, Weatherhead says. They watch as the other helicopter swoops slowly over a village to drop candy and toys for the kids, as they once did in Vietnam.

Just like the Nazis, right Senator Durbin?

My wife the vet always says that animals are actually better than people. Well, some animals are certainly better than some people - that's for sure.

Lions Rescue, Guard Beaten Ethiopian Girl

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

In NY again for business, staying across from Ground Zero. For some reason about 70 or so police cars, lights ablaze, have parked perpendicular to and up on the sidewalks across the street. Have no clue what's going on, but if I see anything, I'll let you know. Most of the copsare just standing around, so I don't know if this is a drill or if some VIP is coming for a late night visit. Even the President doesn't get 70 cars though...

All the cars just left, about ten at a time usually with a black car in the lead, lights flashing and sirens blaring going up Church Street. I have no idea what exactly they were doing. Maybe I never will.

To paraphrase- "Let them kill each other and let Allah sort it out"

Marines See Signs Iraq Rebels Are Battling Foreign Fighters

Marines patrolling this desert region near the Syrian border have for months been seeing a strange new trend in the already complex Iraqi insurgency. Insurgents, they say, have been fighting each other in towns along the Euphrates from Husayba, on the border, to Qaim, farther west. The observations offer a new clue in the hidden world of the insurgency and suggest that there may have been, as American commanders suggest, a split between Islamic militants and local rebels.

A United Nations official who served in Iraq last year and who consulted widely with militant groups said in a telephone interview that there has been a split for some time.

"There is a rift," said the official, who requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the talks he had held. "I'm certain that the nationalist Iraqi part of the insurgency is very much fed up with the Jihadists grabbing the headlines and carrying out the sort of violence that they don't want against innocent civilians."

The nationalist insurgent groups, "are giving a lot of signals implying that there should be a settlement with the Americans," while the Jihadists have a purely ideological agenda, he added.

So I guess we should be rooting for the insurgents now?

Bob Geldolf in the National Review Online via Time Magazine:

Live 8 (and Live Aid) organizer Bob Geldof in a Time magazine interview: "America doesn't have a lack of empathy; they just don't know the issues as well. Actually, today I had to defend the Bush Administration in France again. They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American President for Africa. But it's empirically so."