This is really bizarre -- until we realize the level of Jew-hatred that exists through-out the anti-Semitic Muslim world.

ABU DHABI — Close on the heels of the cartoon controversy raging across the Muslim world, it is the turn of an upscale American school in Abu Dhabi to ruffle Muslim sentiments by teaching lessons that allegedly ''smell of racism.''

Over 100 copies of the social studies text book, 'World Cultures' taught to the sixth grade children were confiscated by the Ministry of Education yesterday, for allegedly presenting Islam and the Muslim countries including Gulf states in a negative light while glorifying Israel on the other hand, Khaleej Times has learnt.

And what shocking propaganda appears in this hate-filled book?

It has been accused that chapter 25 of the book running from page 599 to 614 contains a deluge of derogatory remarks against Islam and the Muslim world, for example, dubbing Middle East as one of the most dangerously explosive areas in the world and the Muslim conquest of India as the most bloodiest in the world history, to mention a few.

The sub chapters clubbed under the title 'North Africa and the Middle East' also elaborate on the religion and life-style of Israel with pictures. "Israel is one of a few democracies in North Africa and the Middle East today. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco are all kingdoms; the country of Syria has sponsored terrorism by giving aid to radicals in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, known as the PLO," read excerpts from page 610 of the book, copies of which Khaleej Times possess.

I don't see a single falsehood in the "objectionable" chapter -- though the comment about Syria is a bit heavy-handed (though 100% accurate).

The comments on the nature of education are enough to send a chill down the spine of this social studies teacher.

OPEN TRACKBACKS: Adam's Blog, Outside The Beltway, Conservative Cat, Stuck On Stupid, TMH's Bacon Bits

We don’t always get much of an insight into the lives of those whose writngs we read every day.

This Leonard Pitts column is an exception – and shows just how important family is to the man. You see, his 10-year-old grandson, Eric, was hit by an SUV last week.

And a miracle happened.

So Tuesday afternoon, the phone rings. I pick it up and hear my daughter's voice. Her tone seems normal and I breathe easy. I figure she's going to hit me up for money, tell me we're out of milk. Then I hear her say, "Eric got hit by a car."

And suddenly, I am hurtling. Out of the office. To the parking lot. Down the highway. Eric is my grandson. He is 10.

I hate Eric.

This occurs to me as I am driving. I hate Eric and all my children and my wife and everyone else I love for how much I love them and for how love inevitably brings pain. They get hurt, they get sick, but it might as well be me for all the fear that stabs my heart. To love somebody is to make yourself hostage to the fortunes of others. It is to give a hundred people veto power over your happiness. Sometimes I think the smartest way to live is without affiliation — no family, no friends, no children, no spouse, no pet, no nobody who can hurt you.

You might say it's a pathetic man who goes through life neither loving nor loved. Most days I would agree. But there are days it doesn't sound like a bad deal. Days like this.

So here's what happened: Eric was trying to cross the street. Going to a friend's house to play video games. He looked both ways — twice, just like we taught him. When he was halfway across, he saw a car, an SUV, coming around the bend. Instead of continuing safely across, he tried to make it back to the curb.

The car hit him. He smacked the hood hard enough to leave a dent. A shoe flew one way, a video game another. My wife saw it happen. She ran to him. He was writhing in the street, crying. He kept saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

I am sitting beside his gurney in the emergency room as these words are written. The doctor has been in. His diagnosis: two lumps on the head and two skinned knees.

Let's repeat that to make sure you got it. The boy gets hit. By an SUV. He bounces off the hood. And he winds up with lumps and skinned knees. I am reminded of the refrain from a gospel song I've always loved. It says, "There must be a G-d somewhere."

There must be. And obviously, He was in a forgiving mood this day.

Eric is more voluble than usual. He says Spider-Man would have dodged the car. He says that like Wolverine, his "healing factor" kept him from serious injury. He says he is glad to be alive.

I keep thinking how all the uncertainty of life can be summed up in the ringing of a telephone. But it comes with the territory, doesn't it? Uncertainty, I mean. You just never know. Life is a dance on the highwire above mortality. It unfolds in the shadow of tragedies past and tragedies yet to come. There's nothing you can do about it except use the time in between to laugh, sing, hug, read comic books with your grandkid as often as you can.

And try to forget that you are a wisp in a wind. I hate that, too, but what are you going to do?

Eric is still chattering away, all nervous energy. He complains that I forgot to pay his allowance. He wants to go to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. And he says, he keeps saying, that he is glad to be alive.

I know just how he feels.

Thank you for sharing, sir. And my God keep you and you family safe and sound – especially this incredible young man whose incredible good fortune you shared with us.

The blogosphere is ablaze with talk of a coup threat by raving leftists.

Storm the White House

Multi-Day Event, Beginning March 15, come when you can and stay as long as you can - we are taking over the White House until they leave. Torture, Occupation, Genocide - Must End Now.

Wednesday, March 15th 2006 12:00 AM

Washington, DC USA

TAKE THE WHITE HOUSE BY STORM - Stop Genocide, Torture and Occupation
U.N. SOS - We need your help to end the reign of international criminals.
It is our duty and the duty of the United Nations to rescue the people of the world from the U.S. dictators. Murder for occupation and theft of land is illegal. Murder of journalists is criminal. Remove the traitors who have stolen the U.S. budget and used it to commit international crimes against humanity.

If we were being bombed and our journalists were being murdered here in the U.S. by a foreign country's military, we would hope that the people of that country would stop what they are doing and go to their president's office and demand that it was stopped. If we were the ones burying thousands and thousands of our family members and watching the destruction of the homes, schools, churches and offices that we had worked for decades to build, we would hope that someone, somewhere would care enough to do something for us. We must stop the criminals in our government NOW. There is no meeting with Congress that is going to change what they are doing. We must put the power of the people into action and stay there until they leave!

Inviting everyone to the White House for a protest rally to show that we do not accept the criminal government, illegal wars and the permanent occupation planned for Iraq and Afghanistan. For Nat Turner, For Martin and Coretta, For all the Torture and Assassination in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and many others - We will not allow the Slave Holders that Still Prevail in this Country to Rule us any longer. Imprisonment and torture based on race, religion, resources or region is no different than the slavery we sought to abolish years ago. The Administration is Criminal and if they will not step down, we must storm in, show them how many of us do not accept a criminal government. How can we stand by and watch them kill our brothers, sisters, journalists and friends for their dollars?

...Location:
White House, Washington DC Starting March 15th, come for as long as you can and bring signs that say U.N. SOS and "Leave Now" or whatever you would like to say. Ride Share and Room Share Plans can be made here: http://www.citysites.com/travel/tiki-view_tracker.php?trackerId=3
1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC 20500

Contact:
Darrow Boggiano
admin@politicalcooperative.org
415.409.2611

Sponsored By:
We are requesting participation from all members of the United Nations, PFAW, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Code Pink, police, soldiers, ACLU, CIA, NSA and International Courts of Justice/World Court. http://www.PoliticalCooperative.Org

I decided to look at the “Political Cooperative” website that Mr. Boggiano is associated with, and found more of the same – equally incoherent – over there.

Including this gem.

Dear Senator Boxer, I would like to schedule a visit to the White House for approximately one million citizens on March 17th, 2006 at 12 noon. Please confirm. You can view details on our group at http://www.PoliticalCooperative.Org Sincerely, Darrow Boggiano Founder/Organizer CitySites.com PoliticalCooperative.Org

Gotta admire the guy for dreaming big – a million people showing up to overthrow the government.

In true Texas Hold’em fashion, let’s call and raise Mr. Boggiano. Can we get 1,000,000 Americans to exercise their First and Second Amendment rights as a counter-protest against this mutt’s threatened coup?

More at Michelle Malkin, Jawa Report, Captain's Quarters, Pirate's Cove, Right Wing Nut House, All Things Beautiful, Junk Yard Blog, Political Pit Bull, Super Fun Power Hour, Strata-Sphere, North Canton Airline and Storm Door Company, Theodore's World, The Anchoress, Dread Pundit Bluto, Bodie Specter, Junkyard Blog

More dead terrorist scum.

Security forces in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh have killed five suspected militants believed to be linked to an attack on an oil plant.

Security sources say a siege took place at a villa in a Riyadh suburb in which shots were fired and grenades thrown.

The Saudi interior ministry said one other suspect had been arrested elsewhere in the capital.

An Islamic website has claimed al-Qaeda was behind the foiled attack on Friday on an oil processing plant in Abqaiq.

Interior ministry spokesman Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki said two simultaneous raids had taken place on Monday morning, leading to the deaths of five suspects in a shoot-out and the arrest of a sixth.

That sure brightens up my day.

If you want proof that even so-called "moderate" and "educated" Muslims haven't internalized the concept of freedom of speech, one need look no further than this column by Dr Abdelwahab El-Affendi, a Senior Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Islam and Democracy Programme at the Centre for the Study for Democracy, University of Westminster. The column, appearing on al-Jazeera's website, starts off with a rather jarring analogy.

When the controversial Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie was awarded the European Union Literary Award in 1996, of all places, Denmark Muslims were immensely infuriated by this added insult.

The very idea of giving Rushdie a literary prize after his book Satanic Verses was like offering Hitler the Nobel Peace Prize after Auschwitz. And the very inability of Western intellectuals and leaders to understand this simple fact lies at the heart of the threatened "clash of civilisations".

Writing and publishing a book that offends Muslims, then, must be the equivalent of the industrialized mass slaughter of millions. Failure to "properly" defer to Islam is the eqivalent of the gas chambers and crematoria of the twentieth century's worst attempt at genocide.

Is this guy serious?

And given that he presumably is serious, does that starting-point allow us to take anything else he has to say seriously? And if this represents the view of moderate, educated, Westernized Islam, is that form of the faith ultimately any more compatible with Western civilization than the fundamentalist Islamofascism of Osama bin Laden?

Hat Tip -- Jawa Report, Dread Pundit Bluto, Vince Aut Morire

Another one of those fascinating articles that excites this history geek teacher.

Archaeologists discovered a pharaonic sun temple with large statues believed to be of King Ramses II under an outdoor marketplace in Cairo, Egypt's antiquities chief said Sunday.

The partially uncovered site is the largest sun temple ever found in the capital's Aim Shams and Matariya districts, where the ancient city of Heliopolis _ the center of pharaonic sun worship _ was located, Zahi Hawass told The Associated Press.

Among the artifacts was a pink granite statue weighing 4 to 5 tons whose features "resemble those of Ramses II," said Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Also found was a 5-foot-high statue of a seated figure with hieroglyphics that include three cartouches with the name of Ramses II, and a 3-ton head of royal statue, the council said in a statement.

The green pavement stones of the temple's floor were also uncovered.

An Egyptian team working in cooperation with the German Archaeological Mission in Egypt discovered the site under the Souq al-Khamis, a popular market in eastern Cairo, Hawass said.

"The market has to be removed" as archeologists excavate the entire site, Hawass said. "Other significant discoveries might be waiting to be excavated now, and compensation will be paid to the shop owners."

"We are planning to make the whole area as a tourists and archaeological site, maybe after two years," he said.

King Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for 66 years from 1270 to 1213 B.C., had erected monuments up and down the Nile with records of his achievements, as well as building temples _ including Abu Simbel, erected near what is now Egypt's southern border.

Numerous temples to Egypt's sun gods _ particularly the chief god Ra _ were built in ancient Heliopolis. But little remains of what was once the ancient Egyptians' most sacred cities, since much of the stone used in the temples was later plundered.

The area is now covered with residential neighborhoods, close to a modern district called Heliopolis, in Egypt's packed capital.

Remember -- history is all around you, lying beneath your feet in the ground you walk upon. Some places, though, just have a lot more of it, and it is much more interesting.

UPDATE -- Two students from the school offer extensive comments about the class.

Does a course that explicitly advocates for a particular point of view on issues belong in a high school ?

My initial reaction is negative, but I wonder if allowing such a course as an elective is a bad thing.

For months, 17-year-old Andrew Saraf had been troubled by stories he was hearing about a Peace Studies course offered at his Bethesda high school. He wasn't enrolled in the class but had several friends and classmates who were.

Last Saturday, he decided to act. He sat down at his computer and typed out his thoughts on why the course -- offered for almost two decades as an elective to seniors at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School -- should be banned from the school.

"I know I'm not the first to bring this up but why has there been no concerted effort to remove Peace Studies from among the B-CC courses?" he wrote in his post to the school's group e-mail list. "The 'class' is headed by an individual with a political agenda, who wants to teach students the 'right' way of thinking by giving them facts that are skewed in one direction."

He hit send.

Within a few hours, the normally staid e-mail list BCCnet -- a site for announcements, job postings and other housekeeping details in the life of a school -- was ablaze with chatter. By the time Principal Sean Bulson checked his BlackBerry on Sunday evening, there were more than 150 postings from parents and students -- some ardently in support, some ardently against the course.

Sounds interesting -- but what of the charges the kid makes about the class?

Since its launch at the school in 1988, Peace Studies has provoked lively debate, but the attempt to have the course removed from the curriculum is a first, Bulson said. The challenge by two students comes as universities and even some high schools across the country are under close scrutiny by a growing number of critics who believe that the U.S. education system is being hijacked by liberal activists.

At Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Peace Studies is taught by Colman McCarthy, a former Washington Post reporter and founder and president of the Center for Teaching Peace. Though the course is taught at seven other Montgomery County high schools, some say B-CC's is perhaps the most personal and ideological of the offerings because McCarthy makes no effort to disguise his opposition to war, violence and animal testing.

So the course is, to use a phrase, biased and unbalanced, sort of like McCarthy himself during his days in journalism. I don't necessarily have a problem with a teacher being open about points of view and beliefs, but doing so brings with it a responsibility to present the other side as well. And that is what concerns me about this class. It sounds like advocacy.

