William & Mary says: Welcome Vampires

After William & Mary's collapse over the feather issue it seems that controversies are flowing fast and furious at the venerable institution. It almost seems as if they're doing their Anglophillic best to copy the mind bending Political Correctness that has so smothered the British Isles.
So in the name of inclusivenes and the apparent spirit of Halloween the college administration has decided to remove the cross from the altar of the two hundred fifty odd year old Wren Chapel. That's right, they're making a chapel a more toloerant place by making it...well...a less Christian place. In their words...

"In order to make the Wren Chapel less of a faith-specific space, and to make it more welcoming to students, faculty, staff and visitors of all faiths, the cross has been removed from the altar area,"

"less of a faith-specific space"... A chapel... A chapel with a crypt no less.
It makes you wonder who at the college has been complaining about coming upon a cross in a building that has been designated a chapel since 1722.
More words of wisdom from college administrators...

Whether celebrating our happiest moments, marking our greatest achievements, or finding solace during our most profound sadness, our chapel, like our entire campus, must be welcoming to all.

Aawww...how comforting...the solace of church desecration.
We obviously need more Virginians like this...

Why not just rename it the William & Mary Wren Ecumenical Community Center and Madrass?

No Bias Here We're British

An interesting headline from the London Times Online

Low blows put Bush back in contention

a sampling from the article

Right-wing television chat shows are dripping with vitriol.

...what Democrats are calling the “politics of fear and smear” are at their most vicious in a few hotly contested races where ultra-moderate Democrats are seeking election.

"ultra-moderate"? What is an "ultra-moderate"?

William & Mary loses two feathers, shows white feather

The NCAA goes after the ole' alma (almost) mater.
And it's because of this...

1492 and all that...

From the blog What Would Charles Martel Do we have a look at a Christian Science Monitor article on American Hispanics becoming Muslims which includes this choice little line...

Many Hispanics ... who are becoming Muslim, would say they are embracing their heritage, a heritage that was denied to them in a sense," says Ihsan Bagby, professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky.

Ah yes. Let me get this straight. You're in America, but you came from Mexico. And being from Mexico part of your family (depending on the amount of Indian blood you possess) is from Spain. And most of Spain was ruled by varying Muslim kingdoms between the eighth and thirteenth centuries before being regulated to a tiny kingdom in the south that fell in 1492.
So by that reasoning I should be worshipping Jove.

Absolutely Awesome

Michael J. Embryo

Brits Love Borat

The British seem to be falling over themselves laughing at the newest Sascha Baron Cohen (Not-One-of-The-Brothers) movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorius Nation of Kazakhstan. And judging from some of the comments from these British papers I think I know why...

From the Guardian:

I especially like the way in which it pointedly critiqued US nationalism, religious fundamentalism and bigotry of various kinds

Or From the Daily Mail:

don't think the film would have been as funny had it been set in Britain because part of the fun is watching gullible Americans being taken in by a daft man from Kazakhstan.

Although we have been taken in by a few Americans lately...just ask Tony Blair.

60,040,610 terrorists might possibly be wrong

OK, the Republican party aren't the biggest group of terrorists in the country. No, we're South Africans. South African Fascists. At least that's according to Rosie O'Donnell, who while discussing Tim Robbins new apartheid movie "Catch a Fire" said ...

The blacks in South Africa, who were trying to fight for their own civil rights, were called terrorists and the government was allowed to arrest them at will and interrogate them, no matter what they did, just on the suspicion. Very similar today to what we have in the United States, thanks to the Patriot Act."

Kyoto Magic

Reuters announces that the WWF (and I assume that's the environmentalists and no the wrestlers) announced Oct 24 that the Australians are among the biggest resource hogs on the planet. After us and the Canadians of course. Must be something about speaking English.
What's really interesting however in this article is that we learn Australians don't consume so much because it's their lifestyle or some other prosaic reason like that. No, it's all because they refused...

to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges about 40 nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12, saying it is unfair because developing nations are exempt.

But that refusal meant Australia used more energy, food, timber and land per person than any of its regional neighbors,

So apparently the mere act of ratifying the Kyoto accord causes all those little things like driving automobiles, heating homes and generally engaging in life in an industrialized society to *Poof*.

Unless you believe this.

