Canada's Role

Canadians used to be very proud of their warlike past. Now they prefer not to think of Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach and the like, instead they believe their international identity and self worth is defined by their peacekeeping efforts. No more shock troops of the Commonwealth but instead policemen of the UN.
The only problem with that (well not the only problem) is that the image doesn't quite fit the reality.

BOWING OUT

Canada's contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world has slipped dramatically since 1991.

Canada's contribution to UN peacekeeping*
Area -Troops -Police -observers
MINUSTAH Haiti 4 72 *
MONUC Democratic Republic of the Congo * * 9
UNAMI Iraq * * 1
UNDOF Golan Heights 3 * *
UNFYCIP Cyprus 1 * *
UNMIS Sudan 7 2 24
UNMIT East Timor * 6 *
UNOCI Ivory Coast * 5 *
UNTSO Middle East * * 7
Total 15 85 41

*As of Jan. 31, 2007

Total military personnel on UN peacekeeping operations

Jan., 2007: 72,784, Canada's contribution: 56 (0.077%)

Aug., 1991: 10,801, Canada's contribution: 1,149 (10.6%)

Civil War, Episcopal Style

The Episcopal Church in America is now going after the rebel parishes both at the Diocesan and national level.
And some people don't think this is very Christian.

Gore and the Monster House

First we hear this...

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.
(snip)
In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

Then the response from the Gore camp...

1) Gore's family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

So they have taken all these energy saving measures and he still has a yearly power bill of $30,000.
What is he doing in there? Smelting aluminum ?

ACLU: School For Scandal

An interesting story out of Northern Virginia.

Charles Rust-Tierney, former President of the Virginia ACLU, has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. Not even your run of the mill child pornography ( if there is such a thing) but scenes of child rape.
And how do I find out about this incident ?

From Bill O'Reilly's Weekly Quiz.
A story that you would think would have more interest to Virginians then say the improper emails of a Congressman from Florida.
Yet all we hear in Va is the sound of crickets.
The Washington Post has stooped to print a small notice of the story... on page B5. And by small I mean here is the whole thing.

Ex-ACLU Head Seized in Porn Case

An Arlington County youth sports coach and former ACLU chapter president was arrested on child pornography charges by federal agents who accused him of viewing Web sites filled with explicit images of pre-pubescent girls.

Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, of Arlington was charged with receipt and possession of child pornography. He was ordered detained pending a preliminary hearing Wednesday. Prosecutors said Rust-Tierney coaches various youth sports teams in and around Arlington. A 2002 Virginia ACLU newsletter identified him as the group's president.

86 words. 86 not very informative, rather hedging words.
Notice, for example, how his position as a youth coach comes before his leadership of a well known state organization. Notice the rather strange last sentence, "a 2002 Virginia ACLU newsletter identified him as the group's president." Does that mean there is some doubt as to his position as ACLU President? Did the Washington Post with all the vast news resources at their disposal rely on some old newsletters that were lying around?
Or maybe the post subscribes.

Of course some people think this is only worthy of mention as weapon to bash Bill O'Reilly. You see Mr. O'Reilly is being too mean to Rust-Tierney and is making too much of this...

In the past, Rust-Tierney had argued against restricting Internet access in public libraries in Virginia, writing, “Recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library, the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the Internet.”

HPV Scam Redux

I am republishing below my past from February 6 on the "Cancer Vaccine" bill that has now passed the General Assembly and which will become law in Virginia.

Va. Delegates Approve HPV Legislation

What this means in plain English is that girls before they enter the 6th Grade (that means girls as young as 11) would be required to be immunized against a sexually transmitted disease, the Human Papilloma Virus.
The act passed by the House of Delegates would allow parents an opt out for religious reasons. A similar measure passed by the Virginia Senate would not allow such an opt out and an agreement has to hashed out in a conference committee.

Measures like this are being proposed across the country (one recently was signed into law in Texas) hard on the heels of a massive lobbying effort by the vaccines maker Merck & Co. The vaccine is expensive ($360 for the three shots) and is not normally covered by insurance.

The House bill sponsor Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News has received $10,000 over the last decade from Merck, which when you think about it is a pretty good investment on their part; only 28 girls and they make their money back.

Michael Portillo Sleeps Uneasy

When last week David Cameron revealed that he hopes his daughter will go to a Church of England school, his aides rushed to say that he attends Sunday worship in Kensington not as a ploy to help her chances but out of genuine religious conviction. I would be more reassured to hear that the Tory leader goes to church because that is what it takes to get a child into the best of state schools, not because he is a believer.

That is from the Times Online where former MP and now "media personality" Michael Portillo does the old "I'm Not A Bigot Because I Denounce Christian Extremism As Well As Islamic Extremism" dance. It's a little, politically correct soft shoe often indulged in by "media personalities" that luckily doesn't actually require the existence of any Christian extremism or violence. Who needs it, not when you have history to fall back upon. Waay back. Say the Sixteenth century. For no praying man or even church attendee is safe when Portillo shows the ghastly similarities between Mary (Bloody Mary) Tudor and Tony (As Yet No Epithet) Blair. Or the deadly church door darkening David Cameron. Bush too is obviously prone to this fanaticism what with his having once used the word crusade in a speech.
Read the final paragraph as Michael lays awake worrying over the auto-de-fe in future.