What sort of things go on in the class?

The course is also offered at Montgomery Blair, James Hubert Blake, Albert Einstein, Walter Johnson, Northwest, Northwood and Rockville high schools, but the Peace Studies course at Bethesda-Chevy Chase is unique for a number of reasons. Although a staff teacher takes roll and issues grades, it is McCarthy as a volunteer, unpaid guest lecturer who does the bulk of the teaching. He does not work from lesson plans, although he does use a school system-approved textbook -- a collection of essays on peace that he edited.

For McCarthy, it seems Peace Studies is not just a cause; it is a crusade.

"Unless we teach them peace, someone else will teach them violence," he said.

Students might spend one class period listening to a guest speaker who opposes the death penalty and another, if they choose, standing along East West Highway protesting the war.

But that, students said, is part of the course's appeal.

"We're all mature enough to take it all in with a hint of skepticism," said Megan Andrews, 17. "We respect Mr. McCarthy's views, but we don't absorb them like sponges."

When they walk through the door of their fourth-floor classroom, students said, they never know what they might find. Once McCarthy brought in a live turkey to illustrate a point about animal rights. Everything went well until the turkey escaped and urinated in the hallway.

And Friday, when students opened the door, they saw Mahatma Gandhi -- or, rather, Bernard Meyer, a peace activist from Olympia, Wash., dressed as Gandhi. Meyer spent most of the class time taking questions from students about "life" as Gandhi. McCarthy, too, jumped in, quizzing Gandhi about his views on arranged marriage. At the end of the period, he jumped from his chair.

"Let's take a photo of us with Gandhi," he said, gathering the students.

I'll be honest -- i'd like to do some of this stuff in my classroom. In particular, I'd love to do the Gandhi thing with my kids, because I think it might really spark some of them to do some thinking and to reconsider the gang influence in their lives. I also think that such activities spark good learning due to their hands-on nature.

But taking the kids out for a protest or a rally? That disturbs me. Would I be permitted to take kids out of school to hold up pro-life signs? What about taking kids to stand across the street with signs supporting the war?

And does McCarthy present opposing views on capital punishment or the war? It does not sound like he does. Is such an approach intellectually honest, especially with high school kids?

I'm also curious -- does this school have an ROTC program? Does it allow military recruiters through the front door? Or is the ideology of the Peace Studies class a reflection of a wider anti-military sentiment, even though there is a large military presence in Bethesda?

Without such answers, I'm conflicted on the issue of keeping the class, although I am sceptical of it

I'm curious -- what do others think about this?

Other Voices: Michelle Malkin, Thunder Run, Dread Pundit Bluto, Pillage Idiot, Cranky Professor, Elephants in Academia, Hello, MoCo

OPEN TRACKBACKING -- Conservative Cat, Don Surber, Outside The Beltway, Blue Star Chronicles, Adam's Blog

Let's be honest -- Justice Antonin Scalia is never boring and never one to hold back on his opinion.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia fondly remembers carrying a rifle around New York City as a boy and says outdoorsmen should attack the idea that guns are only used for crimes.

An avid outdoorsmen who's hunted with Vice President Dick Cheney, Scalia spoke Saturday at the National Wild Turkey Federation's annual convention.

"The attitude of people associating guns with nothing but crime, that is what has to be changed," Scalia told the audience of about 2,000.

"I grew up at a time when people were not afraid of people with firearms," said Scalia, noting that as a youth in New York City he was part of a rifle team at the military school he attended.

"I used to travel on the subway from Queens to Manhattan with a rifle," he said. "Could you imagine doing that today in New York City?"

Scalia was criticized in 2004 for hunting ducks with Cheney while the Supreme Court was considering a case involving Cheney's energy task force. This month, a lawyer hunting with Cheney in Texas was wounded when he stepped in the way as Cheney fired at a bird.

The nonprofit turkey federation is dedicated to conserving wild turkeys and preserving hunting traditions.

Shoot one for me, Nino!

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are The "Happy Warrior" Is Weeping In His Grave by Right Wing Nut House, and How Does the Modern World Look When You Have Done Nothing To Help Create It, and Innovation Is a Threat To Cherished Beliefs? by Dinocrat.  And, of course, here are the full results of the vote.

The agreement to give an additional 45 day review to Dubai Ports World's acquisition of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.'s U.S. terminal operations is a good one. One final look at the deal, with special scrutiny of the national security implications, should be sufficient to either scuttle the deal or quell the fears of all but the most close-minded opponents.

An Arab maritime company at the center of a political imbroglio over port security asked the Bush administration Sunday to conduct a 45-day review of the national security implications of its plans to take control of significant operations at six U.S. ports.

The announcement by Dubai Ports World, brokered by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), appears to satisfy the demands of many members of Congress, who had threatened to force a security review if the administration would not conduct one. The administration had approved DP World's $6.85 billion purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., or P&O, earlier this month without conducting a national security review, after a broad, interagency panel that looked at the transaction concluded the takeover of port operations in the United States would not impact the nation's safety.

* * *

"We recognize that there are concerns regarding DP World's acquisition of P&O's U.S. terminal operations. Despite having already obtained approval by the federal government, we continue to take voluntary steps to assure people that the security of the U.S. will not be harmed as a result of this acquisition," said Ted Bilkey, DP World's chief operating officer.

Personally, I am persuaded that the deal is in the best interests of the United States, and that the security concerns voiced by opponents are not grounded in reality. The claimed degradation of national security does not make sense, given that the day-to-day operations will remain in the hands of the same folks who currently work for P&O and the security responsibilities will remain with the US government.

The deal will allow the purchase to proceed, but will keep the US operations independent.

Under the terms of the deal announced by DP World, the company would proceed with its acquisition. That deal is to be completed Thursday.

But DP World said it would "guarantee" the independence of operations at the ports of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami and New Orleans by establishing North American operations as a "completely separate" business unit. Management of the North American operations would be left in the hands of P&O's chief executive officer in London, who is British. The chief security officer of the North American unit will remain a U.S. citizen, unless the Coast Guard approves a change.

The rest of the current management of P&O in the United States would also remain in place, and DP World pledged not to interfere with operations, policies, procedures or security that were in place when P&O ran the U.S. terminals.

The statement concluded that all these pledges would remain in place until May 1 or the completion of the CFIUS review.

"We are confident the further review by CFIUS will confirm that DP World's acquisition of P&O's U.S. operations does not pose any threat to American's safety and security. We hope that voluntarily agreeing to further scrutiny demonstrates our commitment to our long-standing relationship with the United States," Bilkey said.

Perhaps some similar management structure can remain in place following the review. After all, I suspect there are more negotiations to come.

MORE AT Blogs for Bush, Middle Earth Journal, The Moderate Voice, Big Lizards, Strata-Sphere

The Leader, out of Corning, NY, attempts to explain why the violence has taken place over the Danish cartoons. In running this article, the paper (unintentionally) demonstrates that many Muslims just don't get it -- and that their world-view is antithetical to that of those who live in a free society.

What if a Muslim made a satirical comment about the Holocaust?

Uh, anti-Semitism is rampant in the Muslim world, and anti-Semitic material runs in the state-run media of most Arab countries. I've yet to see Jews rioting in the streets.

Or made a joke at the expense of Jesus Christ?

I'm not sure about jokes, but Islam itself is one giant blasphemy against Jesus Christ, labeling him as a prophet inferior to Mohammad (pubh*) rather than the Son of God. I'm offended, but have never reacted violently, and i am unaware of anyone who has.

There's a chance a Jew or a Christian would be deeply offended. That, according to Najeeb Rehman, is exactly how Muslims across the globe felt when caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a Danish newspaper last September and then reappeared in other Western media, mostly in Europe.

Fine. You are offended. So what? Get over it, just like the Christians and Jews do in the examples above. Don't act like uncivilized sub-humans.

“I believe in freedom of expression, but that right has limits,” said Rehman, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of the Finger Lakes in Big Flats. “That right ends where someone else's right begins.”

And what is the putative right that you and your fellow Islamocensors claim here? After all, there is nothing in the cartoons that limits your freedom of speech or your free exercise of religion. Do you really believe there is a right not to be offended, or a right to force others to conform to the dictates of your religion?

Muslims have decried the images - one of which shows a prophet with a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse - as blasphemous because Islam prohibits images of Muhammad and other prophets.

The images have sparked worldwide protests, some of which have been deadly, throughout the Muslim world. While there have been few demonstrations in the United States, it doesn't mean Muslims here feel any different about the cartoons.

“It may be free expression, but you can't go into a crowd and scream ‘fire,'” said Yama Osmanzai of Horseheads. “You have to have judgment.”

Fine, you believe the images to be blasphemous. So what of it? Like I said, I consider portions of the Koran to be blasphemous -- indeed, I see the entire faith as a melange of the heretical forms of Christianity that were still extant on the fringes of the Christian world in the 6th century. Does that mean that that I have a right to have to have Islam suppressed on the basis of my offense at its false and blasphemous teachings?

And Yama, before you take the "fire in a crowded theater" analogy too far, please understand that the term refers to false utterances that are likely to cause an immediate mindless panic which endangers lives -- not truthful depictions of religious figures whose followers might get upset. After all, later case law upholds the right of folks to utter obscenities and racial slurs in public places -- even if people are offended -- and to display hateful signs and symbols (such as swastikas) in the midst of communities that reject them and wish to exclude them. Thus the actual status of free speech in this country is such that I and a group of like-minded individuals would be legally within our rights to stand outside your mosque on Friday, eating bacon sandwiches and displaying the Danish cartoons and carrying signs condemning Mohammad (pubh*) as pedophile for raping the 9-year-old Ayisha.

Osmanzai said the ban on images depicting Muhammad was handed down by the prophet himself so followers of Islam would not worship him.

“We follow his teachings very closely. Islam has certain lines you can't cross,” Osmanzai said. “We don't say anything bad about the prophets, not just Muhammad, but others such as Moses and Jesus.”

And since I'm not a follower of Islam, I don't give a rat's ass wht your religion says about images of your false prophet. Don't worry -- I certainly won't be worshipping them. But since I am not a Muslim, I'm allowed to cross whatever Muslim religious lines I want. And by the way -- you just blasphemed against Christ our Lord by calling Jesus a prophet. Can I place a bounty on your severed head now, like certain Muslim leaders have upon the heads of the cartoonists?

Rehman said the Danish government's refusal to meet with local Islamic leaders there and the cartoonist's unwillingness to apologize for the images is a major reason “why this has gotten out of hand.”

“(Muslims) wanted a retraction,” Rehman said. “To come out with a cartoon this degrading is insensitive to the community.”

And Muslims were rightly told to go pound sand. After all, the Danish government had nothing to apologize for or retract. What got out of hand was a bunch of folks who still think that they live in sixth-century Arabia decided to act in a barbaric fashion.

At the same time, many local Muslims have condemned the violence of some of the protests over the cartoon controversy.

“It's sad,” said Mushtaq A. Sheikh, another spokesman for the Islamic Center. “Peaceful demonstrations should take place, but some of this has gone way overboard.”

Sheikh, however, noted that if some sort of apology were offered after the images appeared, “the matter might have gone away.”

At last, someone with a modicum of sense, someone who is not out-and-out justifying the violence, even though he still excuses it with a comment about an apology.

But why should anyone apologize if they have done nothing wrong? Did you want them to lie to you? Are you that childish?

But if that is all you want, here goes -- "I'm sorry that you are so arrogant as to think there is anything wrong with non-Muslims not following Islamic law, and that you believ that you have the right to impose your religion upon the rest of the world. I'm also sorry that your co-religionists cannot conduct themselves in a manner that even remotely approaches the bounds of civilized behavior. Lastly, I'm sorry that the concept of jihad, as practiced over the last 14 centuries (and especially over the last few decades), has resulted in the rest of the world rightly seeing Islam as the religion of terrorism, even if most Muslims do not engage in violence."

Does that make everything better now?

Osmanzai said the violent protests creates a negative image for Islam because “Muslims are a very peaceful people.”

“We want things to happen in a peaceful manner,” he said. “It's only a small number of people who are reacting violently, but the media is not doing us justice by the images they portray.”

But, Osmanzai said the reactions are indicative of how Muslims felt after seeing the images.

See my apology above.

“I don't agree with the violence, but we all feel the same outrage,” he said. “Many people's frustrations have reached a boiling point.

“Some religions teach that if someone strikes you in the cheek, you turn the other one toward him,” Osmanzai said. “But our religion allows us to be outspoken. We will defend Islam.”

Fine. Be outspoken in defending Islam.

Tell us you are offended.

Tell us why.

Ask us to refrain from offending you.

But don't demand that we conform to your point of view -- and certainly don't threaten us with death if we refuse.

And most importantly, learn a little impulse control, because there are a great many of us who refuse to curb our tongue just because you don't like our words or pictures. After all, just as you have the right to practice your faith, we also have the identical right to practice ours -- or none at all.

And if that means that I feel called (hypothetically only) to say that Mohammad (pubh*) was visited by Beelzebub and not the Angel Gabriel, that Allah is Satan (not the God of the Jews and the Christians) and that the Koran is therefore the word of the Devil himself, then you had better suck it up and deal with it. That is my right, just as it is your right to falsely call Jesus a prophet and not the Son of God and Saviour of the World.

Local Muslim Naeem Parvez noted that most of the violent protests have taken place in the eastern part of the Islamic world, where there are more people with little or no education and where violent demonstrations are a part of everyday life. In Western nations, particularly throughout Europe, the protests have been more peaceful.