Newsweek: A magazine in the journalistic sense

Newsweek issues a strange sort of mea culpa in their latest issue, and it's on the subject of our global climate. The global climate of the 1970's to be exact. They hark back to their April 1975 article which warned America of the dangers of global cooling. The gist of the article is that while they were wrong in the 1970's as regards to the world's future temperature this time they really, really, really know what their talking about. In fact (surprise) they tell us they weren't actually wrong in 1975... in fact most the column is about how...

...the story wasn't "wrong" in the journalistic sense of "inaccurate."

Wasn't "wrong in the journalistic sense." I'll have to remember that one.

Meshugener

Lunacy from Bradley Burston in Haaretz.

Were I a Muslim living in the West, my wife, or my sister, or my daughter might well decide to wear a headscarf or a veil when she went out in public.

Perhaps it would be because she was tired of men and boys ogling her, objectifying her. Perhaps it would be because she felt she was entitled to her dignity. Perhaps she simply might prefer modesty and privacy to fashion slavery.

...and perhaps she doesn't want her throat cut. Or do you think the people you see marching here are not due diligent in policing their mothers, daughters and sisters.

Mr. Burston even brings up this...

In Britain, the government minister for race and faith relations, Phil Woolas, was quoted this week as demanding that Muslim teaching assistant Aisha Azmi, 24, who refused to remove her veil at work, be fired for that reason.

We remember Ms. Azmi don't we. Here she is.

And of course what's the title of the article...

Targeting Muslims - the new Inquisition

60,040,610 terrorists can't be wrong

"Mad Man Olbermann" has finally gone off the deep end

...the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party.

Gosh. I haven't sawed off anybody's head all week. Better get moving.

Fear in the Horn of Africa: update

Also courtesy of Jihad Watch (for all your one stop Jihad needs) more on the Horn

Fears of jihad in Horn of Africa

From the banlieue: update

courtesy of Jihad Watch some more information

French police face 'permanent intifada'

I like this part at the end...

Rumors have flown around some housing projects that police are hoping to use the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week, to round up known troublemakers, on the basis that fasting all day will have made the youths weaker and easier to catch.

Not the Black Panther

Not our favorite African prince/Marvel superhero but instead an ethnically injured teacher in England

Motes and Logs

While people choose to get themselves worked into a furor over items like this (from LGF), this is a brief summary of anti-Christian actions over the last month in India...

Christians are attacked at a prayer service in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.

Pastor belonging to Indian Missionary Society and his team members attacked in Gujarat.

A gang of unknown men attack two churches in the diocese of Daltenganj in Jharkhand and take away thousands of rupees earmarked for free tribal education.

Two missionaries belonging to Full Gospel Pentecost dragged out from a Christian prayer gathering and beaten up by Hindu militants in Kasipur of Uttranchal.

The Good Shepherd Mission School in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir vandalised by local people following the suspension of a Muslim teacher.

A church in Aluru of Armor mandal in Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh attacked by Hindu fanatics.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activists attack Christian believers, including a Pastor, while pasting the posters on healing meetings in Nagarkarnool in Andhra Pradesh.

A mission school teacher working in a mission school in Najota village in Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh is brutally beaten up by Hindu fanatics

A Christian believer has been beaten up and tonsured for refusing to take part in a re-conversion programme under Tihidi police station limits in Bhadrak district of Orissa.

Hindu extremists belonging to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh attack a Christian student at Tihidi village in Bhadrak district of Orissa.

Eight evangelists arrested for alleged conversion activities in Sagar near Shimoga of Karnataka.

Compiled from locations such as this, and this

Wars, External and Internal

CNN has become "the publicist for an enemy propaganda film" by broadcasting a video showing an insurgent sniper in Iraq apparently killing an American soldier, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said here Friday.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) called for the Pentagon to oust any CNN reporter embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.

"I think Americans like to think we're all in this together," Hunter said. "The average American Marine or soldier has concluded after seeing that film that CNN is not on their side."

CNN? How about the entire American Media Establishment? And how about the Democrat Party of which the Media Establishment is merely an arm. I think it's become clear to everyone that the American Media hates George Bush, the Republican Party and Conservative Americans in general so much that they see the War on Terror as a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Conservatives are the enemy, the eternal enemy. Outside enemies of the United States from the Soviet Union to the Sandinistas will come and go but the real foes to them are internal.
If the United States loses abroad it makes no matter to them as long as it gives them an advantage in the real war and against the real enemies.