It would be good to know from Cameron that for him going to church is just a metaphor for wanting to be a good man and a good leader, and that he hears no voices, receives no divine instructions and looks only for the judgment of his fellow citizens. We could then sleep more easily at night.

Some people spend their whole lives looking for something to believe. Others get paid to write for Times Online

Islamic Lynching in Scotland

I just became aware of this Islamic Hate Crime last week, which is not surprising since the media has limited interest in stories that don't fit there game plan. And in their game plan Muslims are always the hated not the hater. A white, Christian victim doesn't stoke the proper guilt center in the Leftist brain.
All the more interesting is that this crime took place in...Scotland. Scotland is hardly a place that we think of as a hotbed of Sudden Jihad Syndrome and this crime frankly bears less resemblance to the recent shooting in Utah and more resembles and old fashioned lynching of the most horrific type.
I became aware of this "incident" from a recent piece at Western Resistance on the dismal state of British (specifically Scottish) multiculturalism which then linked to this...

November 8, 2006
UK: The Muslims Who Killed A Schoolboy For Being "White"
Special Report

The Start Of The Trial

The trial of three Muslims began on Monday, October 2 in Edinburgh High Court. The three men, Imran Shahid, 29, Mohammed Mushtaq, 27, and Zeeshan Shahid, 29 are charged with "racially aggravated murder". Already, another man was convicted of assault in relation to the same charges. In 2004, Zahid Mohammed was jailed for 5 years. He had been released from jail on license on Wednesday October 4 and has given evidence in this trial.

The accused are said to have been involved in the horrific killing of a 15-year old schoolboy in 2004. Kriss Donald (pictured, above left) was abducted on 16 March, and then stabbed in the lungs, liver and kidney. He was then covered in gasoline and set on fire.

On Watching The Academy Awards

I just saw a former Democratic Vice-President and Presidential candidate receive an Academy Award and a standing ovation from hundreds of outspoken members of the Democratic party.
He then proceeded to tell me how solving climate change was not a "political issue."

Irony is dead.


Oh, and I was also just told how Hurricane Katrina showed us all the full impact of Global Climate Change.

I thought it showed us all the full impact of large hurricane on a city built below sea level.

But hey I'm no scientist.

Not like Al Gore.

Speaking the Unspeakble in The Netherlands

Geret Wilder risks his life in the war no one wants to fight...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The leader of a Dutch anti-immigration party will call for a vote of no-confidence in two Muslim government ministers next week, citing their dual nationality as the issue, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Geert Wilders said in an interview with the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad the appointment of Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb and Turkish-born Nebahat Albayrak as junior ministers was wrong because both could have loyalties toward countries other than the Netherlands.

Wilders, whose Party for Freedom (PVV) party won 9 seats out of 150 in the November election, said he will call for a no-confidence vote when the cabinet discusses its policy plans in parliament.

The new cabinet, formed by Christian Democrats, Labour and the Christian Union and sworn in on Thursday by the Dutch queen, is expected to soften immigration policy, which had been tightened under the previous coalition in response to the rise of the populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002.

Then notice the next line...

Maverick politician Fortuyn broke taboos with his criticism of Muslim immigrants before he was murdered by an animal rights activist.

The news reports on the Fortuyn assassination all stressed the animal rights background of the killer and the general mystification of the Dutch public over the young man's motives since Fortuyn had no known views on the subject. The public confusion is not surprising since you had to wait almost a year before could get the press to state the obvious...

Fortuyn killed 'to protect Muslims'
A Left-wing activist confessed in court yesterday to Holland's first political assassination in 400 years, claiming that he shot Pim Fortuyn to defend Dutch Muslims from persecution.

Volkert van der Graaf, 33, a vegan animal rights campaigner, said he alone was responsible for killing the maverick protest leader last May, days before a general election in which the Fortuyn List party vaulted into second place and shattered Holland's consensus.

Facing a raucous court on the first day of his murder trial, he said his goal was to stop Mr. Fortuyn exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak parts of society to score points" to try to gain political power.

Blinders

The rather strange and if you ask me esoteric controversy over Alan Wolfe and his article claiming a fascist origin for much of contemporary conservatism has led to some foolish and dangerous comments in The Weekly Standard. They of course involve criticism of Dinesh D'Souza...

To claim that by promoting, among other things, abortion, gay marriage, pornography, and atheism, the cultural left presents a threat to America as grave as that posed by radical Islam is seriously wrong and foolishly divisive. To make such an argument while America is at war with a fanatical adversary who regards all Americans as combatants and who seeks not concessions or reforms but America's annihilation is to blur critical issues when the rediscovery of our common ground is what is urgently called for.

He is right to that it is "seriously wrong" that "the cultural left presents a threat to America as grave as that posed by radical Islam". It poses a more serious threat. A threat that existed before the threat of radical Islam and that no doubt will exist after radical Islam has ceased to be a threat to us. A threat that has destroyed more American lives than radical Islam. A threat that is all the more dangerous because it's seriousness is not recognized and in fact is believed by some to be a positive force in our society.
Yet the "conservative" Weekly Standard seems to be oblivious to all of this. It seems to be gripped by a fatal complacency that blinds it to dangers at home in the hope that our cultural miasma will somehow provide a bulwark against foreign Islamic threats. The rather insane "rah-rahing" of Rudolph Guliani by many on the Right is just one of the symptoms of this delusion.

