Here's an odd story for the post 9/11 world. I first saw this on an Argentine newspaper's site. Reading it in the New York Times, which I've linked to below - it just seems curious. When I think of an Argentine reading it - I'm embarrassed.

Sour Surprise for Officers Who Raided Container Ship

and in Spanish...Limones argentinos, "sospechados de terroristas" en EE.UU.

In what it called an "ongoing law enforcement operation," the United States Coast Guard stopped and boarded a huge container ship off the coast of New Jersey last Saturday. An anonymous but unusually detailed e-mail message had warned of a dangerous substance, with the hint of a link to terror. The Coast Guard scoured the ship. Tests were conducted. Days passed.

Yesterday, the results came back: lemons, up to a million of them. Not dangerous, as far as could be determined, but not suitable for lemonade, either.

The Coast Guard, in a press conference, said it had yet to find a hazard, biological or otherwise, associated with the Argentine lemons bound for Canada, but it planned to destroy them anyway

After seeing the following article on the brother-in-law's site, I wanted to at least try to debunk it in some small part. Because if I can't, I have to accept that Bush is evil.

They Knew...
Despite the whitewash, we now know that the Bush administration was warned before the war that its Iraq claims were weak.

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As the 9/11 Commission recently reported, there was “no credible evidence” of a collaborative relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.

This is incorrect and is a common fallacy reported by left-wing sites. The commission reported that there were no links between Iraq and the 9/11 attack specifically, not that there was no relationship whatsoever.

"Were there contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq? Yes," Thomas H. Kean (R), the panel's chairman, said at a news conference.

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"Similarly, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq."

Another misstatement - not enough weapons of mass destruction were found. No is a definite term meaning zero, none, not any...

An artillery shell used in a roadside bomb in Baghdad did contain the nerve agent sarin as originally thought, U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday.

Officials in Washington said another shell -- this one containing mustard gas -- has also been found in Iraq.

For me logic would have it that where there were two there should be more, not that where there aren't a thousand, there are none.

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In March 2003, Cheney went on national television days before the war and claimed Iraq “has reconstituted nuclear weapons.”

He absolutely did. And a few minutes later he said, "it’s only a matter of time until he acquires nuclear weapons."

If anything, this is confusing. I'm not sure what a "reconstituted nuclear weapon" is, but it would be more fair to say that Cheney gave a mixed, or confusing message.

If you believe that most Americans believe Iraq had nuclear weapons because of Bush administration statements, you have to assume they were selectively ignoring the parts where they said there was a only a threat that he would attain them. I'm pretty confident that compared to the handful of slip-ups by Cheney, Rice and Powell claiming that Saddam had WMDS, there is an avalanche of claims that he was simply a threat.

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I could spend hours at this. I'm not convinced that Bush didn't think that Saddam was a potential threat. And I think the world is safer without him. Thinking selfishly, my own world is a better place now that he is not in charge and the sacrifice of American lives in the war will be more easily defendable than our actions in Vietnam, the Philippines and a host of other places.

First they came for Rachel, but because I did not watch Friends , I said nothing. Then they came for Stan and Cartman...

An Editorial against political correctness from the Dallas Morning News.

Heard this joke?

Q: How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: That's not funny!

That wisecrack comes at the expense of a segment of society some have accused – let us step gingerly here – of being humor-challenged. Like all jokes, it's based on a stereotype, one easily disproved by spending five minutes listening to women like former Gov. Ann Richards. We can't say for sure, but we're betting that the good governor would be just as annoyed at Amaani Lyle as we are.

Ms. Lyle is a former scriptwriters' assistant for the sitcom Friends . Her job involved sitting in on writers' story meetings and taking notes of their conversations. When they canned Ms. Lyle because she couldn't type fast enough, she ended up suing her former employers for – wait for it – sexual harassment.

It seems that writers for a television comedy about sexually active characters exchanged lewd banter in the creative process. Imagine that.

Ms. Lyle claims to have found this unbearable – and a state appeals court, in reinstating her dismissed lawsuit, agreed with her. "A woman may be the victim of sexual harassment if she is forced to work in an atmosphere of hostility or degradation of her gender," the appeals court ruled, saying that she has a case if her "emotional tranquility in the workplace" is disturbed.

The court said that the Friends writers have to prove they had no alternative to these "sexual brainstorming sessions" in order to do their job. In the appeals court's view, the words that upended the "emotional tranquility" of a woman who chose to work on a sexually oriented sitcom are no different from actions.