Hindu Fascists and their Struggle with Christianity I

After last weeks mass conversions by Dalits in the India state of Maharashtra it's a good idea to dig a little deeper into the background of religious animus that's brewing across the Indian subcontinent. An animus directed not only against Moslems but also against the relatively small Indian Christian population and those Christian missionaries and aid workers who are working with the most impoverished and disenfranchised.
Here from Worthy News are some of the salient facts.

Increased attacks against Christians this year have grown out of a trend of violence going back to 2001. Each year from 2001 to 2005, about 200 anti-Christian attacks were reported in India. This year nearly 150 such incidents were reported by mid-September, with the annual total expected to exceed 200.

Whereas the trend began after the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power in 1998, the recent campaign is rooted in the party’s attempts to recover from political loss and internal division. Then as now, most of the attacks have been led, directly or indirectly, by Hindu extremist organizations linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Forum or VHP) and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal.

Here are the wikipedia entires for the RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. They seem to have been written from a viewpoint that is biased towards these organizations. Note the interesting (and frightelning) fact that the Economist magazine has described the RSS as "the largest non-communist organization in the world". These groups form the "street" or units in the field for the BJP, the Bharatiya Janata Party, on of India's two main political parties...

The RSS and affiliate organizations promote the ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism. Though registered as a socio-cultural organization, the RSS’s leaders are officially appointed by the BJP. (But as the RSS dictates affairs within the BJP, unofficially it is the RSS that makes appointments to key party posts.)...The BJP rules in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, and it forms part of ruling coalitions in Karnataka, Bihar and Orissa states.

The states ruled directly by the BJP have a combined population of some 188 million people.
After coming to power in a state one of the first orders of business for the BJP (after banning the slaughter of cows) has been the passing of anti-religious conversion acts.
To be continued.

Clear Eyed

While browsing through Barnes and Noble yesterday I came upon today's entry for The You Must Be Joking Book of the Year. An interesting little tome (OK not that little) called A Moment of Crisis: Jimmy Carter, the Power of a Peacemaker, and North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions. At first thinking this must be some production of the Onion I picked it up for a laugh only to discover that the author Marion V. Creekmore (not a Faulkner character) has no ironic intention what so ever. He has written according to the publishers...

a gripping narrative of the former President on one of his most remarkable missions, a clear-eyed investigation into the controversies and successes of the mission and others like it, and an illuminating look at how to best handle North Korea and other "rogue regimes." This is essential reading for anyone interested in diplomacy of the highest order, how Jimmy Carter has accomplished the extraordinary achievements of his post-Presidency, the circumstances that can lead to war, and the resolve that it takes to avoid it.

Of course IMHO one of the most dangerous "circumstances that can lead to war" is to play kick the diplomatic can down the road when dealing with the "nuclear ambitions" of the crazed Fu Manchu of North Korea, Kim Il-Jung.

"A Monumental Genetic Hangover"

I am a poor benighted Evangelical who but hopes for a new Heaven and a new Earth and so does not have the breadth of mind to comprehend the predictions of my Darwinian superiors.

Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.

Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

Speaking of Wells

“Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough – as many wrong theories are!” (The Time Traveler – Chapter Four, Pg. 49)

A Half Life of Controversy

While this is not by any means a science blog I have included here a Wikipedia link to Ununoctium. Element 118. The "controversy plagued Element 118". Yes you've got to love that headline. Let's say it again, the "controversy plagued Element 118". Makes you want to read on doesn't it? Is there a history of substance abuse? Will the troubled synthetic super heavy element enter rehab? Perhaps wieght loss is the answer. Rumours are the weighty Tranuranic (like you didn't suspect the Transuranism) will be investing in a name change.
Here is the mug shot. Yep, he sure looks like an antisemite.

300,000,000

Happy Birthday to the 300 millionth American...where ever you are. Check out this cool site.

The Terry Lloyd Death

The verdict of the Coroner's inquest in the killing of British journalist Terry Lloyd has been generating a lot of heat in the news (586 stories on Google News) but little light. Here is how the story is being typically presented. From the Scotsman...