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Helen Thomas to drink hemlock. Pictures at 11:00.

the press corps is scheduled to move from temporary facilities back into the spiffed-up, rewired briefing room in May or June. Thomas, who has been questioning presidents and press secretaries for 46 years, plans to be there. But her front-row seat won’t be. Plans call for her to be moved to the second row to make room for a cable news channel – a sign of Washington’s changing pecking order, and of the new ways that Americans get their news.

“I didn’t think I had a monopoly on that seat,” Thomas, 86, said in a telephone interview. “Since my peers have decided that I don’t belong there, I’ll bow to their – I’ll drink the – What did Socrates drink?”

Hemlock? “I’ll drink it,” she said. “You have to submit to the will of the people, and apparently this is the will of my peers. It’s OK with me. I’ve had a good run in the front seat.”

Cool Fridays: Learn How to Act

Oil for Fools Scandal

Welfare from an oil rich yet still impoverished South American country to one of the wealthiest places in world.

Ken Livingstone has signed an oil deal with Venezuela - providing cheap fuel for London's buses and giving cut price travel for those on benefits.

Or to put it better...

"Why does London, one of the richest capitals in the world, need to exploit a developing nation? This money would be better directed at the poor of Venezuela,"

I guess it's just another case of anti-imperialist solidarity, or as it used to be called "no enemies to the Left".

What William and Mary Will Show

By removing the Wren Chapel cross and insuring that no one takes offense at those pesky signs of the religious heritage of William and Mary, the college administration was merely protecting the rarefied sensitivities of those students who feel left out of the Christian World View. Those students who must be wrapped in a cocoon of 21 Century ACLU approved nondenominational safety.
However in the spirit of broadening the educational scope of those same students the University Center has just played hosts to the Sex Workers Art Show on one of its two stops in Virginia. This "empowering" use of student fees was defended by the school provost...

"Sure, there are folks who are quite sensitive to this matter," said W and M provost Geoffrey Feiss. "It is controversial, but universities exist to evaluate and deal with controversy. If we aren't doing that, then we probably aren't doing our job."

Oh, there's that word again. "Sensitive".


We can at least be glad they didn't decide to put the show on in the Wren Chapel.

The Tale of the Bulb

John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, ordinarily a man of some intelligence has been bitten by the Global Warming bug.

Australia to Ban Old-Style Light Bulbs
By ROHAN SULLIVAN
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - The Australian government on Tuesday announced plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country.

Legislation to gradually restrict the sale of the old-style bulbs could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tons by 2012 and cut household power bills by up to 66 percent, said Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

First of all are they trying to say that "old-style light bulbs" or as I like to refer to them light bulbs, when replaced with fluorescent bulbs cut your power bill by 66%. For that to be true wouldn't that mean that more than 66% of your household power use would have to come from light bulbs? So light bulbs use more than twice as much power as your average TV, computer, stove, hot water heater and refrigerator combined?
More from the AP...

Prime Minister John Howard said the plan would help all Australians play a part in cutting harmful gas emissions: "Here's something practical that everybody will participate in."

By "that everybody will participate in" he apparently means "that the government will make you do whether you like it or not", which is not quite the same thing.

Cuba's Fidel Castro launched a similar program two years ago, sending youth brigades into homes and switching out regular bulbs for energy-saving ones to help battle electrical blackouts around the island.

Oh, well at least the plan has good antecedents.

It could be worse, you could have Al Gore knocking down your door and making you watch his movie.

Crescent Moon Over Southside

Now if we move some one hundred miles south-west of the turmoil in Fredericksburg we come to Charlotte county, Virginia in the Southside. A rural area whose chief claim to historical fame is being the home of nineteenth century congressman and first class eccentric John Randolph. Now the area is home to something else entirely, the compound of the Moslems of America near the community of Red House.
Gates of Vienna has give us plenty of background in the past on the compound an its occupants, and now recounts its efforts to draw some critical attention to the group from the local media. The local paper, the Southside Messenger, had recently written up the Moslems of America in a "puff piece" and getting them to reconsider their views becomes a Kafkaesque adventure.
The case of the "Utah Shooter" and the curious uncuriousity of the Deseret News springs to mind.
It seems that when faced with followers of the Koran the celebrated inquisitiveness of the American reporter goes flying out the window.

By way of a little irony the area is represented in Congress by Virgil Goode.

Full Moon Over Fredericksburg

Is it my imagination or is Virginia politics getting a little overheated. From The Fredericksburg Freelance-Star by way of LittleGreenFootballs we have the politics/police blotter nexus.

Police say political dispute with stranger got physical

Man's Republican beliefs irritate suspect

Date published: 2/20/2007

BY KEITH EPPS

A Fredericksburg man was arrested Saturday on charges he assaulted three strangers at their home during a dispute over politics, police said.

According to a Fredericksburg police report, the suspect went to a home in the 900 block of Marye Street about 5:30 p.m. after finding one of the resident's name on a Republican Web site.

The resident and his two roommates engaged in a discussion with the suspect, though none of them had ever met or had contact with him before.

The argument got heated and the suspect learned that the young residents had not enlisted in the military and "put their all" behind the Republican-led war effort in Iraq, police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said.