This is a joke, but it's not funny. All civil libertarians – heck, everybody who likes comedy – should hope the California Supreme Court tosses this lawsuit on the politically correct trash heap. A victory for Ms. Lyle would have an incalculable chilling effect on creativity, particularly on comedy writing, which thrives in an atmosphere where there are no taboos. Do we really want to live in a world in which provoking laughter could put you on the wrong side of the law?

Fair is fair - Muslims don't always have it easy in France either.

France: Muslim graves vandalized

The attack was the latest in a months-long barrage of anti-Muslim graffiti around France. Several cemeteries containing Muslim graves were vandalized in a similar manner in June.

Too bad some take out their rage aginst the Jews.

John Kerry, Captain America. The man who wouldn't have just sat reading to children after the Twin Towers were attacked. What did a man as smart and as brave - as heroic - as John "I'm reporting for duty" Kerry, do on 9/11?

KERRY: I was in the Capitol. We'd just had a meeting -- we'd just come into a leadership meeting in Tom Daschle's office, looking out at the Capitol. And as I came in, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon. And then word came from the White House, they were evacuating, and we were to evacuate, and so we immediately began the evacuation.

By the way that's about 40 minutes of doing nothing.

- Larry King interview with John and Teresa Heinz-Kerry - July 8, 2004

The Electoral Vote Counter is starting to show a swing towards Bush despite the hoopla surrounding the Democratic Convention. The last time I checked, the count was more like 320-220 in Kerry's favor. Now a switch of just 11 votes to Bush's side creates a tie.

Also to note, in the "barely Bush states" there are none that Gore won in 2000 and only Florida was really close. In the "barely Kerry states" there are actually a few that Bush won in 2000 and some that he only lost by a fraction of a percent. I think that gives Bush much more of a cushion with the standard(?) convention bounce to come in September.

Nope, no terrorists in Iraq, keep on moving...nothing to see here...

Iraq Evidence Led Feds to Albany Mosque

Information found in Iraq led federal investigators to become suspicious of an Albany, N.Y., mosque leader, FOX News has learned.

Last summer, U.S. troops discovered Yassin Muhhiddin Aref's (search) name, telephone number and address in a book left behind in a vacated terrorist training camp, a U.S. official told FOX News. The book also revealed that Ansar al-Islam, the group running the camp, had given Aref a title: "the commander."

And I'm not saying they had anything to do with 9/11. If the War on Iraq helps keep these guys off balance, that makes it worth it to me. We would have been ignorant to focus on Al-Qaeda only when others are willing to step up to the plate when our backs are turned.

Thanks to Zarq for keeping us up to date on the latest in New Zealand.

NZ reeling after vandals smash Jewish cemetery



New Zealand Jews have been left in shock after vandals torched a Jewish chapel and smashed more than 90 graves in Wellington yesterday, in the second anti-Semitic attack in the capital in less than a month....

Ninety-two gravestones had been knocked over. A small chapel, used for prayers during funeral services, was reduced to a smouldering shell.

A swastika etched crudely on the chapel wall greeted those who went to see the damage.

A second swastika was found gouged into the grass between two rows of headstones.

How ignorant are the Iraqis who are following this al-Sadr guy to their deaths? It's rare that we get to use this word and actually mean it, but these people are being slaughtered. All praise be to Allah!

U.S.: 300 Militants Killed in Two Days

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Coalition forces battled militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in several Iraqi cities Friday, saying they killed about 300 militants in Najaf over two days of fighting. Battles in other Shiite areas of the country have killed dozens more, according to Iraqi authorities.

The death toll among the anti-coalition fighters was among the largest in a single continuing engagement since the end of the war to oust Saddam Hussein last year.

Hmmm, the AP is using the terms "end of the war" which happened "last year". Would that have been around "Mission Accomplished" time?

I guess that whether a journalist is pro-Kerry or pro-Bush is kind of a moot point if they are being PAID by one of the candidates. From Drudge:

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX FRI AUG 06, 2004 14:05:38 ET XXXXX

BOSTON GLOBE 'REPORTER' PAID TO WRITE OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN BOOK FOREWORD -- WHILE COVERING KERRY

BOSTON GLOBE journalist Mike Kranish has been commissioned to write the foreword of the official Kerry-Edwards campaign book -- just as he is covering the campaign in an official capacity as a journalist for the BOSTON GLOBE!

Kranish made waves on Friday by reporting in the GLOBE how a key figure in the anti-Kerry vet ad campaign, Kerry's former commanding officer, "backed off one of the key contentions."