Mr Lloyd disappeared in a hail of American gunfire as he and his three colleagues approached Iraq's second city of Basra to report on the human cost of the battle on 22 March, 2003.

He was shot in the back by an Iraqi machinegun then, as he was evacuated in a makeshift ambulance, shot again in the head by American forces.

His Lebanese interpreter Hussein Osman was later found dead and buried, while French cameraman Fred Nerac is still officially missing.

We also have the comments from the grieving widow

His widow Lynn accused US forces of allowing soldiers to "behave like trigger-happy cowboys in an area in which there were civilians travelling on a highway". In a statement she said: "The marines who fired on civilians and those who gave those orders should now stand trial. Under the Geneva Conventions Act, that trial should be for the murder of Terry Lloyd and nothing less."

but now let's look at a more thorough version of the events from the Guardian

It was early on the morning of March 21 that the ITN reporter Terry Lloyd heard that thousands of Iraqi soldiers were surrendering in the southern town of Basra. As a journalist operating independently of the military, it seemed the perfect opportunity to record the voices of those the war was being waged against and film the arrival of British troops.

He and his cameramen, Daniel Demoustier and Fred Nerac, and his Lebanese translator, Hussein Osman, set off in two vehicles clearly marked with "TV" signs. They were not to know it, but there had been no surrender.

On the road to Basra, they came across Iraqi troops near the Shatt al-Basra bridge and did a U-turn. Lloyd and Demoustier were in one 4x4 vehicle, the other two in another. It was then the firing started.

So we have a group of journalists operating independently in a war zone, which I assume to mean that no military authorities had been briefed as to the journalists' itenerary. Plus the reporters themselves were operating under false assumptions that there had been a surrender.

In his account, Demoustier said: "There were bullets everywhere, the windows were smashed. I ducked down - I was still driving - I could not see at all where I was going. I looked round and Terry was out of the car, the door was open. The car hit a ditch and I jumped out - just then the car caught fire." All hell broke loose, he said, and he was sure he was going to die.

For more than three years, it had been unclear what happened to the rest of the ITN crew, except that Demoustier was the only survivor. It was not until an Iraqi witness gave his testimony to an inquest led by the deputy Oxfordshire coroner, Andrew Walker, that the fate of the 50-year-old veteran war reporter was laid bare. Lloyd had been shot in the back by Iraqi gunfire and lay in the central reservation of the busy highway beside injured Iraqi soldiers.

So they drive into a fire fight and are hit by Iraqi gunfire. Plus the only witness to the crucial events in Lloyd's death is an Iraqi.

The Iraqi witness said: "Seeing that people needed help, I did a U-turn in the road and stopped my minibus ... I saw a man lying in the dirt between the two carriageways. On seeing the wounded soldiers getting into my minibus, he stood up and came towards me ... I could see that he was bleeding from a wound to his right shoulder. I believe that he was a journalist as he was wearing a card around his neck that said press."

The man helped Lloyd to lie down in the back of his minibus. As he drove away, the vehicle came under heavy fire. Upon arrival at a hospital in Basra, the Iraqi found Lloyd had been shot in the head.

It was this action - shooting at a civilian vehicle trying to escape from the line of fire - that the coroner considered in breach of the Geneva convention. Mr Walker said the vehicle "presented no threat to the American forces" and that they had not shot it in self-defence.

So the "makeshift ambulance" was in fact a minibus that stopped along the road, which then picked up Iraqi soldiers (who were not so wounded that they couldn't get into the minibus).

Let's recap. Journalists drive into a war zone without any military authorization, operating under false information they drive into a fire fight with Iraqi forces. After being wounded and having their vehicle destroyed, by the Iraqis, one of the reporters gets into an unmarked vehicle with a group of Iraqi soldiers. This was at a time that Iraqi irregular forces were using vehicles as "technicals" such as American forces saw in Somalia. The minibus with the already wounded Journalist was then fired on by American forces (though the witnesses are not able to agree if it was American ground or air forces that fired the fatal shots).

I close with this quote from Paul McLaughlin broadcasting organizer of the National Union of Journalists...

"ITN did everything they possibly could have done. He was one of their most experienced reporters and this was not a case of a cavalier lack of preparation."

Cavalier. maybe not. How about cowboy like.