The suspect refused to leave the home after repeatedly being asked to do so, police said. The three roommates were hit multiple times each as they attempted to get the suspect out of the door, authorities said.

The suspect continued to be aggressive and disorderly even after a city police officer arrived, the report states.

Andrew Stone, 23, was charged with three counts of assault and battery. A magistrate released Stone on his own recognizance and he was ordered to have no further contact with the victims.

It was not clear in the report what political agenda Stone was supporting.

"Not clear in the report what political agenda Stone was supporting"....well I think it's pretty clear what political agenda the reporter of this article is supporting.
And he certainly is putting his "all" into it.

More Wisdom form Marcotte

OK, all sexist blah-blah-blah aside does someone just Hate men or what...

And that is the golden rule to remember when the Oink Patrol dangles money and praise in front of your face, or will even call you strong, so long as you agree to suck up your dignity and promote sexism—they still think you’re a c--t. The commenter who called Michelle Malkin “strong” would flip around and call her a c--t so fast it would make your head spin, if she ever showed a sign of a real backbone and stood up for something real for once in her life. So the real question is, “By the way, does it bother you that one of the major architects of your demise was herself a sniveling sell-out, Michelle Malkin?” And really, I think that answers itself.

From The American Thinker

A good article from Geoffrey P. Hunt on Global Warming.

Bastard Out Of Carolina

Maybe the crazy bloggers from Pandagon and Shakespeare's sister should have fired John "Friend Of The People" Edwards instead of the other way around. From Variety...

The political star system has its built-in tensions, to be sure. Adam Venit, a honcho at Endeavor, hosted a reception for John Edwards at his agency the other day. Not present was Venit's partner, Ari Emanuel, who threw a hot Obama bash not long ago and whose brother, Rahm, may (or may not) remain in the Hillary camp.

There are other emerging fissures, as well. The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word -- Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close.

Which is pretty ironic if you think about it since John Edward's new house is large enough to provide a homeland for the Palestinians.

Well at least he didn't say how clean and articulate those Jews are.

Is Nancy Pelosi Now Writing For The Iranian News Agency?

FM Praises Rice's Courage

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the recent statements made by the US Secretary of State about Washington's wrong policies on Iran in the last 27 years show that women in the United States utter realities more courageously.

Happy Washington's Birthday

Remember there is no such thing as President's Day!
Read Snopes and see why.

Aaaaaaaaaaggghhhhh!!!!!

WASHINGTON - If Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the presidency, some top Democrats would like to see her husband, former President Bill Clinton, appointed to serve out Hillary’s unexpired Senate term.

Iranian Balochistan

From the Jamestown Foundation's always interesting Terrorism Monitor background on the previously mentioned conflict in the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan...

The escalating insurgency in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan and neighboring regions receives extensive media coverage...In contrast, evidence of a simmering rebellion and escalating violence between Tehran's own ethnic Baloch minority and Iranian security forces in Iran's vast but sparsely populated southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan is receiving far less attention. Iranian officials and other observers implicate an obscure Baloch militant organization known as Jundallah (Soldiers of God) for spearheading the uprising.
(SNIP)
Unlike most Iranians who are Shiites, the overwhelming majority of Iran's Baloch population adheres to the Sunni branch of Islam. Despite a lack of concrete evidence, Iranian authorities and some analysts believe that Jundallah may have ties to Sunni Islamist extremists associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban operating across the border in neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
(SNIP)
Historically, Tehran and Islamabad have collaborated in suppressing Baloch nationalism, often through brutal military crackdowns. Both countries see Baloch nationalism as a serious threat to regional stability and the territorial integrity of both states.

Austrian Don't Ask Don't Tell

No Pasaran has found out more of the interesting history of those Austrian sniper rifles that were sold to the Iranians yet magically wound up in Iraq.

The Austrian interior ministry defended the sale of about 800 sniper rifles to Iran by an Austrian arms manufacturer as "unimpeachable".

Austrian interior ministry spokesman Johannes Rauch said the sale of sniper rifles to Iran by arms manufacturer Steyr-Mannlicher had been approved and controlled by the government before it was completed in August.

The guns had been supplied for the use of Iran's elite anti-drugs operatives, he said.

I wonder if they wanted use the Steyr .50 HS rifles against those "narcotic smugglers" we keep hearing about in Iranian Balochistan of late.

At least the Austrians are taking responsibility for their actions...

"We checked the proposal very thoroughly," Austrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Astrid Harz said, noting that the situation in Iraq and the region in 2003-2004 was very different then than it is today.

"What happened to the weapons then is the responsibility of the Iranians," Harz said.

Psych

This just in: Americans are too happy.
Or at least so says the balding, strangely gnomish Oliver James at ,of course, the Guardian.

Studies of Americans show them to be living in a rose-tinted bubble of positive illusions. They are unrealistically optimistic about how much their friends like them or about the future. When asked to rate how sensitive they are to others, 90% of Americans believe they are in the top 10% of sensitivity - by definition impossible - and it is similar for their falsely bloated self-esteem or view of their own capacities.

Americans who have accurate perceptions of themselves are deemed by researchers to suffer from "depressive realism". That is a dangerously barmy formulation, personally and nationally.

But interestingly enough he actually complains about the British government owning too much of something...