“The out-of-control anger is unfortunate. No one should be starting fires or destroying another person's property,” he said. “They should express their anger in a positive way.”

Unfortunately, this guy is only half right. Yes, his analysis of the situation in countries with a majority Muslim population is accurate -- but the only reason that violence did not break out in the West was the fact that there was a heavy police presence in the streets to prevent such violence. Look at the signs from London if you do not believe that.

Rehman hopes the controversy will encourage people to be more sensitive of the community around them.

“There has to be some restraint,” he said. “We don't joke about sensitive issues.”

Hopefully this incident will teach the Muslims restraint, and make them more sensitive to the rights of Christians and Jews and others around the world -- including in their own countries, where non-Muslims face persecution and discrimination on a daily basis with the full approval of the government.

Maybe this incident will cause the Muslim world to finally catch up with the rest of the world in terms of respect for fundamental human rights. And I'm not joking about that sensitive issue, for those rights are God-given, and their denial is blasphemy.

* "Place Bacon Upon Him"

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But will the arrests calm the fighting?

Authorities have arrested 10 people, including four security guards, over last week's bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine, Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told US televison on Sunday.

"We have arrested 10 people - four from the guards of the Golden Tomb shrine," he told CNN television's Late Edition programme.

The other six suspects, al-Rubaie said "were in the city of Samarra, (and had) just moved in and rented a place ... So we are investigating them", he said.

"These leads are very, very good in our investigations," al-Rubaie said, adding that additional details about the probe would be made public "in the very near future".

The destruction Wednesday of the shrine's famed golden dome - one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines in the town of Samarra - has become a flashpoint, sparking the worst sectarian violence in years and triggering reprisals against Iraq's Sunnis and their holy sites.

Iraqi officials said at least 120 people have been killed in the unrest.

So it looks like an inside job. Will the answers satisfy anyone at this point?

Imagine -- you form a neighborhood watch group to keep track of suspicious -- and possibly criminal -- activities in the area. You take photos of individuals in public places to turn over to the cops.

In response, you are subject to a threat like this.

“We are going to be in front of their houses, and the schools of their kids and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are haters and snitches, that they are anti-criminal. They are going to hear from us.”

Such a threat ought to provoke outrage, and a strong governmental response to crack down on those who are supporting the enforcement of laws against those who break them.

But not in this case in Maryland.

Casa de Maryland, a taxpayer funded group that assists illegal immigrants, has made a public threat to the children of the grassroots Minuteman Civil Defense Corps that have made headlines since last fall monitoring day labor centers in the Washington DC area.

An article published yesterday by the Sean Sands of Maryland Community Newspapers Online quoted Casa de Maryland’s Executive Director Gustavo Torres saying “We are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant. They are going to hear from us.”

The Minutemen have been photographing contractors picking up illegal aliens for work at the Wheaton day laborer center in Maryland spurring conflict with the illegal immigrant supporters.

Casa de Maryland, according to their own website, was “designed to address the multiple conditions of poverty and disenfranchisement that control the lives of many Latino immigrants and refugees“ and “achieves its goals through programs in areas such as leadership, organizing, women's empowerment, tenant support, employment, legal services, health, education, social services, and immigration assistance.”

Casa de Maryland offers an email and phone number where someone can coordinate potential employers with “experts in construction, carpentry, landscaping, babysitting, housekeeping, painting tiling, moving, odd jobs and more.” Casa de Maryland claims to have placed approximately 5,760 men and women in different daily, temporary and permanent job settings in 2004.

Not only is this group open about breaking the law, but in Maryland, those who make threats against the children of those engaged in legal political activity are subsidized by the government -- because the laws they are breaking are those against immigration crimes and the criminals they are assisting are border-jumpers. Not only that, but they proudly trumpet their efforts to help illegal aliens find work with the assistance of local government, business, and labor groups.

How much government help do they get each year? Take a look.

From Casa de Maryland’s 2004-2005 annual statement the Minuteman Civil Defense Press Corps found 51% of the groups $2.7 million came directly from grants issued on behalf of Montgomery County.

That's right -- over half of this group's money comes from the government. They are openly conspiring to break the laws of the united States, and tye are receiving government money to do it! I'd suggest that you contact Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and the Montgomery County Council to voice your displeasure over the county's use of taxpayer money to fund the breaking of immigration laws, violations of the civil rights and liberties of the Minutemen by grant recipients, and the stalking of innocent children. In addition, you might consider contacting those that violate federal law by participating in the job's program -- Clark Construction, Allentuck Landscaping Company and the AFL-CIO (how do members feel about their dues funding cheap illegal labor over American workers). And for all the good it will do, contact Gustavo Torres and tell him that he needs to reconsider engaging in pedophile-like child-stalking to intimidate American patriots whose only offense is supporting the laws of the United States.

The founder of the Minutemen puts it well.

In response to the threats, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox said, “Threatening children like this is outrageous. Casa de Maryland’s funding should be pulled and its contracts cancelled. It is beyond belief that taxpayer dollars are funding this thuggish behavior."

And lest you think it is all hot air, we've already seen the first assault on a Minuteman monitoring CASA de Maryland's illegal immigrant jobs program.

Hat Tip -- Jo's Cafe

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All sorts of compassionate idiots have supported providing driver's licenses and other official documents to border-jumping immigration criminals. The idea was that, since they are here anyway (in violation of the law), they should be helped to live their lives in a legal fashion.

What these fools overlooked is that such criminals have very little respect for the law, and would gladly engage in fraud to obtain the legal documents that make continuing their law-breaking easier.

Tennessee has ended its policy of issuing "certificates for driving" to illegal immigrants, citing federal investigations that uncovered applicants using fraudulent documents — and even bribing state workers — to obtain driving privileges, officials said Friday.

The state began giving immigrants the certificates in July 2004, with the hope of balancing homeland security and traffic concerns. The cards give holders the legal right to drive but, unlike driver's licenses, they are not to be used for identification purposes. For instance, they cannot be used to board an airplane.

The Tennessee model was criticized early on from diverse quarters. Anti-immigration forces worried that it gave legitimacy to illegal immigrants. Immigration rights groups feared that police and others would be confused, and therefore inconsistent, in dealing with the cardholders.

Officials in the capital of Nashville grew concerned in recent months as federal investigations uncovered instances of fraud by illegal immigrants. Bob Corney, a spokesman for Tennessee's Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, said the governor's office was informed that immigrants were coming from other states to get the IDs, using forged residency documents.

Last month, a former worker at a driver's license office was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for issuing more than 40 certificates to unqualified immigrants, taking a $400 bribe for each fraudulent card.

So as you can see, trying to make life easier for criminals results in more crime. The proper solution to the problem of border-jumping immigration criminals is tough enforcement, including arrest, imprisonment, and deportation with a lifetime bar on reentry.

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Since when is it the business of government to set prices?

The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state's legal minimum price.

The fine against Midwest Oil of Minnesota is twice as large as any imposed on a company since 2001, when the state established a formula based on wholesale prices, fees and taxes to determine a daily floor for gas prices.

The price law was intended to prevent large oil companies from driving smaller competitors out of business, but some critics argue it fails to protect consumers.

According to the Commerce Department, the Midwest-owned stations in Anoka, Oakdale and Albert Lea sold gas below the minimum price on 293 days in 2005.

Kevin Murphy, deputy commissioner of the department, called the violations "willful, continuing, and egregious and warrant a substantial penalty."

This measure costs consumers money every time they buy gas – and that money goes for private profit so that uncompetitive businesses can remain afloat. Such laws are un-American, and must be repealed.

What would you think if you saw this headline?

Clinton pleases NZ woman

Certainly not what the article is about.

What killed the Bard? Tradition says his death was brought on by a night of heavy drinking. Scientific study now raises a different possibility.

Almost 400 years after he died, a final act has been added to the story of William Shakespeare.

Scientists now believe that the Bard died not of binge drinking, but cancer.

Ancient tittle-tattle in Stratford-upon-Avon had suggested that he fell into a fever after a heavy night on the town with old friend and fellow writer Ben Jonson.

But forensic tests normally used to convict criminals have discovered that he had a life-threatening tumour over his left eye.

The breakthrough came after researchers studied four images supposedly of Shakespeare, including his death mask, and a bust displayed at London's Garrick Club.

Each shows a growth on the left eyelid, which increases in size in the later pictures.

Doctors who have studied the images say that this is evidence of a slowly-growing cancerous tumour which could have caused Shakespeare's death in April, 1616, aged 52.

The death mask shows that it had grown so large that it was hanging over his eye.

The discovery came after an investigation by a German literature expert into whether the four images are actually of Shakespeare.

Amazing, isn’t it, how we can now learn all sorts of things about the lives of those who lived in centuries past?

There was a concerted effort by Northwest tribes and their PC Leftist allies to prevent the study of Kennewick Man following his discovery a decade ago. The claim was that the tribes had a legal claim to the fossilized remains because he must be an ancestor. Now studies have concluded that he is not related to any of the groups that tried to claim him – and the conclusions drawn from study of the 9,000 year old skeleton are going to revolutionize our understanding of the peopling of the Americas.

Kennewick Man was laid to rest alongside a river more than 9,000 years ago, buried by other people, a leading forensic scientist said Thursday. The skeleton, one of the oldest and most complete ever found in North America, has been under close analysis since courts sided with researchers in a legal battle with Indian tribes in the Northwest who wanted the remains found near the Columbia River reburied without study.

Douglas Owsley, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, discussed his findings in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday evening at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Seattle.
"We know very little about this time period," Owsley said in a telephone interview. "This is a rare opportunity to try and reconstruct the life story of this man. ... This is his opportunity to tell us what life was like during that time."

Researchers have disagreed over whether Kennewick Man was buried by other people or swept up in a flood and encased in sediment.

Owsley concluded the man was deliberately buried, between two and three feet deep, his body placed in the grave, head slightly higher than feet, hands placed at his sides.

The location was riverside, with the body parallel to the river and head pointing upstream.

Using an industrial CT scanner, Owsley was able to study the skeleton in fine sections and also get a better look at a spear or dart point imbedded in Kennewick Man's hip.

The point has previously been described as a Cascade point, typical of the region, but Owsley said that is not the case. Cascade points tend to have two pointed ends and are sometimes serrated, he said, while the point in Kennewick Man has a pointed end and a stem.

The spear or dart entered the man from the front, moving downward at a 77-degree angle, Owsley said. Previous analysis had indicated it might have hit from the back, he noted.

The point was not the cause of death, he said, saying, "This is a healed injury."
"There was no clear indication in the skeleton of cause of death," Owsley said. Kennewick Man had undergone "a lot of injuries, this guy was tough as nails."

There are three types of fractures in the bones, Owsley said, ones the man suffered in his lifetime and which had healed; fractures that occurred after burial from aging of the bones and the ground settling, and breaks that occurred when the skeleton was unearthed.

A team of 20 forensic scientists has been studying the skeleton, he said, and have concluded that the skull doesn't match those of Indian tribes living in the area.

"We know very little about this time period. Who the people were that were the earliest people that came to America," Owsley said. "We are finding out they were coming thousands of years earlier than we had thought," arriving not just over the Bering Strait but by boats and other means.

"This is a very rare discovery. You could count on your fingers the number of relatively complete skeletons from this time period," Owsley said.

Following discovery of the bones in 1996, the Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Colville tribes urged that the skeleton be reburied without scientific study. They argued that the bones were covered under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Scientists sued for a chance to study the remains and a federal court ruled there was no link between the skeleton and the tribes.

The law cited above is a well-meaning but fatally-flawed attempt to show respect to tribal cultures and beliefs – but as this case shows, the presumptions in the law stand in the way of good science and good history. Human remains that date back to prehistoric periods are part of the heritage of all humanity, and should be studied to help us understand the development of human civilization and culture. To allow particular ethnic groups to veto research in the field is a travesty. The Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act therefore needs to be significantly modified – if not repealed completely – in the interest of allowing the advancement of human knowledge.

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I’m always pleased to come across such good news.

Al Qaeda in Iraq's leader in northern Baghdad was killed in a raid Friday, the U.S. military said.

The military identified Abu Asma, also known as Abu Anas and Akram Mahmud al-Mushhadani, as an explosives expert with close ties to important car bomb manufacturers in Baghdad.

He died in a northern Baghdad raid conducted by coalition forces with the help of Iraqi police, a military statement said.

"Intelligence reports indicated Abu Asma was in possession of and expected to use suicide vests against the Iraqi people and security forces," the statement said. "He was directly responsible for many deaths and injuries of coalition and Iraqi security forces."

No virgins for Abu Asma, who now knows that he served Satan not God. His new place of residence is significantly warmer than summer in Iraq.

Oh, no! Not 43! That number just sounds depressing, and it is coming up fast for me on Saturday!

Maybe some music would help. Could we get an appropriate chorus?

The Birthday Dirge. Grunt and pound your fist on the table at each (grunt).

Happy birthday. (grunt)
Happy birthday. (grunt)

Gloom and doom and dark despair
people dying everywhere
on your birthday. (grunt)
Happy birthday. (grunt)

When you reach the age you are
your demise cannot be far
from your birthday. (grunt)
Happy birthday. (grunt)

May the cities in your wake
burn like candles on your cake
on your birthday. (grunt)
Happy birthday. (grunt)

Perform strange sexual acts
with goats, camels, sheep, and yaks
on your birthday. (grunt)
Happy birthday. (grunt)

Yeah, that sure helped with the depression.

* * *

Maybe a few juicy links to help bring up my Ecosystem rating would help -- Playful Primate would be nice, dont you think? Your participation in this linkfest could help.

You know how it works -- you link to this post and send a trackback, and your post will display here. So link away -- I won't set a maximum number of items you can link with here, but I would hope that you would consider exercising prudent judgement on the matter. No porn, please, and no advertising -- just interesting stuff.