But Captain George Elliott claims the Kranish article is "extremely inaccurate" and highly misstated his actual views.

“Christ almighty, what is it with you people?" Yup.

You blamed us for something we failed to prevent after eight months in office, and yet to this day you give the Clinton admin a free pass, even though he had eight years—eight fucking years, people—to do something about al Qaeda and didn’t do one goddamned thing....

“You piss and moan about everything we’ve done to deal with the threat—and when you’re not complaining about how little we’re doing about it, you’re complaining that we’re either doing too much, doing the wrong things, or even worse, you try to claim that there isn’t a threat in the first place....

“You still insist that a Democrat, any Democrat, would do a better job of defending the country than we have, but in the meantime there have been no—repeat, no, zip, zero, nada—successful attacks on US soil since 9/11...

We free 50 million—that’s 50 with six zeros behind it for you economics-beat reporters—oppressed Muslims and you guys don’t notice anything but a handful of prisoners with panties on their heads...

Hell, you won’t even show footage of 9/11 anymore because Americans might actually remember it and wonder who the hell’s side you’re on in the first place. Shit, you people don’t even have the stones to show videos of Islamist whackjob imams calling for our destruction at wholesale rates in mosques all over the world. But if Falwell offered Muslims the choice between conversion or violent death you’d be all over it with both feet—and you’d blame Bush for the fact that Falwell was nuts....

You talk about how vital it is to have France’s support in the WoT when France said in no uncertain terms that they would never, ever support enforcing the UN’s own resolutions against Saddam. You talk about our “unilateralism” when we went to Iraq with the support of nearly 40 countries, and you lament the “rush to war” when we spent more than a year at the UN begging for them to make themselves useful for once....

“You bitch about how awful corporate corruption is, and can’t be bothered with reporting on a UN oil-for-bribes scandal that makes the gang at Enron look like a bunch of half-assed pikers, like kids toilet-papering a suburban lawn on Halloween. You talk about how the Bush admin calls its opponents “unAmerican”—not bothering at all with the fact that we’ve never actually done it—but when your choice for future first lady does precisely that, you get pissed off because an actual journalist has the audacity to ask her for a clarification....

“No more questions. Shove it.”

Yup again. I know not every Kerry supporter toes the party line across the board, but this is what we see from the people providing the most vocal support to Kerry - MoveOn.org, Michael Moore and yes...Bruce Springsteen.

Kerry knocks president's 9/11 behavior

On another topic, Kerry said he would have reacted much more quickly than President Bush did on Sept. 11, 2001, when he learned of terrorist attacks.

The president spent seven minutes reading to Florida elementary school children after learning that hijacked planes had been flown into the World Trade Center in New York.

“Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whisper in my ear that America is under attack, I would have told those kids very nicely and politely that the president of the United States has something that he needs to attend to,” Kerry said.

And in those seven minutes, Kerry would have altered the course of human history. What a non-issue.

This "doesn't make it so" thing is really starting to get annoying too. Maybe that's a positive for Kerry supporters if it annoys me so much. It's just a fancy way of saying "Bush lied".

“Just saying that you’ve turned a corner doesn’t make it so. Just like saying there are weapons of mass destruction (in Iraq) doesn’t make it so. Just like saying you can fight a war on the cheap doesn’t make it so. Just like saying ’mission accomplished’ doesn’t make it so,” Kerry said.

Two more "mosque leaders/founders" arrested in Albany, NY. Maybe they were planning to buy a missile for peaceful purposes.

Albany Mosque Raid Reportedly Uncovers Missile Plot

Two leaders of a mosque in Albany, N.Y., were arrested on charges stemming from an alleged plot to help a man they thought was a terrorist purchase a shoulder-fired missile, federal authorities said Thursday.

The men have ties to a group called Ansar al-Islam, which has been linked to the al-Qaida terror network, according to two federal law enforcement authorities speaking on condition of anonymity.

If you go to the mosque's website, please be sure to leave a message for the imam, who "holds many classes for the dissemination of Islamic Sacred Knowledge throughout the week". Oh, and by the way..."sisters are kindly requested to enter using the...rear entrance."

I know I've seen this before, but I need to keep it here so that I always have it handy.

The Perfect Shirt Folding Technique

Woman Fired For Eating 'Unclean' Meat

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Central Florida woman was fired from her job after eating "unclean" meat and violating a reported company policy that pork and pork products are not permissible on company premises, according to Local 6 News.