...the Ministry of Defence (or should that be "Offence"?) owns 1% of the British landmass. Just as Purnell must reject the spending of £20bn on new Trident missiles and of nearly £30bn a year on an MoD which has been far too busy attacking other nations under Blatcher, so he must call for the sale of all but the most vital defence land - why does that ministry need to own so much of Salisbury plain?

You see owning Salisbury Plain, bad; owning all the coal mines, good.

If you like comedy you can read more of his material, here we have an article saying people who doubt Global Warming are repressing, and here's one putting the President through analysis.

He Still Hasn't Found What He's Looking For

Frankly don't they have more important things to do in North Dakota.

But they did give themselves a pay raise.

woe is me...

The 2007 John Edwards Dismissed Bloggers Self Pity Tour continues and now has now gone international.
Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister takes her moaning global with a piece in the Feb 16 Guardian entitled (insert drumbeat here)...My Life as Rightwing Target , eliciting cries of sympathy from the comments section such as "Sorry - who are you again?"

But I also didn't expect that disagreement and offense at something I'd written on my personal blog before my employment would be regarded by anyone as justification for calling for my termination.

Yes who would have thought that your recent actions and statements as a blogger could possibly influence someone's opinion on your present blogging. Wouldn't that be a funny way to judge someone.
Liberals have grown so enraptured with the idea of perpetual entitlement that they actually believe someone can be entitled to be a presidential campaign blogger.

Murtha Mouths Off

Rep. Jack "Abscam" Murtha wags his pudgy little finger and vows...

“We’re gonna stop this surge,” the Pennsylvania Democrat declared in an interview posted on the Website MoveCongress.org.

If MoveCongress.org isn't familiar to you here's a little email they sent out recently...

Coming Tomorrow!!

CHAIRMAN JACK MURTHA TO OUTLINE COMMITTEE STRATEGY ON BUSH’S IRAQ FUNDING REQUEST THURSDAY MORNING AT 11:00 AM EST ON MOVECONGRESS.ORG

Join Us!

Join us tomorrow at 11:00 AM EST when Congressman Jack Murtha will outline new details of a strategy to use his Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense to oppose the Bush war in Iraq. Congressman Jim Moran, another Committee member, predicts the Committee action will be the “bite” that follows this week’s Congressional “bark” – the three-day debate on a non-binding Congressional resolution.

The Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense has begun consideration of the president’s $93 billion supplemental appropriations request for Iraq. Action on the request will be the first opportunity for the new Congress to exercise its “power-of-the-purse” over the Iraq war.

Chairman Murtha will describe his strategy for not only limiting the deployment of troops to Iraq but undermining other aspects of the president’s foreign and national security policy. Chairman Murtha discusses these steps in a videotaped conversation with former Congressman Tom Andrews (D-ME), the National Director of the Win Without War coalition, sponsor of MoveCongress.org.
Join us here tomorrow for this exclusive interview.

Red highlights are mine of course.

Maybe Us...

What is it about Dinesh D'Souza that drives ordinarily conservative folks to start coming up with mitigating facts in favor of American popular culture/entertainment industry/media?

Oh, by the way, if we're talking about who is exporting what to whom, lets also look at the way that the Saudi-funded variant of Islam has, in the space of three decades, corrupted, displaced or destroyed the different Islams that had evolved over centuries in countries such as Indonesia. That's what I call cultural imperialism.

Finally (for now), can we just agree that, whatever its many faults, disgraces and worse, America's culture does not deserve the adjective "depraved"? It's not, and it's silly to say that it is.

No what is silly is to act as if cultural depravity is some sort of zero sum game. Suicide bombing is evil, OK but does that mitigate everything from Paris Hilton to Girls Gone Wild to Porn?
Do Islamic crimes wash us clean?

Deseret News confirms It: I'm An Ultraconservative Web Site

More news on the Salt Lake City killer, he of mysterious motive.
First more news from Jihad Watch telling us how the Deseret News is up in arms over those awful "ultraconservative" blogs and their pesky habit of bringing up Sulejmen Talovic's religion...

The online stories, as well as Tuesday's and Wednesday's stories in the Deseret Morning News, have resulted in a barrage of vitriolic e-mails to the News from people either angry at the paper for not mentioning the religion of shooter Sulejman Talovic in Wednesday's Web edition, or certain that because Talovic is Muslim that he must be a terrorist.

Or how about " certain that because Talovic is a Muslim who goes around shooting large groups of people that he must be a terrorist" as an alternative phrase.

FrontPageMag gives a run down of the other "unexplained" killings by American Muslims in the last 13 months.

Urban As A Racial Code Word

Here in Richmond, the supposedly conservative Times-Dispatch gives itself a black eye over the issue of racial preferences and loses a court battle in the progress.
A story that has received very little attention here in River city this is the Times Dispatch's reporting of the settlement.

Sudden Jihad Syndrome...in Utah ? Update II

More from Newsbusters regarding the "mysterious" Utah shooter and the religion that dare not speak it's name.

Blood On the Scarecrow

Student of history and sometime musician John Mellencamp, or John Cougar, or John Cougar Mellencamp or whatever his name is this week, opines on the proper response to mass murder.
Guess what? It involves "dialog".

But this the same guy who once said...

"Instead of worrying about somebody having a pen knife on an airplane, we should be figuring out why a brother of ours would behave so incorrectly. What have we done to make this part of the world family so hateful to us?"