So get with the program, folks -- link away before the Grim Reaper comes a-knockin'!!

I’ve been following this story for the last several days, and am surprised that no one really wants to take this up on a national level. That is really too bad, since it shows the degree to which certain segments of the Democrat Party despise the military but are willing to use a few vets and family members for their own purposes. They tell us we cannot question the ever-changing stories of John Kerry about his military service in Vietnam (while constantly questioning the military service of President Bush), the courage or patriotism of corrupt Congressman John “Cut-n-Run” Murtha or the moral authority of an America-hater like Cindy Sheehan – but if an Iraq vet or Gold Star parent speaks out in favor of the war, they are “un-American” and the Democrats will seek to silence and censor them.

A conservative group recently started an advertising campaign in Minnesota showing veterans and families of slain troops expressing their support for the Iraq war, only to have the head of the state Democratic Party condemn the ads as "un-American, untruthful and a lie." He furthermore demands that Minnesota television stations pull the ads "and send a message that we will not tolerate this kind of 'swiftboating' anymore." At least one station so far has complied with the request, which is reason enough for outrage.

But there's been precious little of that. Aside from a handful of bloggers covering the issue and an appearance of one of the veterans on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," the media has ignored the issue completely, essentially proving one of the ad campaign's main points. The current media meme, at least as it concerns the homefront, is that most returning veterans have turned against the war and those still in field are demoralized and jaded. Meanwhile, parents of slain troops like Cindy Sheehan continue to rack up air time and column inches. The ad campaign seeks to correct this blatant misrepresentation.

Which is exactly why Democrats are trying to stop it with accusations that the ads are somehow "untruthful." The claim is absurd on its face, but their list of so-called lies is so slim that a brief analysis is warranted. The veterans in the first ad say that "our enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda -- the same terrorists who killed three thousand Americans on 9/11." To liberal ears, this is apparently the equivalent of claiming Iraq was behind September 11. But that's not what the veterans said. In any case, last we checked Abu Musab Zarqawi, who has publicly sworn loyalty to Osama bin Laden, is the leader of "Al Qaeda in Iraq."

Democrats have also taken issue with the ad's statement that U.S. troops "overwhelmingly" support the mission -- a fact clearly upheld by record-setting retention rates in the military branches. The retention rate in the Army, for instance, is the highest it's been in five years, especially in combat units currently serving in Iraq. And that about covers the "lies."

The more disturbing issue here is that Democrats are trying to silence a contrary point of view, and are doing so by calling soldiers and military families "un-American." Whenever Republicans attempt to counter antiwar sentiment, be it from the Cindy Sheehans or Paul Hacketts, Democrats shed crocodile tears over the "crushing of dissent." But this is what crushing dissenters actually looks like -- a smear campaign designed explicitly to keep the public from hearing the other side.

Fortunately, readers can see the ads for themselves at www.midwestheroes.com and decide what's so "un-American" about soldiers and families supporting the war.

What are the Democrats crying foul about? Besides the truthful assertion that American troops fight in Iraq are fighting al-Qaeda terrorists, there is the horrific scandal (if you are a liberal) that one of the Gold Star parents is the – GASP! – step-mother of a dead soldier and not his biological mother.

Powerline owns this issue and this story completely, so I am linking to their many excellent posts.

I say so-called because the “authorities” seem unable to exert any authority to protect the tiny Christian community among them. As a result, the Palestinian Bible Society may have to close by the middle of next week, if threats made by Islamofascists are carried out.

There are only about 1,500 Christians living among an estimated 1.2 million Palestinian Muslims in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Bible society has been in operation there since 1999.

Eleven local Palestinians staff the center, which includes a Christian bookstore that sells Bibles. Scriptures are displayed on large billboards, and at the front of the store is a sign that says: "God's Word is Life for All." Above the shop are computer rooms, multi-purpose halls and a library that is open to the entire community.

The trouble started three weeks ago, the source said, when a pipe bomb exploded around 11:00 one night outside the Bible Society, which is located in Gaza's city center. There were no injuries.

Two weeks later, an unknown group left threatening pamphlets at the front door of the Bible Society warning that the building would be blown up if the premises were not vacated by February 28.

The pamphlets threatened the landlord for dealing with "infidels."

According to the request of Palestinian Authority security officials, when the situation worsened several days ago, forcing the Bible Society staff locked the doors while they continued working inside.

But then came a threatening phone call, warning them that locking the doors wasn't enough - that they should take the threat seriously or risk harm to themselves and their children.

"We are waiting for a miracle," said the Palestinian Bible Society information officer. "The Bible Society is committed to the continuation of its ministry and service to the Palestinian people, and God will see us through this crisis."

Islam talks a good game about respecting the rights of Christians in majority Muslim areas. Seems to me that this is an excellent time for them to put up or shut up. And if the new Hamas-led government of the PA cannot protect this tiny group, then there is no reason for anyone to take it seriously.

This story is absurd.

FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. (AP) - A man says his attempts to sign up for an e-mail account with Yahoo failed when he used his name, which includes the letters a-l-l-a-h - as in Allah, the Arabic word for God.

Ed Callahan said he started trying to establish the e-mail account after his mother, with the same last name, couldn't get one.

As he tried using various words, he determined that e-mail addresses with other religious words seemed OK, but not if they included the spelling of Allah.
"The war on terror is becoming a war on Muslims," Callahan said.

Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday it has changed policy to allow usage of the word. In a written statement, the company defended the previous policy as an attempt to protect users from hateful speech.

"A small number of people registered for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate and then used those IDs to post content that was harmful or threatening to others, thus violating Yahoo's terms of service," the statement said.

After the policy change, Callahan said he promptly registered a new e-mail account, which includes his last name.

Callahan, who is clearly a liberal with his head up his as, doesn’t see that the restriction was not a persecution of Muslims, but a granting of special consideration to the Religion of Barbarism, who PC-types have decreed must never be offended. After all, as his own research showed that no other religious group received such protection or consideration. After all, he would have had no problem at all if his name was “Godwin”.

Columnist Stuart Rothenberg seems to think that there is a lot of political smoke but no real national security fire in the dispute over a UAE-owned company operating American ports.

Talking of “turning over” American ports to a foreign company that apparently is controlled by a foreign (Middle Eastern) government raises the specter of terrorists flowing through the ports of New York, Baltimore and Miami. But with the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Immigration and Naturalization still firmly in U.S. control, it’s far from clear how that sale threatens U.S. security or enables terrorists to gain access to the U.S.

What we have here is a small dose of real concern and a huge amount of grandstanding by legislators, Republican and Democratic alike.

Democrats smell an opportunity to appear tougher than the President on national defense and homeland security, enhancing their generally weaker credentials on fighting the war against terror.

Republican legislators realize that they cannot allow Democrats to seize the one issue that the GOP has had an advantage on since September 11, 2001. And GOP members of the House and Senate even get an issue on which they can “stand up to” Bush, a hard-to-pass-up opportunity since the President’s job ratings remain weak.

The more I read about this arrangement, the less concern I have with the decision to let the deal proceed. Many American ports are under foreign control. Only one American company (a Halliburton subsidiary) is in the port operations business on a scale that they could take on the job. The employees doing the work will not change, and the security work will still be done by the government. And as was pointed out by a guest on Bill Bennett’s show this morning, the real security issues come at the ports where these shipments originate, where they security is not as tight.

Do I think that this deal should – and will – go through? Yes, probably. But do I still think it needs to be held up for a short interval for additional consideration? One again, I have to say “Yes, probably,” if only to provide reassurance to the American people
.

Hmmmmmmm.

The FBI has joined the investigation into a multi-vehicle crash on the Stevenson Expressway after police found a $2 million check, credit cards and other "financial instruments" in the car of one of two people killed, authorities said today.

The items were discovered in the car of a 45-year-old man involved in the crash, which occurred about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday on the outbound Stevenson (Interstate Highway 55) near Stickney, Illinois State Police said.

The man, identified as Lafi Nofal, was flown by helicopter to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died from his injuries hours after the accident, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

A 76-year-old woman, Dorothy Walsh, who was riding in a separate car, was also killed, according to the medical examiner.

Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force were working with Illinois State Police to "determine the authenticity and origin" of the financial items, the FBI Chicago office said in a statement this morning.

There is no indication that terrorism is involved, according to the statement.

Let’s see. Millions in negotiable financial instruments in the car, and a name which appears to be Middle Eastern. Are you folks sure that there is no connection to terrorism?

I think that Australia’s Treasurer, Peter Costello, pegs it exactly in a speech he recently gave.

No one is going to respect a citizenship that is so undemanding that it asks nothing. In fact our citizenship is quite a demanding obligation. It demands loyalty, tolerance and respect for fellow citizens and support for a rare form of government - democracy.

We have a robust tolerance of difference in our society. But to maintain this tolerance we have to have an agreed framework which will protect the rights and liberties of all. And we are asking our citizens to subscribe to that framework.

I do not like putrid representations like Piss Christ. I do not think galleries should show them. But I do recognise they should be able to practise their offensive taste without fear of violence or a riot. Muslims do not like representation of the prophet. They do not think newspapers should print them. But so too they must recognise this does not justify violence against newspapers, or countries that allow newspapers to publish them.

We are asking all our citizens to subscribe to a framework that can protect the rights and liberties of all. These are Australian values. We must be very clear on this point. They are not optional. We expect all those who call themselves Australians to subscribe to them. Loyalty, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law - values worth promoting, values worth defending. The values of Australia and its citizens.

Change the words “Australia” and Australian” to “America” and “American” and this entire speech clearly defines what the view of every American patriot should be.

Perhaps some of the red-diaper doper babies from the ACLU and other groups that are defending terrorists would consider taking up real cases of human rights abuses instead. You know, ones like this example of abuse of an individual by government for daring to engage in non-violent expressive conduct.

A protester jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing was finally released yesterday having gone mad in solitary confinement.

Yu Dongyue, then 22, and two other men each threw an eggshell filled with red ink at a Chairman Mao portrait.

He was jailed for 20 years for "counter-revolutionary activity" and "sabotage" two months after the tanks moved in, killing hundreds of people.

He has been freed three years early and his mother, Wu Pinghua, was told last night he was on his way home.

"My last prison visit was in December 2004, and he couldn't tell who we were," she said. "The official said he now couldn't look after himself and needed spoonfeeding."

Yu was a country boy who made it to college, moving to the city of Liuyang in central Hunan province. After teaching, he became an arts writer for the local newspaper.

With his best friend, Yu Zhijian (no relation), he joined the protesters in Beijing three days before martial law was declared. With another man from Hunan, they decided on an eye-catching protest. Yu Zhijian, his friend, who originally received a life sentence, last year described how prison guards ordered other inmates to beat him because he refused to admit his guilt.

His release comes in the middle of a new wave of dissident protest in China. The government is trying to rein in outspoken journalists and the internet, sacking editors and jailing writers.

So come on, Leftists – quit defending those who want to kill you and start defending real victims of human rights abuse.

Not only did they rip-off Houston taxpayers for $130,000 in bonuses to which they were not entitled, but four members of Councilwoman Carol Alvarado's Mayor Pro Tem staff also authorized salary increases for each other.

Four employees in Houston's Office of Mayor Pro Tem got raises ranging from 11 percent to 64 percent during the same period in which they split $135,000 in what city officials say were unauthorized bonuses, personnel documents show.

The records, released to the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday under the Texas Public Information Act, show that the raises increased the employees' combined annual pay rates by $60,000 during Councilwoman Carol Alvarado's two-year tenure as Mayor Pro Tem.

Alvarado said she did not approve the raises.

The two highest-paid employees — who also got most of the bonus money now under investigation — signed forms authorizing each others' raises, the records show.

All four still are drawing the salaries, since they have been suspended with pay during a probe of the bonuses.

Perhaps we need to start to refer to the councilwoman as "Carol Alvarado Schultz" -- as in "I know nothing-- NOTHING!"

But then again, it may not be a wuestion of stupidity on her part -- it may just be laziness. She authorized staff members to sign documents on her behalf so that she didn't need to be bothered personally, and they took advantage of the authority.

What sort of pay raises are we talking about? Substantial ones.

But the councilwoman said Wednesday that she never authorized anything higher than a 2 percent salary increase approved in 2004.

That is more in line with typical city pay increases. Mayor Bill White recently announced a raise of 1.5 percent for full-time civilian city employees.

According to personnel records, Hernandez received two raises in 2005, increasing her base annual salary 37 percent to $78,000. Watkins' salary rose 55 percent during Alvarado's tenure, from $33,000 to $52,000.

Two other employees in the office, Christopher Mays and Theresa Orta, received raises of 64 percent and 10 percent respectively, records show.

I'm not accusing Carol Alvarado of being dishonest -- after all, that woud require her to be an active manager who took the time to oversee the actions of her staff. Instead, I would have to say the was incompetent and negligent in the running of the Mayor Pro Tem's office. But then again, that wouldn't be the first time that she let little details slip right past her.

Nothing can justify these evil and unChristian actions in response to the murderous rampage of Nigerian Muslims. While the article presents this as a religious conflict, part of me wonders the degree to which tribal affiliations and enmities were at work in this

AN enraged mob of Nigerian Christian youths has slaughtered dozens of Muslims in two days of rioting in the southern city of Onitsha.

Rioting broke out in the lawless trading town on the banks of the Niger River yesterday when members of the Igbo tribe launched revenge attacks in response to an earlier massacre of Christians in the north of the country.

Nineteen corpses were seen scattered by the side of the main road into the city across the Niger River bridge, where a contingent of soldiers had set up a roadblock to hold back hundreds of rioters armed with clubs and machetes.