Why there might not always be an England ( The Saga Continues )

From The Daily Mail:

Christian BA employee to take legal action over suspension for wearing cross

A committed Christian said today she planned to take legal action against her employers British Airways after the airline ruled that displaying her crucifix breached uniform rules

and of course

Miss Eweida said last night: "I will not hide my belief in the Lord Jesus. British Airways permits Muslims to wear a headscarf, Sikhs to wear a turban and other faiths religious apparel.

but she's not taking it lying down

"Only Christians are forbidden to express their faith. I am a loyal and conscientious employee of British Airways, but I stand up for the rights of all citizens."

From Uruk to London

Can someone from America read anything from the UK these days without having Leftist Anti-American drivel jammed down their throat? Here's the description from amazon.com of John Mortimer's new Rumpole book

From Publishers Weekly
Mortimer's curmudgeonly barrister, Horace Rumpole, defends a Pakistani doctor accused of aiding al-Qaeda in an up-to-date tale that pits Rumpole against those who use the terrorist threat as an excuse to subvert the British legal system. When Mahmood Khan, who loves the queen, roast beef and cricket as much as any respectable Englishman, is imprisoned on vague charges, Rumpole must use all his wiles—including blackmailing the odious home secretary—to ensure a fair trial.

Ah yes no Islamic radicals in England, just poor misunderstood immigrants facing the monolithic force of Western Racism.

Of course this is the same Mortimer who said

This conflict has been the biggest foreign policy mistake since the Second World War

Which means what exactly ?

Can one not read anything by an Englishmen now days. If you peruse the Introduction to Gilgamesh: A New English Version you get

To give "Gilgamesh" some contemporary relevance Mitchell tries to draw parallels between Gilgamesh's "pre-emptive strike" on Humbaba and George Bush's attack on Iraq (which just happens to be where Gilgamesh originated).

From Uruk to London you're not safe anywhere.

Why there might not always be an England III

It's now getting rather ludicrous. From The Brussels Journal

A teenage girl was questioned by police after allegedly making a racist remark to Asian students in the classroom. The 14-year-old pupil had refused to take part in a science tutorial with five other students at Harrop Fold High School, Salford, after claiming they didn't speak English. After questioning by police she was released without charge but the school say they are investigating the matter.

YouTube and what's inappropriate

With YouTube currently mired in controversy over what it bans as offensive and inappropriate I thought it would be interesting to look at some other controversial material on the site. I choose the movie Jesus Camp. Look at what I found in the comment sections at some of the postings of the trailers for the movie

god is spelled gop? haha...time to open up the colliseum and feed them to the lions again

Becky Fisher is the reason why I hate christians....take this whore out in the woods and plant a bullet in her head....for america

"radically laying down their lives for the gospel"? wow. f&*%ing neurotic hypocrites.

Oh those Christians, such dividers.

Medical October Surprise

While here in America everyone is talking of the study in the Lancet and stressing the apparent "Englishness" of this report, the BBC reports it like this

An estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion, according to a survey by a US university.

It doesn't even mention the Lancent till almost the very end of the article. The American university mentioned is John Hopkins, specifically the Bloomberg School of Public Health which also gave us...

...an earlier Johns Hopkins study _ that one was released just before the November 2005 presidential election. At the time, the lead researcher, Les Roberts of Hopkins, said the timing was deliberate. Many of the same researchers were involved in the latest estimate.

Here's some more info on the Lancet editor from LGF

Fear in the Horn of Africa

As troops of the official government of Somalia take Bur Haqaba, on the road between Baidoa and Mogadishu, from forces of the ICU. And with Ethiopian forces rumored to be involved against the ICU. And with Kenyan troops supposedly massing on the border of Somalia, it does well to delve into what so alarms the governments of Ethiopia and Kenya about the possible takeover of all of Somalia by the Islamic Courts Union.
Here from the Jamestown Foundation is an interesting article on the Islamist background of the ICU and it's connection to al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI); a sample...

The main goal of AIAI was to form a strong Islamic state in the African Horn countries (Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia).
In the mid-1990s, AIAI initiated attacks on Ethiopian forces (Terrorism Monitor, February 10, 2005). The main goal behind the attacks was to gain control of the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, which borders Somalia. This is a region predominantly occupied by Somali speaking people, but is part of Ethiopia. In 1977, Somalia attacked Ethiopia across the Ogaden Desert taking temporary control of the territory, only to be pushed back out of the region the following year (Terrorism Monitor, February 10, 2005). While the attacks by AIAI against Ethiopia were generally small in scale, the terrorist organization did manage to execute operations as far as the Ethiopian capital.