Lina Morales was hired as an administrative assistant at Rising Star -- a Central Florida telecommunications company with strong Muslim ties, Local 6 News reported.

However, 10 months after being hired by Rising Star, religious differences led to her termination.

I don't always side with members of the Muslim community on religious issues, but I have to say that although it sounds like this non-Muslim woman was fired on religious grounds, the real issue seems to be that the company's rules were not posted, so there was no way for her to know.

My gut feeling is that there's nothing wrong with the owners of a private company asking that their religious laws be respected as long as the employee knows what they are. Can you imagine B&H photo in Manhattan, managed and staffed almost exclusively by Hasidic Jews, being forced to hire Evangelical Christians who insist on proselytizing?

Today is a sad day indeed for Mets fans everywhere.

Voice of the Mets passes away

NEW YORK -- The Voice of Summer in New York, calm and confident, steady and reliable for so many years was lost on Tuesday afternoon when it was learned that Mets longtime broadcaster Bob Murphy had passed away in Florida after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 79.

Murphy had a style and ease behind the microphone that made baseball on the radio enjoyable for generations of fans. He sat in the broadcast booth for a half century, beginning his career in 1954, describing the exploits of Ted Williams to the Red Sox Nation, and ended it after last season, having spent more than four decades calling games for the Mets, providing all those happy recaps for fans as they drove home from the park.

He was as much a part of Mets baseball as any of the players who have worn the blue and orange since 1962. Murphy was a friend on air, calling games in a simple yet classic manner that earned him a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown in 1994 as the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting contributions to the game.

The link above brings you to a page which also has an audio file of his last call wrapping up a game in his usual upbeat style. He always left you wanting more, win or lose.

We have it in our power to change the world again. But only if we're true to our ideals and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. That is my first pledge to you tonight. As President, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House. - John Kerry, Speech to the Democratic National Convention

Kerry's Dubious Economics
He says new jobs are paying $9,000 less than the old ones. That's not a fact. - Factcheck.org

"That's not a fact"...sounds like..."it's a lie".

I don't claim that Bush never lied, but Kerry's using Bush's own words from the 2000 campaign. The next thing you now he'll be saying he's a "uniter, not a divider".

This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, group from group, region from region. Maybe some just see us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one America red, white, and blue. - John Kerry, Speech to the Democratic National Convention

Very good point-counterpoint series of opinion pieces in the Dallas News this morning. The first is by the only consistently conservative, pro-Israel/war on terror editor on their board, Rod Dreher.

Religion's role is central to this conflict

We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated by American Muslim leaders quick to play the bigot card nor gulled by those who present Islam as if its highest goal is to buy the world a Coke and keep it company....

Islam is the issue, not because we want it to be, but because the enemy explicitly says so and is winning more followers by the day by appealing to the religious sense of the world's Muslims. Meanwhile, warns the CIA's Mr. Scheuer, "U.S. leaders prepare for and fight the war they want to see, not the one standing on the battlefield...."

The second piece is by Arsalan T. Iftikhar, who is legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations

Constant use of 'Islamist' overlooks real threats

With the anticipation of a New York Times best seller, the 9-11 Commission report did not disappoint an eager audience...

Nonetheless, by associating the ill-defined "Islamist" modifier to define "terrorism," the commission has overlooked numerous precedents that show an entirely different historical record.

He then goes on to mention the Oklahoma City bombing and a couple of other examples of Christian militia-types who want to kill people.

Iftikhar uses the same charade that radical Muslims use in defending suicide bombers - look at what Baruch Goldstein did in Hebron when he massacred all those Palestinians!

As horrible as Oklahoma City was (which happened almost 10 years ago), to take the acts of isolated individuals who have zero effect on mainstream thought and no support of any government, and compare it with the worldwide efforts to kill as many infidels as possible which is supported by various states, well-respected imams and armed militants and costs untold millions of dollars is outrageous.

OK - I admit I stole this from Instapundit, who linked it from the Washington Post, but it's too good not to post.

On domestic issues, Kerry gave a "rock hard" pledge not to raise middle-class taxes if he becomes president, though he said a national emergency or war could change that.

Reminded that the country is at war already, Kerry said, "We're going to reduce the burden in this war, and if we do what we need to do for our economy, we're going to grow the tax base of our country."

Time for Kerry to go to "Plan B".

"So here is our economic plan to build a stronger America:

First, new incentives to revitalize manufacturing."

Looks like Bush beat him to it.

US factories enter longest stretch of rapid growth in 30 years