The bodies had been beaten, slashed and in some cases burnt. Around the bloodied corpses lay scattered the caps and Islamic prayer beads associated with the northern Hausa tribe.

A police official had earlier said five more Hausas had been killed in the neighbouring city of Asaba, across the bridge, to where thousands of Muslims fled to escape the mayhem in Onitsha.

Frank Nweke, a magazine editor who ran the gauntlet of the mob to escape Onitsha and made it to the bridge, said he had seen 15 more corpses lying in the streets of the city.

"Some of them had been beheaded, others had had their genitals removed. I saw one boy holding a severed head with blood dripping from it," he said.

Army officers at the scene could not confirm a total death toll in the city, where control has not yet been restored, but said thousands of Muslims had taken shelter in barracks and police stations.

May God aid the Nigerian authorities in bringing these so-called Christians to justice for their crimes. Their deeds blaspheme against the teachings of Jesus Christ, who taught turning the other cheek -- for in the end, the source of the conflict matters less than the evil deed committed.

MORE AT: Michelle Malkin, Strata-Spehre, Capital Region People, livefrombaycity, Right Wing, Mike's Noise, Radioman's World, Scriptorium, Jawa Report, Delaware Watch

In an increasingly conservative America, Democrats are seeking to compete electorally by shifting left and abandoning officeholders who appeal to middle-of-the-road independents and even conservatives.

Democrats aren't just hoping to take back Congress this year; they also are trying to rid the party of so-called "right-wing Democrats."

Rep. Henry Cuellar represents the solidly Democratic 28th district in Texas. Yet activists from his party are backing his primary challenger, former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez.

"People have been able to get a good picture of Henry Cuellar's record," Mr. Rodriguez told The Washington Times. "He doesn't stand with working families. On issues like tax cuts, the estate tax and immigration, he has voted with Republicans down the line."

Mr. Cuellar has been endorsed by the conservative Club for Growth, a group that typically endorses Republicans and has supported primary challengers to centrist Republicans such as Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The Club for Growth estimates it has raised $150,000 for Mr. Cuellar's campaign.

After a contentious Democratic primary battle in 2004, Mr. Cuellar defeated Mr. Rodriguez, a three-term incumbent, by a mere 58 votes. Since then, Mr. Cuellar has angered many liberals with his support for the war in Iraq and other Republican-backed policies.

Mr. Rodriguez acknowledges that centrists have a place in the Democratic Party, just not in his district. "This is not a swing district. Voters here deserve someone who will represent their values," he said.

The 28th District, stretching from the Rio Grande to San Antonio, is 70 percent Hispanic. In the 2004 general election, Mr. Cuellar received 59 percent of the vote against Republican opponent James Hopson.

Mr. Rodriguez said Democratic activists have pumped more than $250,000 into his campaign in the weeks since his primary challenge gained national attention. "Thank God for it," he said.

Liberal groups such as MoveOn.org and Democracy for America (DFA), as well as leading liberal bloggers and unions such as the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, are backing Mr. Rodriguez.

Mr. Rodriguez "is a real Democrat," said DFA Chairman Jim Dean. "He is not a shill for the White House. We've raised about $40,000 for Ciro so far. It's been a pretty good response, especially considering a lot of people didn't even know about this race until a few weeks ago."

A significant part of Mr. Rodriguez's opposition to Mr. Cuellar stems from their differences on trade. Mr. Cuellar was a vocal proponent of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which Mr. Rodriguez opposes.

Cuellar campaign spokesman Colin Strother said free trade and conservative values are popular in the 28th district.

"Ten of the 11 counties in our district have experienced growth since [the North American Free Trade Agreement] was passed," Mr. Strother said. "Ciro's most vocal supporters are not in the district. Our district is Catholic, Hispanic and conservative. Ciro doesn't represent those values."

Charles Mahtesian, editor of Almanac of American Politics, said the March 7 Democratic primary contest will be as bitter as it was two years ago.

"It's the stated policy of the party to support incumbents," Mr. Mahtesian said. "But at least in Washington and in Congress there are a lot of people secretly hoping it turns out differently."

Speaking as a Republican, I wholeheartedly support this strategy, which seems to me to be the political equivalent of treating a shaving cut by slitting your throat. The 28th District will never vote for a Republican – unless the Democrats abandon the base of conservative Hispanic Catholics. That is where this strategy is headed.

Doctors are refusing to participate in the execution of a prisoner following a federal judge’s absurd ruling that we have to show more consideration and compassion for a convicted murderer than he did for the teenager he raped and killed.

California indefinitely postponed the execution of a convicted murderer Tuesday in a dispute over lethal injection and the role of doctors in assisting it.

The execution of Michael Morales, 46, was delayed when two anesthesiologists who were scheduled to assist backed out at the last minute, citing ethical concerns after a court ordered them to intervene if Morales awoke during the procedure.

The doctors were asked to participate after a federal judge ruled last week that California's usual method of lethal injection "creates an undue risk" of "excessive pain." In a ruling that applies only to the current case, U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel required that either a doctor sedate Morales immediately before he is executed, or that the state substitute one drug for the three typically used.

Fogel's order on the single-drug option "specifically required that the lethal injection be completed by someone licensed by the state of California to inject medication intravenously," San Quentin Prison Warden Steven Ornoski said in a statement. ". . . The state cannot proceed with the execution under the conditions set by the court."

A corrections spokesman said: "The big kicker was 'inside,' and what doctor is going to want to go inside the death chamber?"

And so I repeat my suggestion for a better execution protocol – a lethal injection of lead, 9mm at a time, to the base of the brain. And lest there be any question of finding someone willing to carry out the procedure, I’ll gladly volunteer if California will supply a round-trip airline ticket – and I’m even willing to fly coach.

MORE AT This Blog Is Full Of Crap

Just a quick reminder for all the Cadillac Communists and silk-sheet Socialists who idolize Castro’s cold-blooded killer.

Guevara-worship may be naive or opportunistic, but there is something downright obscene in his promotion by capitalist commerce. Guevara simply was not a nice fellow.

There is nothing benign about the real Guevara, pistol in hand, giving a cold-blooded coup de grace to the Castro regime's enemies at La Cabaña fortress. Or his bloody repression of anti-Castro peasants in the Escambray mountains of central Cuba when the Castroite regime was 2 years old.

Guevara's hands had much blood on them besides his own. In real life, he was a war criminal.

So to all the Rolex radicals and Mercedes Maoists who have adopted Che as an iconic hero, consider this – he personally committed misdeeds that dwarf any abuses committed by American soldiers against the Saddamites imprisoned at Abu Ghraib.

That is the message from three members of the flooded city’s City Council.

New Orleans doesn't want its poorest residents back — unless they agree to work.

That was the message from three New Orleans City Council members who said government programs have "pampered" the city's residents for too long.

The news that some New Orleans City Council members weren't keen on the city's poorest returning home added another layer of discomfort in Houston, where local residents and elected officials alike have stretched to meet the needs of thousands of Louisiana residents in the months after Hurricane Katrina.

Chief among the complaints: Houston didn't discriminate when New Orleanians — from the poorest to the richest — filled this city's homes, hotels, motels and shelters. And Houston didn't flinch when nearly 100,000 evacuees needed subsidized housing for up to a year. So why, asked one Houston city councilman, are only the educated, healthy and employable welcome back in New Orleans?

"A city is a combination of all kinds of people," said Councilman M.J. Khan, whose district has absorbed most of the city's evacuees. "We definitely want everybody to be productive, wealthy and educated. But in any society it's not always possible. We cannot pick and choose who will live in a city."

Khan was among those who responded negatively to the comments of New Orleans elected officials Monday, which were published by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

I react negatively, too. As a resident of the Houston area, I was glad to help pick up the slack when the relocation was temporary. But for the city of New Orleans to try to permanently dump its problems on us is intolerable. I think I speak for many area residents when I say that the day is coming when we may need to simply put these people back onto the buses they came in and ship them home – whether their hometown wants them or not. We are sick of their whining and demands for more.

This certainly cheered me up when I read it. I love happy news

A SUSPECTED suicide bomber blew himself up prematurely near a main road routinely used by government officials and foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan, police said today.

The man was blown to bits and only his leg and hat were found at the scene after the blast in eastern Nangarhar province yesterday, provincial police spokesman Ghafor Khan said.

"Our investigations show that a suicide bomber wanted to get to the main road and, just before that, explosives strapped to his body went off due to some malfunction ahead of time and tore him into pieces," Mr Khan said.

In a separate attack on the same day in the province, a civilian was killed and five were wounded in a bomb blast.

It was not clear who was behind the bombing.

Police, however, blamed both incidents on "enemies of Afghanistan who want to create tension to undermine security".

I wonder – does he still qualify as a martyr if he suffers from premature detonation? Or does this useless mutt become one of the 72 virgins, since he got his manhood (small as it was) blown off?

MORE AT Jawa Report

Could you imagine the uproar if this incident involved a columnist for a conservative paper at a major university?

Turn Left, Cornell’s left-wing newspaper, has a bit of a public relations problem: recently, one of its writers allegedly shouted racial slurs at a group of blacks and then proceeded to stab one of them, puncturing his lung. Nathan Poffenbarger, the alleged stabber, then fled the scene, later turning himself into police. (Rumor has it that he will be contending for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming West Virginia senatorial race.) On February 20, The Sun reported:

According to sources familiar with the incident, Poffenbarger and an unidentified female were walking in the vicinity of Baker Tower, on the corner of University and West, after Poffenbarger was reportedly kicked out of a West Campus fraternity party for belligerent behavior and use of racial slurs.

University officials said Poffenbarger continued using the epithets after leaving the fraternity and was overheard by a nearby group of three black Union College students, who then confronted Poffenbarger. A verbal altercation escalated, and Poffenbarger allegedly stabbed one of the students. Poffenbarger fled after an Ithaca Police vehicle arrived on the scene. He turned himself in to authorities Saturday night.

But hey, Poffenbarger is a strong opponent of racism and a noted pacifist, so an unprovoked assault upon minority students who object to his use of racial slurs gets a pass from the Left -- where are the major news stories and the condemnations? Where are the demands that the paper that employed this racist cretin be closed? Conservative minds want to know!

As followers of this blog will note, I have become less and less of a fan of Islam over the years. That said, I can find nothing in this action to support or praise. The destruction of the holy sites and places of a religion can only rarely be justified – and doing so via terrorism rather than the rule of law is NEVER acceptable.

One of the most revered shrines in Shiite Islam was bombed early this morning, causing the collapse of its dome, police and eyewitnesses said. There was no immediate estimate of casualties in the latest in a series of sectarian attacks in the country.

The shrine in Samarra, a predominantly Sunni Arab city 60 miles north of Baghdad, contains the remains of two of Shiite Islam's most prominent Imams. The bomb is believed to have been planted a day earlier, said Capt. Basheer Qadoori, of the city's police force.

"Last night, five armed men wearing ski masks broke into the shrine, kidnapped 5 guards of the shrine and planted two bombs inside," Qadoori said.

Iraq's most notable Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, announced a week long mourning and urged people to go to the streets in "peaceful demonstrations to denounce this criminal act." Sistani's office said a detailed statement would be released later today.

Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced a three-day mourning in a televised appearance. "I call on my people to express their condemnation," Jaafari said. He asked Iraqis to "close the door to all those who are fishing in the troubled water."

The attack, which sparked immediate and widespread protests among Shiites across Iraq, appeared designed to further inflame sectarian tension between Iraq's Shiite majority and the Sunni Arab population from whose ranks the bulk of the country's insurgency is drawn.

I gladly join with Prime Minister Jaafari in expressing my condemnation of the bombing.

-

MORE AT: Michelle Malkin, Unpartisan, Liberty Just In Case, A Blog For All, Jawa Report

Folks like CAIR, who complain that Americans look at Arabs and Muslims and think "terrorist" might want to deal with issues like this in their own community before lecturing us about bigotry.

The Justice Department accused three Ohio men yesterday of plotting to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq, allegedly by seeking to set up a Middle Eastern terrorism camp where insurgents would be trained and equipped.

One of the men was also charged with threatening to kill or hurt President Bush. It is not clear, however, how close the trio came to carrying out any of their alleged plans or whether they intended to fight in Iraq themselves.

Even so, the case appears to be the first time that suspects on U.S. soil, rather than in Europe or the Middle East, have been charged with attempting to directly aid the insurgency in Iraq.

The men are accused of spending more than a year downloading militant videos, taking weapons training, and trying to acquire or build explosives. They could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, conspiracy to kill Americans abroad. They are also charged with providing material support to terrorists.

The defendants are Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, a citizen of the United States and Jordan; Marwan Othman el-Hindi, 42, of Toledo, a U.S. citizen; and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, of Toledo, a permanent legal resident who co-owns a Toledo auto dealership with his brother. In addition to the terrorism counts, Amawi is also charged with twice making verbal threats against Bush, court documents show.

The three were indicted last week, but the document was not unsealed until yesterday. They were arrested over the weekend and pleaded not guilty yesterday in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo, according to the Associated Press. Attempts to reach their attorneys were unsuccessful.

But this isn't REALLY the first such case -- not when you consider the blind sheik, the Holy Land Foundation, the Buffalo case, the ongoing trial in California, etc.

MORE AT Counterterrorism Blog, Michelle Malkin, Fullosseous Flap, Strata-Sphere, Most Certainly Not, Iowa Voice, Unpartisan, Flopping Aces, Right Winged, Small Town Veteran, Blue Star, Conservative Culture, Jawa Report

I don't understand why the President would take this stand. The port deal is not a hill worth dying for.