Why there might not always be an England II

More on the attitude around Windsor Castle, scene of the distrubances I mentioned here.

Drinking From Home: Returning troops targeted by Muslims

"It's THEM !"

The best article you're ever likely to read about the science behind giant spiders and miniature men. The Biology of B-movie Monsters."

The "Death Camp"

From Claudia Rosett's article on the Guantamino Bay dentention center comes this scary description (and not in the way you think). Hat tip to the Corner.

What we saw is a place so steeped in political correctness that it comes close to caricature. Make no mistake: The detainees occupy cells in a high-security facility. But almost every room has an arrow on the floor pointing to Mecca. Signs demanding silence stand ready for prayer time. Korans are cradled in surgical masks. Detainees are interrogated while sitting on sofas or cushioned reclining chairs.

They choose from a halal menu including such home-style treats as dates and baklava. Doctors, dentists and psychiatrists (offering confidential counseling) are on 24-hour call. Good behavior is rewarded with access to board games, books and communal areas, including more time in recreational yards - where we saw a group of detainees chatting around a table, while one of their cohorts nearby, at leisurely speed in the afternoon heat, pedaled an exercise bike.

An officer tells me that earlier this year Guantanamo was buying bottled water that had an American flag on the label. Lest this upset the detainees, base personnel were put to work stripping off the labels.

At the same time, there is a deadly game going on in this camp.

Security guards detach name strips from their uniforms when going near the detainees. Some of the guards, we are told, have been on the receiving end not only of direct attacks and threats from the inmates, but threats against their families. Detainees have made weapons out of light bulbs, fan blades, the footpads of their Asian-style toilets, and the springs in their push-button sinks. Guards tell us that detainees use the lawyer-client privileges they enjoy as a clandestine communications network both inside and outside the camp. What exists in the inmate culture, Harris explains, is, in effect, "a fully tricked-out al-Qaeda operating cell."

The conundrum in running Gitmo is how to contain and learn from this scene without getting killed by the inmates on the one hand and clobbered by the critics on the other. I asked Harris how he and his colleagues manage to navigate this maze and remain sane. He answers that this is their job: "We're the most transparent detention facility in the world."

As we head for the plane back to Washington, it seems to me that if the critics of Guantanamo are not satisfied by now, they never will be. If the real aim of the criticisms still directed at this place is truth, justice and security for the Free World, we would be better served were some of the critics to turn their attentions to the countries that spawned this terrorist jihad - countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, countries with prisons whose names most of the world does not remember, and, in many cases, has never even heard.

Rember this is the place described by Dick Durbin

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."

Described by him after he hard of a whopping five cases of abuse.

Korea, Korea, Korea....

Today seems to be the Korean peninsula's big day in the news. First we have the nuclear test carried out by the world's biggest film fanatic, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Then a few hours later the South Korean Foreign Minister is nominated as the next UN Secretary General. His name is Ban Ki-moon. Thus fulfilling the long UN tradition of only naming a Secretary whose name could be confused with that of a Pokemon
in honor of the auspicious announcement we hereby unveil the first ever United Nations Japanese Animated Character Mix N Match Quiz. Be the first to identify the actual international diplomats in the list below.

1. Charmander
2. Blastoise
3. Jebb
4. Pidgeotto
5. Thant
6. Lie
7. Clefairy
8. Annan
9. Vileplume
10. Ki-moon

OK, the last one was a gimme.

Why there might not always be an England

Hot off the ticker comes the latest Islamic related craziness from the British Isles

First we have riots outside the Queen's window

Extra police are being drafted into the Windsor area today after three nights of violent clashes between white and Asian youths.

Gangs have fought battles in the streets using baseball bats and pitchforks. A Muslim-run dairy which wants to build a mosque was petrol bombed.

Dozens of officers have been deployed to stop and search youths and mounted police are being brought in.

and then there is the case of the overly particular bobby

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, last night ordered an urgent review of a policy that allows officers to refuse certain duties on moral grounds after a decision to excuse a Muslim policeman from guarding the Israeli embassy.

and on top of all this the Mau Maus are getting into the "where's my apology racket"

Veterans of the Mau Mau - who fought a guerrilla war with their colonial masters - are demanding an apology and an out-of-court financial settlement.