Hey that's what happens when you fight authority and authority always wins.

How Do You Say Menopause In Farsi

From Newsbusters, Diane Sawyers interviewing Ahmadinejad...

Diane Sawyer:Well, it turns out, someone told me he cries a lot. That he is dramatically sentimental and sympathetic if someone comes up and expresses a personal plight. So I just asked him, are you often in tears?"

Crying? Is that a "Ow I just stubbed my toe" crying or is it the crying that comes with sweaty palms, a thousand yard stare and and a barely audible manic laughter.

Sudden Jihad Syndrome...in Utah ? Update

More on the "unexplainable" Utah shooter

from Sweetness & Light

from LGF

and Jihad Watch

too bad all of this will be ignored so that the media can concentrate more on the " tragic" Anna Nicole.

Two Rapes

The Media shows it's true colors (pun intended) over the issues of race and crime.
Bring on the mass DNA tests.

Sudden Jihad Syndrome...in Utah ?

An 18-year old gunman walks into a Utah mall and starts randomly shooting people. Five people die and the death toll would have been worse if not for the actions of an off duty police officer who corners the shooter who is killed.
Yet another case of the mindless violence in our society or..... something more?

A day after the shooting, investigators struggled to figure out why a trench-coated Sulejmen Talovic opened fire on shoppers with a supremely calm look on his face.

"Struggled to find out why?" Hmmm...since he's not a member of any obviously dangerous minority such as lacrosse players could there be some other red flag in his background. Could the fact that he is an immigrant from the heavily Muslim country of Bosnia have something to do with it? How about the fact that he bears a name Sulejmen, that only Bosnian Muslims give their children (here's a list of some Balkan Sulejmans)?
Or is our enlightened, pluralistic society supposed to turn a blind eye to these inconvenient facts?
Apparently so....

It may take time to understand what prompted Sulejmen Talovic to walk through a downtown mall and shoot at patrons.
"It's always a recipe," he said, "and it involves a lot of ingredients." In some cases, there may be psychological problems that may or not be diagnosed. A history of problems at home - alcohol and/or violence - can also contribute to what pushes someone to the edge, he said.
(snip)
Being a refugee, along with his family from Bosnia, can add another level of stress in transitioning to adulthood. Language and cultural barriers can contribute problems. He may have experienced problems creating a social support network.

The EU and You

Does anyone else get the irony here...

EU moves to abolish death penalty worldwide
The European Union today condemned countries applying the death penalty and called for an immediate moratorium on the practice.

The EU – where the death penalty has been abolished – said the execution of Saddam Hussein has renewed a global debate on capital punishment, still applied in 66 countries.

And a week later...

EU Threatens to Withdraw Aid to Nicaragua if Pro-Life Law Remains
MANAGUA, February 9, 2007 – Representatives from the European Union are increasing pressure on the government of Nicaragua to reverse its recent law which unilaterally forbids abortion under any circumstances. According to a report from the Catholic News Agency, the EU representation has threatened to withdraw economic assistance to the country if the abortion law is not reversed.

...and what do they mean by "unilaterally"? Did the Nicaraguans ban abortion all around the world ?

The Rules

Now remember to keep this all straight.
Take notes if you must.

If you oppose the war in Iraq (and/or Afghanistan "the Orphan War") then "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

If you think 911 conspiracy mongers are champions of free speech (like they apparently do on the View) then you are "speaking truth to power."

But if you doubt that Global Warming (or Global Climate Change or what ever they are calling it this week) is real or that humans bear responsibility for it then you are of course akin to a "Holocaust Denier"

The Evening Standard Explodes The Truth

The Evening Standard in an article on Feb 9 carries water for the 911 "truthers" by printing a long article filled with goofy views with hardly a nay sayer's views in sight. The comment section is almost as bad, being filled with people thanking the Evening Standard for "raising these important questions in a very rational way."
Below is my own comment that was submitted but (insert surprised look here) for some reason never published.
It's a little choppy because I was working under a size limitation.

Oh. Come. On. What next? Aliens?
2150 words and you can only show one viewpoint? And a remarkably silly one at that. Not one nay saying voice to point out the rather obvious flaws in the conspiracy mongers "evidence"? Like...
1)Steel beams do not have to totally liquefy before they become too weak to hold up one of the largest buildings on earth.
2)There were only 14 aircraft on duty across the US to provide interceptor duty that day.
3)Before 911 military aircraft did not have the authority to go full supersonic on intercept flights, almost all of which before 911 were aimed at aircraft entering the Us from overseas
3)Why would much be left of an aluminum aircraft full of jet fuel that crashed in to one of the largest masonry building in the world. A building that had just been modernized to stand up against truck bombs. Do you Brits remember how well your aluminum ships burned in the Falkland War?
4) Why wouldn't people be in the White House bunker? Was the White House a more obvious target than the US Capitol which is a much larger structure? Is the White House that inviting a target with the President not even in Washington.
And this massive Rube Goldberg conspiracy was carried out why? To incriminate Saudis so we could invade... Afghanistan?
For the Patriot Act?
Is that the best authoritarian legislation they could come up with after killing thousands?
So Bush could look Presidential....by reading a book... about a goat... to school children?