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought to go forward," Bush told reporters who had traveled with him on Air Force One to Washington. "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

Mr. President -- why hold a Middle Eastern company to a different standard than one from the UK? Surely you jest, sir! You REALLY don't get it -- especially when one of the ports is the Port of New York? The answer is really simple -- a bunch of Arabs flew planes into buildings in that city, sir, and killed damned near 3000 Americans. there were at least some connections to the UAE. We want to be sure that this company has been thoroughly vetted.

A ldelay while the matter is more thoroughly warranted -- whether or not one supports Sen. Clinton's proposal to prevent firms controlled by foreign governments from managing our ports.

More at Michelle Malkin,

Gee -- I made one snide comment in response to Death Threat Dude and folks were terrible amused -- so amused that I feel i need a graphic to go along with the mean-spirited rip at someone who indicated i should be killed for rudeness.

I wonder what his reaction will be to this.

I wonder -- could I get and NEA grant for that?

And will I be praised for obscuring Mohammad's face, or damned for my method of doing so?

This is, of course, my regular Wednesday Open Trackback/Linkfest post. here's your chance to participate.

You know how it works -- you link to this post and send a trackback, and your post will display here. So link away -- I won't set a maximum number of items you can link with here, but I would hope that you would consider exercising prudent judgement on the matter. No porn, please, and no advertising -- just interesting stuff.

So get with the program, folks -- link away before the fatwas fly!

OPEN TRACKBACKS: Adam's Blog, Freedom Watch, Blue Star, Conservative Cat, third world country, Bacon Bits, Don Surber, Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Stuck On Stupid, Everyman's Chronicles, Is It Just Me?

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It isn't the contests between cowboys and livestock.

It isn't the concerts.

It isn't the fair food (mmmm... deep fried Twinkies!)

It is what the show does for kids.

And not just for the scholarship winners.

Bart Pennington's Angus-Hereford crossbreed in 1985 gave him the confidence to start his own business. The Maine-Anjou and Angus hybrid Theresa Pritchard showed in 1974 paid her way through college and put her in choice seats at an Elvis concert. And along with the rush of TV interviews, Angie Elam's Limousin got her some extra, unexpected attention in 1980.

"I had probably a couple guys say, 'Hey, would you marry me? You're rich,' " Elam said.

Although decades have passed and much of the cash has been spent since Pennington, Pritchard and Elam presented the grand champion steers at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, all say the victories they earned as teenagers still influence their lives.

"It was a big deal for a small girl from a small town," Elam, now 41, said from her farm in Seminole, where she raises cattle with her husband. "That Sunday afternoon, we went to the Galleria and everyone knew who I was. ... It was a day I will never forget."

More than 2,600 youngsters from 4-H Clubs across Texas are fattening their steers and shining their coats in the hopes of leaving the country's largest and richest stage for steers, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, with the "Grand Champion" ribbon and a wad of cash. The biggest show of their steer-showing lives starts next Tuesday.

The steers will moo, chew and strut their stuff in 16 breed categories through Reliant Center, but only one will become the grand champion and earn its exhausted young exhibitor both a moment of big-city fame and a place in the record books among past victors.

Not to mention some big bucks.

My dear wife and I go to the rodeo every year -- multiple nights. And we always make sure we are there the night that the selection of the grand champion steer is made. It is a beautiful moment, watching the culmination of a lot of hard work for one boy or girl. I taught one recent winner during summer school, and got to see what great kids are involved in this program.

And i can't wait -- Rodeo is one week away!

Looks like I've attracted some attention.

A new comment has been posted on your blog Rhymes With Right, on entry #158774 (Toronto Cartoon Flap). http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/158774.php

IP Address: 164.100.214.80
Name: aamir malik
Email Address: aamir834@yahoo.com
URL:

Comments:

ASALAM_U_ALIKUM
what the hell have you people made this?
how could you be so much rude ?
what do you think of yourself?
if you vl be here we will jst kill you>?

I'm contacting Yahoo and his ISP regarding this. Feel free to use the email address if you see fit.

And yet there are still those calling Islam a religion of peace. Instead we see that Muslims continue following the bloody example set by their murderous false prophet Muhammad (pbuh*).

*pbuh=PLACE BACON UPON HIM

And while I'm at it, may as well use this as an excuse for an unscheduled linkfest! Feel free to post links to your best stuff, tracking back to this post. I won't set an arbitrary limit on the number of links, but will ask you to be reasonable.

MORE AT Jawa Report, Howie's Moisture Farm, http://paduanjawa.blogspot.com/2006/02/join-party.html">This Blog Is Full Of Crap

The student paper at University of Toronto, The Strand, wouldn't print the Danish cartoons, on the grounds that they were inflammatory.

So instead, they printed this one.

What do you think?

The paper refused to back down under pressure from student groups but the support of the university. On one level, I find it admirable. On another, I do not.

As I have said in the past, I have doubts about the original decision to publish the Mohammad cartoons in Denmark. I don't know that I would have published all of them, but the paper's editor offers a good explanation of his motivations. But once they became the source of such an uproar, the cartoons became newsworthy and needed to be printed to provide context. The failure of media outlets to do so was wrong.

The Strand took a different tack -- they published this entirely different cartoon, one that does not show Mohammad's face but which is, clearly, Mohammad. And for good measure, they showed him making out with Jesus on a carnival ride -- with Jesus clearly the sexual aggressor. And that is where I am left somewhat puzzled -- what exactly was the point of portraying the Son of God in such a gratuitously offensive manner? I don't deny their right to do so (though I wonder if Canadian hate-speech laws could be invoked), I just don't see their reason for doing so if they won't publish the newsworthy cartoons.

Their explanation for publishing this cartoon?

To some degree, we felt like it was our duty to do so. We would be making a statement: that freedom of expression triumphs over all, that tactics like the administration emptying newsstands over publication of controversial subjects are Draconian and detrimental to an environment like a university, which claims to nurture new ideas and inspire independent thinking. After all, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are basic values in Canadian society. But where does freedom of images fit in?

Our own editorial staff was completely conflicted on the issue. Many of them had had their fill of cartoon-related debate with the prophets-making-out-cartoon and didn't even reply to the e-mails that were sent out. By Monday night, not everyone's opinion had been aired, and the notorious cartoons were screaming for a decision to be made.

We won't be like other institutions. We will value the freedom to choose just as highly as that to express. And above all, we will try to the best of our abilities to reach out to the greatest possible audience we can, hopefully inspiring some discussion and critical thinking along the way.

You can see the cartoon we almost didn't publish below. In light of everything else, it seems pretty damn tame. Hell, those could be any two guys kissing! And who doesn't play tonsil hockey in the Tunnel of Love? As for the other ones, you can view them online, but only if you want to.

Frankly, it is a pretty weak explanation, don't you think? And I won't get into the question of their blasphemy in the editorial, in which they relegate Jesus to the status of mere prophet (the Muslim designation for Jesus) rather than Christian designations like Lord, Son of God, and Saviour of the World. But it is their right to publish, just as it is my right to say they are wrong -- but being wrong and offensive and blasphemous is not a basis for censorship.

Still, I find it interesting to note that not one riot has been provoked by the much more offensive explicit and intentional insult to Jesus. And that may be the real point -- offended Christians don't kill; offended Muslims do.

UPDATE: It seems that the ever-so-tolerant folks at University of Toronto are not so tolerant of free speech in instances when it upholds traditional Christian teachings on homosexuality or abortion.

HAT TIP: Exposed Agenda via Crittermusings.

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At last! Someone writing about the current testing regime prevalent in American schools who realizes that the evil notion of “teaching to the test” is, in reality, teaching to the standards set by the state.

Those who complain are not really talking about teaching to the state test. Unless teachers sneak into the counseling office and steal a copy, which can get them fired, they don't know what's on the test. They are teaching not to the test but to the state standards -- a long list of things students are supposed to learn in each subject area, as approved by the state school board.

Hardly anybody complains about teaching to a standard. Teacher-turned-author Susan Ohanian is trying to change this, and she refers to all advocates of learning standards as "Standardistos." But she has not made much headway, mostly because standards make sense to parents like me. We are not usually included in discussions of testing policy, but we tend to vote in large numbers, and everybody knows that any governor or president who came out against standards for schools and learning would soon be looking for work in the private sector.

Those who object to such standards (including the wrong-headed Ohanian) are really objecting to good education. After all, look the standards for my 10th Grade World History classes. Do you really find anything objectionable there? Anything that should not, reasonably speaking, be a part of a World History class? If anything, these TEKS (Texas Essential knowledge and Skills) provide a pretty good overview of the subject. When looked at in the context of the overall standards for grades 1-12, you find that they provide a great scope and sequence for learning. The TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) tests to those standards – so if my colleagues and I teach to those standards, our students should pass the Exit Level test in 11th grade. That is not to say that I don’t have issues with the TAKS, but the fact that it is standards driven is not one of them.

I guess that since these illegals don't have a huge bloc of supporters urging that their staus be ignored, it is no surprise that they are departing for their homeland.

By now the shipping container carrying Jonathan Langan's material life in the United States has arrived in Ireland. The plush green furniture, his American flag and the construction tools of his trade are all gone from his Queens apartment.

Langan, a lanky, red-haired Irishman, was bidding a final farewell to his adopted country. He didn't leave for want of work -- his fledgling construction company was booming. Success was his problem. The more prosperous his company became, the more Langan feared he would get snared by immigration agents.
"You don't want to give off red flags because you're not supposed to be working," said Langan, 24, who lived illegally in the United States for three years. "It's too dangerous, what happens if you get caught."

The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades. Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left: The Irish government estimates that about 14,000 Irish returned from the United States since 2001, with more than half of them coming from New York. The Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Irish population throughout the United States shrank by 28,500 people, to 128,000.

Now, if we could only get a certain larger group of illegal aliens to depart in similar proportions. But they won’t – their government does not want them back, and there is a segment of American society who choose ethnic solidarity over respect for the laws of the United States.

So instead, it's "Erin Go Home" and not "Hasta La Vista, Baby!"

Gee, I wonder if this clown demanded the same thing for Dick Cheney or the Bush girls?

The son of a U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona was arrested and booked on drug charges, accused of selling narcotics to college students, officials said.

The 24-year-old son of former state Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson was taken into custody Friday after a search of his home, deputies said.

James Robert Pederson was charged with possession of narcotics, marijuana and paraphernalia, and misconduct with weapons, among other charges, Lt. Paul Chagolla said. He was released on his own recognizance Saturday morning.

The elder Pederson, who is challenging Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, asked for the public to respect his family's privacy.

"This is a personal matter that is obviously very troubling and being dealt with within our family right now," Pederson said in a statement.

This is a much more serious matter than the VP’s hunting accident or the underage boozing of a couple of college girls – so I’m sure that the media will give proportionally more coverage to this incident.

Not.

Looks like the American people are becoming more and more enthusiastic about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a candidate for President. At the same time, opposition is growing to another female candidate.

Growing numbers of Americans oppose a presidential bid by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in 2008 — and favor a run by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — amid broad public willingness to elect a woman as president, according to a nationwide poll released Sunday.

The Presidents Day survey conducted for Hearst Newspapers by the Siena Research Institute of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., covered 1,120 registered voters and was completed Feb. 10.

Some 48 percent of survey participants said Rice "should run" for president at the conclusion of President Bush's second term, an increase of 6 percentage points over a similar survey a year ago.

Clinton saw opposition to a presidential bid grow over the same period. About 44 percent of respondents now say Clinton "should not run" for president in 2008 — up from 37 percent who felt that way last year.

The percentage of registered voters who say Clinton "should run" slipped from 53 percent to 51 percent in the past year, as support for a Rice candidacy increased, from 42 percent to 48 percent.

But the most important part of the survey is that Americans feel ready to vote for a woman.

The survey found that 79 percent of participants were willing to vote for a woman as president, and 64 percent said the nation was "ready" for one.

The survey did not test a head-to-head race between Clinton and Rice.
The margin of error for the survey in both years was 2.9 percentage points. That could mean that Clinton's 2 percentage point drop in the "should run" category may not represent an actual change.

The survey found that a majority of registered voters thought a female president would handle national security-related issues as well as a male president, including serving as commander-in-chief of the armed services.

In other words, 2008 may be just the time for a strong, national security-oriented female candidate like Dr. Rice to seek the presidency. We in the GOP need to persuade her that her time is NOW.

Let me say it clearly -- the Holocaust happened.

Let me be forthright about my belief -- those who deny the Holocaust are intellectually dishonest scum.

But all of that is irrelevant to my next point -- Holocaust-deniers are not criminals.

And that is why I am sorry to see David Irving, one of the more malignant figures in the Holocaust-denial movement, plead guilty to criminal charges related to his expression of that postion in Austria.

A right-wing British historian said Monday he would plead guilty to criminal charges of denying the Holocaust as his trial opened in Vienna.

David Irving, 67, told reporters he now acknowledges that the Nazis systematically slaughtered Jews during World War II. "History is like a constantly changing tree," he said as an eight-member jury and a panel of three judges prepared to hear charges that could put him behind bars for up to 10 years.

Irving has been in custody since his arrest in November on charges stemming from two speeches he gave in Austria in 1989 in which he was accused of denying the Nazis' extermination of 6 million Jews.

A verdict could come later Monday.

Holocaust-denial is a hateful, dishonest intellectual position -- but it is one easily refuted by recourse to the facts. The verdict should come in classrooms, scholarly papers, and books, not in courtrooms.

And as we face demands for censorship of films, books and newspapers that are found to be subjectively wrong and offensive (not objectively wrong and offensive, like Irving's words) by Muslims, we in the West need to be clear on a simple point -- the proper response to evil or offensive words is not censorship or violence, but rather more speech to uplift and instruct in what is right.