Tens of thousands of Mau Mau fighters were killed or imprisoned in camps.

"Many are in their 70s and 80s and would like to see reparations before they die," lawyer Martyn Day said.

I said the British Isles, so lets not leave out Ireland where we have an article on "hatred" which just happens to leave out the... well... hatred.

From the banlieue

So is Paris burning...or not ?

Ted Koppel on Nuclear Brinkmanship

Ted Koppel in an op-ed at the New York Times (which appears here from the International Herald Tribune) gave his thoughts on how the United States should

What, then, can the United States do to prevent Iran from developing nuclear technology? Little or nothing. Washington should instead bow to the inevitable.

"You insist on having nuclear weapons," we should say. "Go ahead. It's a terrible idea, but we can't stop you. We would, however, like your leaders to view the enclosed DVD of 'The Godfather.' Please pay particular attention to the scene in which Don Corleone makes grudging peace with a man - the head of a rival crime family - who ordered the killing of his oldest son."

In that scene, Don Corleone says, "I forgo my vengeance for my dead son, for the common good. But I have selfish reasons." The welfare of his youngest son, Michael, is on his mind.

"I am a superstitious man," he continues. "And so if some unlucky accident should befall my youngest son, if some police officer should accidentally shoot him, or if he should hang himself in his cell, or if my son is struck by a bolt of lightening, then I will blame some of the people here. That I could never forgive."

If Iran is bound and determined to have nuclear weapons, let it.

The elimination of American opposition on this issue would open the way to genuine normalization between our two nations. It might even convince the Iranians that their country can flourish without nuclear weapons.

But this should also be made clear to Tehran: If a dirty bomb explodes in Milwaukee, or some other nuclear device detonates in Baltimore or Wichita, if Israel or Egypt or Saudi Arabia should fall victim to a nuclear "accident," Iran should understand that the U.S. government will not search around for the perpetrator. The return address will be predetermined, and it will be somewhere in Iran.

There are more than a few problems with this uber realpolitk not the least of which is that while Jacksonian Nationalism and Wilsonian Internationalism may be out of style I see no reason to be gathering foreign policy chestnuts from "Mario Puzo as told by Francis Coppola"

Problem #1: If a nuclear device detonates in Baltimore or Wichita who's to say it was Iran who was the perpetrator. What about Al Qaeda ? North Korea ? What if it turns out to be Hezbollah ? Do we assume Iran gave it to them or do we take out Lebanon just to be careful ? Do we rely on the CIA to make the pick ?

Problem #2: What about Israel ? Are they covered in a blanket reprisal strategy ?

Problem #3 Do we really believe that Europeans or the UN will acquiesce in a policy that kills millions of Iranian civilians ? Will the Democrats support it for more than a week?

Problem #4 Baltimore

Problem #5 Wichita

Genghis Update

There must be some Mongolian vibe going round today. From the Corner.

Friday, October 06, 2006

NR on GK [John J. Miller]
NR on Genghis Khan.
Posted at 3:59 PM

To the Right Of... [John J. Miller]
Here's a cause that should unite American conservatives and Mongolian nationalists: a statue of Genghis Khan in DC.
Posted at 3:53 PM

The Frustrated Poets of the WCWDMR

Jeese Jackson has apparently been helping with with signage at the Columbus, Ohio October 5 World Can't Wait Day of Mass Resistance Rally. More importantly it was also Nicky Hilton's birhtday.
Now what rhymes with Rumsfeld ?
Courtesy Little Green Footballs

Prague Plot

Why hasn't this been getting more attention

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday.
The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled.

When those demands -- which were not specified by the sources -- were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added.

Heres todays headline.
If you read Czech.

Wouldn't a jail be cheaper

from Reuters



Pakistan detains several over rockets in capital

No dissing Genghis

Monglia takes a stab at its own curious brand of political correctness, with a move by the Mongolian parliament (the State Great Hural) to regulate the uses of the great Khan's name. Apparently free enterprise has led to too many situations like this and this. With the country in the throes of Genghis mania it was decided that...