Royal's Plan

It looks like the Presidential candidate of the French Socialist Party, Segolene Royal, has hit upon a winning strategy to combat the Muslim extremism and general thuggery in the immigrant ghettos known as banilieues...

"I want for the children in these suburbs what I want for my own children," she said, clenching a fist before her bright-red blazer and prompting the crowd to erupt into a two-minute interval of applause.

A former schools minister, she vowed that she would tackle the social exclusion in the suburbs by reducing the number of students in classes. She also promised free tutoring for students that have difficulties keeping up, and workshops for parents to teach them how to discipline their children.

Do they mean parents like the ones in this CBS article from 2004?

Monday Grab Bag

Kiss And Make Up
Remember this week is not just for lovers, it is also....Israeli Apartheid Week (at least in NYC) so why not combine the two. Perhaps a chocolate Kaffiyeh or for the saucier Palestinians in your life a combo suicide/garter belt. See love and resistance can go hand in hand.

Ostracize Me Please
The Brave Little Toaster Award goes to the Grammys for giving the Dixie Chicks five Grammys last night for a country music album that hasn't actually been heard by any Country music fans. As with Sean Penn I hope their shelf full of awards fills the hole in their hearts created by the McCarthyite horror they have suffered through .

Cool Fridays

I happened across the Wikipedia entry on the Brazilian flag the other day (OK, don't ask) and found out the banner is a lot more interesting than I might have thought. The stellar globe in the middle is not just any old group of stars but is supposed to be the actual appearance of the sky in Rio De Janeiro on the night that Brazil was declared a republic.
What is more there is one star for each Brazilian state and federal district.
And the specific states are represented by specific stars.
Here's the Wiki entry complete with a list telling which state is which star.

Who'd a thunk it.
I feel like Ripley.

Pelosi's Pleas for a Plane Panned

Ironic Juxtaposition of the Day

The California Democrat[Pelosi] went before the House Science Committee in the morning to champion her commitment to do something about global warming, a rare appearance for a leader of the House.

VS.

"The jet that Pelosi has produces 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide an hour, far more than the previous speaker used," said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

To give you an idea of how much 10,000 pounds (five tons) of CO2 is I checked this handy little website. Five tons is the amount CO2 produced by an automobile in a year if it drives 15,000 miles at 32 mpg.



Maybe instead of flying back to the West Coast all the time she could just bunk over at Sen. Edwards'. I hear he has the room.

Democratic Leadership

News from our past Democratic office holders:

The US is responsible for Global Warming not the Red Chinese (or should that be Green Chinese) according to our last Vice-President.

Jews are deceitful money grubbers according to our 39th President.

But don't call them the Democrat Party.

Chris Mathews Endorses Brown Stone Living

The ever unhinged Chris Mathews continues his long skid into irrelevance with an appearance on the Don Imus show...

“We love good mayors because we love our cities and Giuliani is the city guy, and I’m so sick of southern guys with ranches running this country. I want a guy to run for president who doesn’t have a @#$%ing — I’m sorry, a ranch.

I guess they should live simply.... like this.
or this...
or this...
Or better yet...

Motes and Logs

If only the UK could get as worked up over the idea of their country becoming Islamic Terrorism Central as they do about British soldiers killed by American friendly fire then the whole world might be a safer place.
But I doubt it.

Paging Dr. Mengele II

From the Scotsman...

Swiss court ruling allows euthanasia for mentally ill
CHRISTOPHER CLAIRE

A RULING by Switzerland's highest court has opened up the possibility that people with serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to take their own lives.

Switzerland already allows doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients under certain circumstances. The Federal Tribunal's decision puts mental illnesses on the same level as physical ones.

but don't worry there are checks and balances...

In their ruling the judges made it clear certain conditions would have to be met before a mentally ill person's request for suicide assistance could be considered justified: "A distinction has to be made between a death wish which is an expression of a curable, psychiatric disorder and which requires treatment, and [a death wish] which is based on a person of sound judgment's own well-considered and permanent decision, which must be respected."

So if the mentally ill person is a person of sound judgment who makes well-considered and permanent decisions it's OK.

Indonesia Drowning......For The Past 40,000 Years

Yesterday I talked about Indonesia and it's approaching "disaster" and how they thought the West should pick up the tab for any environmental efforts they should make to save themselves, but what is also interesting is how this is not the first time that the area had been set up for a big disappearing act.
At the peak of the last ice age which means up to 40,000 years ago, Indonesia looked something like this, an Alaskan size peninsula made up of Java, Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. It was separated from an Australia-New Guinea continental mass by a small, island strewn sea. In short it looked nothing like it does today. Do we owe the Indonesians for this too? Once there was a large land mass with broad river valleys and presumably fertile plains and now there is a mountainous archipelago. Obviously, following the scientific wisdom of today, someone had to be responsible for the climate change that brought about this massive flooding. It could never happen without human interference.
Perhaps some ancient Cimmerian industry founded by Conan, the Bush of the Hyborian Age.

Perhaps those Bedrock pedo-mobiles were not as environmentally friendly as they thought.

Maybe it was a lack of celebrities that doomed this land, for without a Global Cool how could anyone hope to survive this Diluvian catastrophe.

If only Fred and Barney had had a Prius.

Indonesia Drowning....?

This from the Indonesian Enviroment Minister last week.