Lorenzo Vidin of the Boston Herald asks a couple of pertinent questions, based upon the Danish Cartoon controversy.

The key question is: where do we place that limit? How far must we compromise to respect other peoples’ feelings? Last year, for example, two Scottish Muslim organizations tried to prevent a Glasgow restaurant from obtaining the authorization required to sell alcohol to patrons sitting outdoors, claiming it was offensive to Muslim passers-by.

Are we going to reach a point where no alcohol will be served in public places, as that could offend Muslims? By the same token, some Muslims are offended by mini-skirts and other revealing clothes. Are we going to implement a culturally-sensitive dress code for Western women on our own turf? The question is not so preposterous, given the acts of kowtowing that abound in the West.

If not, then why not? After all, if we are going to limit rights long seen as inalienable -- rights with which we were endowed by our Creator, to crib a phrase from jefferson -- why shouldn't we accept these more limited restrictions based upon the need to be sensitive to those who utterly reject Western notions of freedom?

There are certain crimes I view as beyond the bounds of forgiveness by mortal man. Some include crimes of violence that shock the conscience -- murder, rape, sexual abuse. Others involve crimes of betrayal -- including those which involve betrayal of one's country. In such cases, I oppose leniency as a matter of principle, for such leniency undermines any sense of justice towards those against whom the crimes were committed.

And so I today stand up and demand that Judge Larry Alan Burns throw the book at Duke Cunningham.

Randy "Duke" Cunningham has recurring prostate cancer and will likely die in prison if sentenced to the 10 years behind bars prosecutors are seeking, his defense lawyers said in court papers filed late Friday.

The documents also reveal that Cunningham and his wife, Nancy, are estranged and that the former 50th District congressman, who pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion in November, now lives on a ranch performing manual labor in exchange for room and board.

The U.S. attorney's office in San Diego is arguing that the four years Cunningham accepted bribes and cheated on his taxes ---- as well as tampering with witnesses after he came under federal scrutiny ---- warrant the maximum possible sentence.

Cunningham has admitted demanding bribes starting as early as 2000 and continuing until 2004 in exchange for steering Pentagon contracts to defense contractors MZM Inc. of Washington and ADCS of Poway.

But Cunningham's lead attorney, K. Lee Blalack, argued his client's military service during the Vietnam War and other civic and charitable contributions before the bribery took place, as well as his health status, should cause the court to hand down a lesser sentence of six years.

Reached at his Washington home Saturday, Blalack said he is asking the court for mercy.

"Mr. Cunningham admits doing something very wrong," he said. "The question is what constitutes harsh punishment for a 64-year-old man with health concerns which make a 10-year sentence likely to be unsurvivable.

"When you combine that with his lifelong contributions unusually found in one man to his country in war and in peace, that should warrant some mercy and a sentence appropriate for paying his debt to society."

What a load of bullshit! Cunningham betrayed his country by taking bribes every bit as much as if he had passed defense secrets to our nation's enemies. To argue that he deserves anything less than the maximum sentence based uponhis prior good works (which didn't stop him from taking bribes) or his health situation (which is irrelevant to his crime) is to argue that those somehow diminish the harm that he did. But those factors do not do anything to mitigate the harm -- and indeed, like the bribes themselves, are indicative of a flawed character that puts himself and his needs/desires above society's need to exact retributive justice in official corruption cases.

Besides, the punisments meted out in cases of official corruption need to be severe -- that is the best way to dissuade those who would betray America through their own avarice. The message should be loud nad clear -- take a bribe and this country will sek to have you serve every day of your sentence, even if that means you die in prison instead of surrounded by your loved ones.even

Here's what one expert on Islam has to say.

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

"They think they have won the debate," he says with a sigh. "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not.

"The cartoons, you see, have not been published in this country, and the Government has been very critical of those countries in which they were published. To many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear victory.

"It's confirmation of what they believe to be a familiar pattern: if spokesmen for British Muslims threaten what they call 'adverse consequences' - violence to the rest of us - then the British Government will cave in. I think it is a very dangerous precedent."

So that should make it clear -- "senistivity" to Islamist values is seen as weakness.

Read the article, too, for an inspiring biography of one was born a Muslim but converted to Christianity -- and what he sees as the direction that Islam is headed in the UK if there is not firm action taken to force a change of course.

Jeff Jacoby discloses this little tidbit in today's column.

The vast majority of US media outlets have shied away from reproducing the drawings, but to my knowledge only the Phoenix has been honest enough to admit that it is capitulating to fear. Many of the others have published high-minded editorials and columns about the importance of ''restraint" and ''sensitivity" and not giving ''offense" to Muslims. Several have claimed they wouldn't print the Danish cartoons for the same reason they wouldn't print overtly racist or anti-Semitic material. The managing editor for news of The Oregonian, for example, told her paper's ombudsman that not running the images is like avoiding the N-word -- readers don't need to see a racial slur spelled out to understand its impact. Yet a Nexis search turns up at least 14 occasions since 1999 when The Oregonian has published the N-word unfiltered. So there are times when it is appropriate to run material that some may find offensive.

Want to bet we could find similar examples in other print media? I ran a quick search on the Houston Chronicle and found AT LEAST 500 uses of the so-called "N-word" since 1988 -- but Houstonians have still not found the Muhammad cartoons in the pages of the Houston Chronicle.

Jacoby's take -- we are dealing with cowards who have succumbed to fear in the face of intimidation by the Islamocensors. And as he points out, their cowardice betrays every dissident, reformer, and moderate who seeks freedom in the face of the islaist fanatics -- for if those in the free West cannot or will not speak out, how can they?

Certainly not if they are talking out of both sides of their turbans.

Political criticism of local imams in recent days has led the integration minister to exclude the clerics from discussions of the integration of Muslims into Danish society.

Some imams have reportedly offered statements to media in Muslim countries that harmed Danish interests in the on-going row over the Mohammed cartoons, the integration minister, Rikke Hvilshøj, said on Monday.

‘I think we have a clear picture today that imams are not the ones we should look to if we want integration in Denmark to work,’ Hvilshøj told daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende. ‘I’ve become aware that there are other groups we should draw upon.’

One incident involved imam Abu Laban telling television station al-Jazeera that he was happy about the Muslim boycott. Later the same day, he said to Danish television station TV2 that he would urge Muslims to stop the boycott immediately.

Hvilshøj had otherwise made efforts to draw upon imams’ significant influence in local Muslim communities. During a conference held with seven local imams last April, she called upon them to encourage young Muslims to complete an education.

PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen had also invited a group of imams for an anti-terror conference at his Marienborg residence in September. The conference sought to find ways of preventing Islam from being used in the name of terror attacks.

Such efforts to involve the Muslim clerics were now a thing of the past, said Hvilshøj.

‘The imams have revealed that they aren’t the ones who benefit integration in Denmark,’ she said. ‘Some of the quotes we have seen show that they aren’t interested in integeration.’

Seems pretty clear that these folks are tailoring their message to their audience while serving their own interests. Given that their own words have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted, why should the Danish government speak with Muslim religious leaders?

I've criticized the abuse of eminent domain for economic purposes a number of times on this site. But here is the sort of case where eminent domain is appropriate. The only question is what constitutes adequate notice of meetings and decision-making.

A Tacoma couple lost their court fight Thursday to keep Sound Transit from seizing their property to build a commuter rail station.

The ruling could have broader implications for the power of government in Washington state to seize private property by eminent domain. The state Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, said it generally does not referee disputes when a government agency needs to seize property. The court also said a Web site posting was enough notice of a meeting on taking the couple’s land.

The majority ruling of the court said it is a “legislative judgment” that determines when it is necessary to seize someone’s property for a public use. It said the courts will overturn that decision only if there is proof of fraud or when the government clearly ignores the law.

Justice James Johnson, in a written dissent, objected that the state Constitution clearly makes government taking of property a matter for the courts.

“The constitutionally limited eminent domain power is improperly expanded by the majority at the expense of the peoples’ individual rights to own and use property,” he said.

Sound Transit is taking the South Tacoma property as part of its effort to extend Sounder commuter train service south from Tacoma to Lakewood.

The property owners, Ken and Barbara Miller, said Sound Transit arbitrarily chose their property over other alternatives. They also argued that no one told them beforehand about the meeting where Sound Transit’s board of directors decided to take their land and that it wasn’t enough for the agency to announce the meeting on its Web site.

At first this looks bad -- not a matter for the courts? Only notice on a website? But let's flesh out a few details.

First, it is clear even from this that it is not up to the courts to decide the best properties to be seized for a project. The majority is right on that point -- that decision belongs to the political branches responsible for carrying out the project, not the judges. They have no role in determining the best way to implement a policy -- only its legality and constitutionality.

The second point -- relating to notice-- is a red herring. After all, the couple had known for years that this was probably coming.

Fairhurst’s ruling said Miller couldn’t have been surprised by the decision to seize his property. Sound Transit started looking in 1998 for a good spot in South Tacoma or Lakewood to build a park-and-ride rail station as part of the planned commuter rail expansion. Three years later, after a series of workshops and public meetings, the agency identified three potential sites.

The ruling said that for those first three years, Miller cooperated with Sound Transit in the possible condemnation. It said he allowed Sound Transit to enter the property and take soil samples in 2001.

“There is considerable evidence that Miller was involved in the site selection process for many years,” Fairhurst said in the ruling.

Miller said he had only a few contacts over the years with anyone related to Sound Transit and wasn’t given a choice about allowing the soil testing.

He said he knew the agency was considering taking his property, as well as others, for the rail station. But he said he wasn’t informed about the 2003 meeting when the agency’s board of directors selected his land for the project.

So you see, for five years this guy was aware that his property was being considered for the project, and he did nothing substantive to head it off. He was not personally notified of the final meeting (which is, in my opinion, bad form), but by that point the selection appears to have been a mere formality. There's an old saying that applies -- "You snooze, you lose."

And unlike the case I wrote about recently, it seems that adequate compensation is a given here.

Gates of Vienna reports on a budding movement for freedom of expression in Great Britain.

Statement of Principle

The strength and survival of free society and the advance of human knowledge depend on the free exchange of ideas. All ideas give offense to someone, and some of the most powerful ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo and Darwin, have given profound religious offense in their time.

The free exchange of ideas depends on freedom of expression and this includes the right to criticize and mock.

We assert and uphold the right of freedom of expression and call on our elected representatives to do the same.

We abhor the fact that people throughout the world live under mortal threat simply for expressing ideas and we call on our elected representatives to protect them from attack and not to give comfort to the forces of intolerance that besiege them.

The Baron also supplies contact information for the group and a link to their website.

They will be rallying in Trafalgar Square on March 25. 2006. Spread the word!

It is therefore obvious that the United States, Israel, and any other sane Western nation must act NOW to keep such weapons out of the hands of the mad mullahs of Iran.

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

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

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

The pronouncement is particularly worrying because it has come from Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of the ultra-conservative Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is widely regarded as the cleric closest to Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

* * *

Rooz reported that Mohsen Gharavian, a lecturer based in a religious school in the holy city of Qom, had declared "for the first time that the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem, according to Sharia."

He also said: "When the entire world is armed with nuclear weapons, it is permissible to use these weapons as a counter-measure. According to Sharia too, only the goal is important."

Mohsen Gharavian did not specify what kinds of "goals" would justify a nuclear strike, but it is thought that any military intervention by the United States would be considered sufficient grounds. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi has previously justified use of suicide bombers against "enemies of Islam" and believes that America is bent on destroying the Islamic republic and its values. The latest insight into the theocracy's thinking comes as the US signals a change in strategy on Iran, after the decision earlier this month to report it to the United Nations Security Council for its resumption of banned nuclear research.

Iran has just announced their intent to use nukes if they get them. Iran has restarted the research necessary to create them. It is therefore time to stop Iran from obtaining those weapons.

This from Robert Novak's column today.

The first documents received from unions in the Labor Department's demand for detailed financial disclosures, for the first time strictly enforcing the 1959 Landrum-Griffin labor reform act, suggest embarrassment by organized labor when the information is made public next month.

Early reports show the AFL-CIO spent $49 million (27 percent of its total annual budget) on political and lobbying activities but only $30 million (or 16.5 percent) to represent its members. That gap contributed to the breakaway from the AFL-CIO of the Teamsters, the Service Employees and other unions.

Another document reveals that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spent $791 million, constituting 85 percent of its 2005 budget, purchasing fixed assets and investments.

Now tell me, why would anyone willingly join any of these organizations? Why should anyone be required to join such organizations as a condition of employment?

Seems to me that the time has come for a national Right-To-Work law -- let the unions survive in the free market.

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are A Dialogue by Gates of Vienna, and The 10 Commandments by The Big Pharoah.

And here is where you find a link to the full results of the vote.

1) If Muslims are allowed to rampage over alleged "blasphemy" via cartoon, are we Christians allowed to do so over the blasphemy of Islam claiming Jesus is only a prophet?

2) If the murder of 3000 in the name of Islam was insufficient reason for Americans to torch mosques and shoot Muslims in the streets, why is the publication of 12 cartoons adequate basis for Muslims to destroy churches and murder Christians?

3) If "respect for religious freedom" is an adequate basis for censorship, why isn't "respect for freedom of speech and press" an adequate basis to ban Islam?

At least the Spanish submitted to the yoke of the Islamofascists in the face of a terrorist attack on Spanish soil. The Berlusconi government caved in because Libyan police overreacted and killed 11 Libyans in Libya after they attacked the Italian Embassy.

This all goes back to the decision of Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli to print -- and wear -- t-shirts with one of the Danish cartoons of Muhammad on them. He then wore one on television during an interview.