'We are not showing enough respect to Genghis Khan,'' said lawmaker E. Bat-Uul. ''We tend to use his name more on vodka bottles. If today somebody produces toilet paper with Genghis Khan's name, we do not know what to do about it as currently there is no law.''

Bill, and Demi, and Ashton. Oh My...

From Newsbusters and The Sun comes the story of the 28 year old man who is annoyed that his 43 year old wife is being ogled by a 61 year old man.
This is why (Dick Morris to the contrary) Hillary Clinton will never be President. Who wants the White House turned into something out of a hellish Thanksgiving adventure where professional woman Aunt Hillary shows up with creepy, old Uncle Bill ? You know Uncle Bill don't you? He's the relative who hugs all the young women a bit too long, tries to surreptitously stare at their derrieres and then after a drink or two gets into a finger jabbing argument with someone. Not exactly Cheever, but it's bad enough.

Allen "attack" ads

Has it not occurred to the media yet that the reason Republicans run attack ads while saying they want to talk about the issues is because they lack one asset that the Democrats have in spades. And that is a huge media apparatus that will do the dirt digging, and attacking for them while they (the Democrats) can engage in their best "I'm a Statesman" impressions.

Arborial Jihad in Indonesia

A few days ago in downtown Djakarta an Islamic youth group attacked a 100 year old Banyan tree hacking away most of the limbs only stopping because they lacked the heavy equipment needed to totally uproot the tree. The Persatuan Islam Persis inflicted the damage on the huge tree in order to show the local community that it possessed no magical powers. Islam in Indonesia often incorporates animistic beliefs and Banyan trees are believed by many to be inhabited by spirits. The Persatuan Islam (Islamic Union) has long been the bitterest foe of such beliefs. The group seems to have on its own developed a Salafi brand of Islam very similar to the Wahhabis. The Wahhabis of course hold that the Oneness of God (Tawhid) makes profane the belief in any interposing supernatural powers.
The tree however also has some patriotic significance in that it is featured in the country’s coat-of-arms as a symbol of “Indonesian national unity” or Persatuan Indonesia. Ironicly the scroll at the bottom of the coat-of arms says "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" which translates as ...“Unity in Diversity”.
Christianity actually went through its own Anti-Tree-Spirit phase. Winifred, who later became St. Boniface, destroyed Thor's Oak in the sacred grove in Germany.

Of course that was in 723.

More Anniversaries...

There are two more important anniversaries this month... and they are bound to be as ignored by the MSM as this blog's birthday. The 3rd of October is the 16th anniversary of the Reunification of Germany, known as German Unity Day. On the 23 of October it will be fifty years since the beginning of the Hungarian Revolution. Back in February Condoleezza Rice hosted a reception to honor the nation of Hungary in it's struggles. Fidelissimus ad Mortem!

1 Month...

One month of posting articles.

Darfur and the Left

An excellent article from the New Media Journal on a subject that has been annoying me greatly, and that is the conflict between the Democrats' humaitarian desires and their opposition to the use of force against homicidal world leaders. Especially when that force is wielded by someone with a little "r" after their name.
Here is some good background on the whole crisis from Frontpagemag.

Europe Upholds Nazi Anti-Homeschooling Law

From the always valuable Brussels Journal comes the story of German families forced to flee from a Nazi era law against Homeschooling. When the case was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights they predictably ruled...

The right to education as enshrined in Article 2 of Protocol 1by its very nature calls for regulation by the State.

The full text of the ruling is here. My favorite part is this...

The [German] Federal Constitutional Court stressed the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society

Parallel societies. Do they mean like this?

Well the Little Elephant God is Kind of Cute

From the Times of London comes the story of a C 0f E priest who has taken his ecumencalism to an extreme. The Rev. David Hart aka Ananda, who lives in Thiruvananthapuram, India has converted to Hinduism but still intends to remain an Anglican priest. The good Reverend Ananda (which means Happiness...isn't that sweet) says...

"My philosophical position is that all religions are cultural constructs,I am acting out God’s story in local terms."

Sort of "when in Rome.."

In an earlier interview in India, the former University of Cambridge chaplain said that he was planning to immerse his idol of the four-armed Ganesh in the ocean.

“In England, the idol of Ganesha is more popular than Krishna or any other Indian god and many households have Ganesha in the living room,” Mr Hart said