Rising sea levels because of global warming stand to inundate around 2,000 islands in Indonesia by 2030, the country's environment minister said Monday.

The assessment by Rachmat Witoelar was the government's bleakest yet of the effects of global warming on the Southeast Asian nation that is made up of some 18,000 islands, most of them unpopulated.

The announcement has generated 60 some news stories according to Google News, one of which turns up this little nugget...

Indonesia wants rich countries to pay developing nations to preserve their forests, which are vital to help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, the country's environment minister said on Tuesday.

The proposal will be tabled at a UN conference on climate change to be held in the Indonesian resort island of Bali in December, Rachmat Witoelar said.

"Preserving our forest means we can't exploit it for our economic benefits. We can't build roads or mines," Witoelar said. "But we make an important contribution to the world by providing oxygen. Therefore countries like Indonesia and Brazil should be compensated by developed countries for preserving their resources," he said.

So essentially their shaking down the West. Shaking us down to pay them not to do the things they say are going to make them drown.

War in the North?

Two views on the current crisis in Iraq. No not the Shia and Sunni. I'm talking about the Kurds and the Turks.

The Turkish view.

The Kurdish view.

Krauthammer on Iraq

Charles Krauthammer gives us some of the most sensible sentences ever uttered on the war in Iraq. And they come in response to some comments by Fareed Zakaria, who we've met before

The final two paragraphs say it best...

We have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq. But when Arabs kill Arabs and Shiites kill Shiites and Sunnis kill all in a spasm of violence that is blind and furious and has roots in hatreds born long before America was even a republic, to place the blame on the one player, the one country, the one military that has done more than any other to try to separate the combatants and bring conciliation is simply perverse.

It infantilizes Arabs. It demonizes Americans. It willfully overlooks the plainest of facts: Iraq is their country. We midwifed their freedom. They chose civil war.

Interestingly I discovered this column through Oxblog who seems to disapprove of the sentiment.

Mosque See TV pt. 6

The final installment of Undercover Mosque.

Hey, We're No longer "Arrogant and Intolerant"

Our Dear Mr. Arkin from this and this must have gotten a real spankin' to cave like he does here,
but he still doesn't quite get it as shown by these words...

Mercenary, of course, is an insult and pejorative, and it does not accurately describe the condition of the American soldier today. I sincerely apologize to anyone in the military who took my words literally.

"...who took my words literally."

I see. He meant "mercenary"as a compliment.

Cool Fridays

My favorite Kinks' song. In a groovy video from the early Seventies. Love those pants.

Oh No! It's the Joker

Jessica Lange meet William Arkin .

Why Don't The Troops Support William Arkin? UPDATE

Mr. Arkin is the living embodiment of He Who Can Dish It Out But Can't Take It.
He responds to criticisms of his post The Troops Also Need To Support The American People
with a post entitled...

The Arrogant and Intolerant Speak Out

He obviously didn't notice the irony.

In this post he manages to both backpedal and whine simultaneously, complaining about the nerve of those who dare write mean things about him and who "hide behind the constitution and the flag." People who...

spew an anti-Democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the American people.

Now if they were spewing anti-Republican, anti-conservative, anti-mainstream, anti-government, message while hiding behind that part of the constitution know as freedom of the press, well that would be different.
And yes, you just read a columnist for the Washington Post complain about people who show "contempt for the American People."

Why Don't The Troops Support William Arkin?

How can bloggers improve their self-esteem?
Read William Arkin's blog over at the Washington Post. Suddenly every syntax error and spelling mistake you've ever made doesn't seem quite so bad.

I can imagine some post-9/11 moment, when the American people say enough already with the wars against terrorism and those in the national security establishment feel these same frustrations. In my little parable, those in leadership positions shake their heads that the people don't get it, that they don't understand that the threat from terrorism, while difficult to defeat, demands commitment and sacrifice and is very real because it is so shadowy, that the very survival of the United States is at stake. Those Hoover's and Nixon's will use these kids in uniform as their soldiers. If I weren't the United States, I'd say the story end with a military coup where those in the know, and those with fire in their bellies, save the nation from the people.

Incoherence? check.

Paranoia? check.

Hatred of Republicans? check

In fact Mr. Arkin is so desperate to criticize Republican Presidents that he drags Hoover's name into this debate for some reason. Because Hoover was just a big old warmonger not at all like that nice Roosevelt who followed him. Though maybe it's J. Edgar he's after.
And then there is this part.

But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

Oh I see that was supposed to be witty.

A Little Moral Blindness

First the front runner.
John McCain

From the Washington Monthly in 2006

McCain was still married and living with his wife in 1979 while, according to The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, "aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich." McCain divorced his wife, who had raised their three children while he was imprisoned in Vietnam, then launched his political career with his new wife's family money.

with more details it only gets worse...

Before his tour of duty in Vietnam, McCain had married a model from Philadelphia, Carol Shepp. While he was imprisoned, she was in an auto wreck, thrown through her car's windshield and left seriously injured. After his return to America, McCain had an extramarital affair with Cindy Lou Hensley, whose father owned Hensley & Co., a Phoenix-based liquor company that is the nation's second largest Anheuser-Busch distributor. McCain and Shepp were divorced in 1980, and he married his millionaire mistress the following month.

Mosque See TV pt. 5