Calderoli, whose party is known for its anti-Islam stance, showed off a T-shirt with the controversial cartoons on Italian television on Wednesday. He said the T-shirt was not meant to be a provocation but said there was no point in promoting dialogue with Muslim extremists.

'It is time to put an end to this tale that we need dialogue with these people,' Calderoli said at the time.

As if to prove the point, a mindless Muslim mob in Libya rioted and damaged teh Italian embassy. In attempting to disperse the, Libyan police were ordered to open fire with live ammunition on the rioters, resulting in at least 11 deaths and scores of injuries.

Which, of course, has all been laid at the feet of Calderoli for printing and wearing a t-shirt.

"The entire government is asking the resignation of Calderoli," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said on Saturday.

A charity foundation chaired by the influential son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al Islam, said in a statement it deemed Calderoli "responsible for what had occurred and for the innocent victims and the regrettable incidents."

"The Italian government has to take the action required by such situation against this racist minister who is full of hatred," the statement by the Gaddafi Foundation said.

"If the Italian government fails to do so, Italian relations with Libya will go through a serious and crucial stage during which these ties will be reassessed and reviewed," it added.

Calderoli, showing that he is a man of infinitely more compassion for dead Islamocensors than I am, has this to say.

"I can even be sorry for the victims. But what happened in Libya has nothing to do with my T-shirt. The problem is different ... What is at stake is Western civilization," Calderoli told La Repubblica daily in an interview.

(I fail to see why any civilized person should feel the least bit of compassion for those out to destroy fundamental human rights over a cartoon, but maybe that just means Calderoli is a better man than I am.)

Sadly, though, Calderoli chose not to stand his ground, and offered his resignation today.

And in Libya, the government has taken action in response to the deaths.

In Tripoli, the General People's Congress fired Interior Minister Nasser al-Mabrouk Abdallah and police chiefs in Benghazi saying "disproportionate force" had been used to disperse protesters who tried to storm the Italian consulate.

The Congress hailed the dead as "martyrs" and declared Sunday a day of mourning across Libya.

This, of course, must be seen as the official imprimatur on destructive rioting by the Gaddafi, making Libya again a state sponsor of terrorism against the civilized Western world.

The submission to dhimmitude by Italy (or, as I now call it, al-Dhimmitalia) is a stunning victory for the Islamist horde, and is a step away from freedom in Europe.

For my part, I'll reprint my favorite Danish cartoon -- and ask you the question it inspires in me.

Saint or Devil?

UPDATE: The Washington Post has additional details in a new article.

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Here’s another case where a judge ought to dismiss the charges and sanction the prosecutor.

What started as a version of the schoolyard game of dodge ball has apparently become a legal ordeal for a 12-year-old girl and her family.

Complaints by the parents of a student injured during a game at Hermosa Elementary School prompted authorities to charge Brittney Schneiders with battery.

Five other students also accused of battery stemming from the May 8 playground game opted to take probation, but Brittney Schneiders and her parents refused.

"I don't think I did (commit a crime)," Brittney told NBC4's Mary Parks. "I thought I was just playing a dodge ball game. I never thought it would come up to this level."

For seven years, Schneiders made the honor roll and received good citizenship awards, but the teen soccer star is in a legal mess over a game of "Wall Ball."

"Wall Ball" is a game where a team throws or kicks a ball in an attempt to hit other players.

Schneiders kicked a ball that hit a boy who wore braces, giving him a fat lip.

The district attorney, probation and sheriff's departments agreed with the school that the boy was repeatedly and unnecessarily hit with the ball and they filed charges against the students.

But Brittney's father, Ray Schneiders, believes the law has gone overboard.

"We are not parents who see our princess can do no wrong," Ray Schneiders said. "It is all about power and the manic egos of those who possess and abuse it."

David Hidalgo, supervising deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County, told NBC4 that although it is illegal for his office to discuss specific cases, he notes that there is always the option of community service or a letter of apology to resolve a case.

"When parents refuse to cooperate under those circumstances and they refuse to hold a minor accountable for their criminal conduct and insist they go to court to refute the allegations, then we have no choice," Hidalgo said.

The district attorney's office also is frustrated by not being able to legally and publicly divulge all the facts in the case, Parks reported.

The case is set for trial in March.

Unless there is significantly more to this case than is being reported, it seems to me that you have a well-connected parent and an over-zealous prosecutor out to punish what appears to be a trivial injury.

The Catholic League For Religious and Civil Rights has weighed ln on the controversy over the Mohammad cartoons being republished in the Daily Illini.

February 17, 2006

CARTOON UPSETS UNIV. OF ILLINOIS OFFICIALS

The February 9 edition of the Daily Illini, the student newspaper at the University of Illinois, republished cartoons that made fun of Muhammad. Those responsible for doing so, the editor in chief and the opinions page editor, have now been suspended.

The response of school officials to this incident is the subject of Catholic League president Bill Donohue’s news release:

“Richard Herman, the chancellor of the University of Illinois, is critical of the decision to reprint the anti-Muhammad cartoons. He maintains that a discussion about the controversial Danish cartoons could have taken place without republishing them. He’s right, but that is not the way the university treats anti-Catholic fare on campus.

“In March 1997, the same Urbana-Champaign campus displayed drawings by Michele Blondel that showed red glass vaginas hanging inside European Roman Catholic cathedrals; two of them had red glass holy water cruets with crosses on them. I wrote a letter to the president registering my objections, and received a reply from the chancellor, Michael Aiken.

“Aiken said he regretted that the art ‘disappointed’ me (flat beers disappoint me, not lousy art). He instructed, ‘Most viewers find Blondel’s art to be quite subtle as it invites the viewer to contemplate and reflect on topics as diverse as the body, the church, and architectural and religious symbolism.’ Stupid me—I thought it was Catholic-bashing porn. His closer was precious: ‘The University believes that true intellectual discourse extends not only to written communication but also to the visual.’ Except when Muslims get angry.

“So what’s changed? Do Catholics have to call for beheadings to get respect? How else to explain the condescending response I got, and the sympathetic response afforded Muslims? Similarly, nobody was disciplined for offending Catholics, but two kids have been suspended for offending Muslims!”

Indeed.

And the New York Times has an interesting overview about the case – including the relatively calm response at other Midwestern universities where some or all of the cartoons were published, including my alma mater, Illinois State University.

My Aggie buddies will be pleased this story doesn't come from College Station -- it is from Kentucky. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "animal husbandry".

Some Bowling Green, Ky., police officers found more than they bargained for after stopping by a Western Kentucky University fraternity party early Thursday.

The officers discovered a live goat stuffed into a storage room of the Alpha Gamma Rho house with no food or water, standing in its own urine and feces, according to WBKO-TV in Bowling Green.

The authorities cited 19-year-old Trenton Dakota Jackson with a second-degree count of cruelty to animals.

Officials aren't sure why the goat was in the storage room and don't know how long the goat had been held captive. Some of the students told police the goat was going to be used in a hazing ritual.

Brian Peyton, the president of Western's Alpha Gamma Rho chapter, said the goat was brought in as a prank, to make some pledges think they would have to have sex with it, WBKO reported. But Peyton told the TV station that the incident wasn’t related to hazing. He said that nobody actually was going to have sex with the goat, the TV station reported.

The goat was sent to the Warren County Humane Society so it could be examined by a veterinarian.

The fraternity has been ordered to stop all activities during an investigation. Alpha Gamma Rho has been cited for hazing three times since 1996.

The executive director of Alpha Gamma Rho's national organization in Kansas City, Mo., said he's also suspended the fraternity chapter. The organization will send someone to the university to investigate the allegations and cooperate with university officials, director Philip Josephson said.

Insert your fraternity joke here.

For me, this is not about Arab or Muslim connections. It is about a much simpler principle – our ports should not be under the control of foreign entities.

The management of major U.S. ports taken over by an Arab-owned company? What was the Bush administration thinking when it allowed such a thing?

That is the question being asked by members of Congress from both parties. Their indignation is aimed at the $6.8 billion purchase by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates, of a firm that handles most operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

At a news conference yesterday, a bipartisan group of seven House and Senate members demanded that an interagency task force on foreign investments, which approved the transaction, examine it more closely. The group contended that although the UAE may have a strongly pro-U.S. government, the country was traversed by some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers and its banking system has been used by groups affiliated with al Qaeda.

"Our ports are major potential terrorist targets," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.). "I strongly urge the administration to thoroughly investigate this acquisition."

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said, "Handing the keys to U.S. strategic ports to a regime that recognized the Taliban is not a sound next step in our war against terror."

It really does not matter who is in charge, if they are not Americans. The reality is that these ports are vital national security centers for the United States. It does not matter if the company in charge is the UAE or the UK – there is no guarantee that they will have the interests of the USA at heart.

Of all the stupid tit-for-tat games, now Iran has changed the name of that favorite breakfast pastry, the Danish, in protest of the Mohammad cartoons.

Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad."

Bakeries across the capital were covering up their ads for Danish pastries Thursday after the confectioners' union ordered the name change in retaliation for caricatures of the Muslim prophet published in a Danish newspaper.

"Given the insults by Danish newspapers against the prophet, as of now the name of Danish pastries will give way to 'Rose of Muhammad' pastries," the union said in its order.

"This is a punishment for those who started misusing freedom of expression to insult the sanctities of Islam," said Ahmad Mahmoudi, a cake shop owner in northern Tehran.

Yeah – that will show them.

So let’s go out and buy some newly re-christened Danish cats and Danish carpets.

Houston's Mayor Pro Tem, City Councilman Carol Alvarado, has expalnation for of why she isn't responsible for her staff's looting of the city treasury -- supervising her employees is just too much work.

Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado deflected responsibility Thursday for the $130,000 in improper bonuses some of her employees received, saying she trusted subordinates to oversee payroll administration.

"There is no way that an elected official can police every single iota, every single detail, that goes on in their office," Alvarado said. "My job is to delegate, to hire people, to trust people that will bring forward any types of irregularities."

The four employees, who work in the mayor pro tem office that Alvarado oversees, have been placed on administrative leave pending a police investigation into how they received the extra pay since late 2004. They either declined or couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

Top city officials, including Mayor Bill White, Controller Annise Parker, Finance and Administration Director Judy Gray Johnson and her deputy over payroll, Barbara Glick, also refused to discuss the matter.

If performing basic supervisory duties like ensuring that your employees are not robbing the taxpayers blind is too much work, maybe it is time for you to give up your job as Mayor Pro Tem, Carol -- and to consider resigning from office completely.

And frankly, given your past inattention to detail, I don't see why the people of Houston should continue to place any trust in you at all.

You have to wonder if the prior work history of a Dallas candidate for the Texas legislature doesn't give him necessary experience for the job.

A Dallas Democrat seeking election to the Texas House of Representatives has acknowledged that he once worked as a prostitute.

Tom Malin, a salesman and actor, said he no longer works as a prostitute but conceded that his previous life could cost him the nomination in the March 7 Democratic primary.

Besides -- couldn't we just call him an "independent businessman in a personal service industry"?

I drove downtown to teach my night class tonight. Wll, trafic was a mess. Why? The festivities have already begun for this year's NBA All-Star Game, taking place over the weekend. This means that I'll get some good blogging in this weekend, as I don't want to go anywhere that is being touched by that madness.

So I'm opening the floodgates and telling you, faithful readers and linkers, to join into my second attempt at a weekend linkfest.

Of the many Mormons I have known in my life, I can think of none who would not qualify for inclusion of the rubric of “he/she is among the finest people I know.” Whether I think of Tammy, my childhood neighbor and friend who lost her battle to cancer over three decades ago; Betty, who volunteered time to run the base youth group when I was a kid; Beth, one of my high school/college sweethearts; friendly neighborhood commenter and blog-buddy T. F. Sterns; or my Mormon colleagues at school, I cannot ever think of a time that I have questioned the character or integrity of any of these individuals.

That said, I must respectfully say that I do not accept the distinctive tenets of their faith, which I did explore during my college years. Much of my skepticism comes from my own love of history, and my inability to reconcile the contents of LDS scriptures with the historical record as I understand it. I therefore found this article to be striking, especially insofar as it addresses the conflict between revealed knowledge, faith, and the scientific/historical record.

From the time he was a child in Peru, the Mormon Church instilled in Jose A. Loayza the conviction that he and millions of other Native Americans were descended from a lost tribe of Israel that reached the New World more than 2,000 years ago.

"We were taught all the blessings of that Hebrew lineage belonged to us and that we were special people," said Loayza, now a Salt Lake City attorney. "It not only made me feel special, but it gave me a sense of transcendental identity, an identity with God."

A few years ago, Loayza said, his faith was shaken and his identity stripped away by DNA evidence showing that the ancestors of American natives came from Asia, not the Middle East.

"I've gone through stages," he said. "Absolutely denial. Utter amazement and surprise. Anger and bitterness."

For Mormons, the lack of discernible Hebrew blood in Native Americans is no minor collision between faith and science. It burrows into the historical foundations of the Book of Mormon, a 175-year-old transcription that the church regards as literal and without error.

For those outside the faith, the depth of the church's dilemma can be explained this way: Imagine if DNA evidence revealed that the Pilgrims didn't sail from Europe to escape religious persecution but rather were part of a migration from Iceland — and that U.S. history books were wrong.

Critics want the church to admit its mistake and apologize to millions of Native Americans it converted. Church leaders have shown no inclination to do so. Indeed, they have dismissed as heresy any suggestion that Native American genetics undermine the Mormon creed.

Yet at the same time, the church has subtly promoted a fresh interpretation of the Book of Mormon intended to reconcile the DNA findings with the scriptures. This analysis is radically at odds with long-standing Mormon teachings.

Now let me say that the rest of the article continues on in a similar vein, and I found it