Stupid? Or Principled?

The United States (with a smattering of other democracies) conquered Iraq. We liberated the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein, the Butcher of Baghdad.

If we were really imperialists, we could have made Iraq a colony. Or a territory like Guam and Puerto Rico.

No. We are giving it back to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people voted on their own constitution. We allowed it to happen. We even encouraged it. We have been overly generous.

The Iraqi constitution makes Islam the offical religion of Iraq. According to the constitution, no law may contradict Islam. Article 2 states,

First: Islam is the official religion of the State and it is a fundamental source of legislation:
A. No law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.
B. No law that contradicts the principles of democracy may be established.
C. No law that contradicts the rights and basic freedoms stipulated in this constitution may be established.

Wait a minute. The United States has been under attack by violent Islmic jihadists, Osama bin Laden and his buddies. We are constantly under attack by them in the name of the Allah of Islam. Still, we allowed the country we conquered to adopt a constitution by which Islam is the official religion thaqt may not be contradicted by any other law.

Are we out of our minds? Or is that irrefutable proof that the United States really is the good guy there.

Jihad of Publicity

The Washington Times reports this morning that Al Qaeda is using the news media as a weapon in its holy war of jihad against the United States.

Big surprise.

The liberal dunderhead media types fall right into the jihadists trap when they sniff about discrimination against Muslims (i.e., profiling) and demand liberalized immigration. Do the media dupes really wnat to make it easier for terrorists to attack us in America, in our homes, in our supermarkets, in our ball games, in our schools?

Democrat Victory

Yes, the Democrats have succeeded. They got what they have long sought: high gas prices at the pump!.

As they whine about high gas prices that now they actually have to pay, remember that over the years, high gas prices have been one of their goals. It was even a legislative priority for them. Cars are bad for the environment. They wanted high gas prices to reduce driving.

So why are they sniffling about the high gas prices they have so long sought? Why are they demanding investigations of "Big Oil?" Why are they never satisfied? Ann Coulter analyzes in her typical lively fashion.

Fair and Balanced

The white House selected Tony Snow, late of fox News, as the White House spokesperson. The lefty Tony Snow smearers complain about Fox News and its "Fair and Balanced" motto.

I've got news for the lefties. Fox News is fair and balanced in its presentations, not because the reporters are a mix of left and right. They are not. The right clearly predominates. In MSM, the left clearly predominates.

No. Fox is fair and balanced because it has a policy of presenting interviews on issues with persons from both the left and the right. Someone from the left is always invited to present the case from the left.

As for the MSM, it is rare that a case is presented from the right. Unlike Fox, the MSM feels no obligation to try to present both sides of an issue. If Jesse jackson or Howard Dean or Nancy Pelosi or ... [on and on] speaks, it is taken as unarguable gospel. Why should anyone dispute the left-leaning gospel after all?

(To be sure there are right leaning guests on the occaisional interview show, Meet the Press, or Face the Nation, but not on the regular news presentaztions.)

Fox recognizes, acknowledges, and presents both points of view. That is why its commentary is fair and balanced even if Fox itself is editorially from the right. Just like its motto says.

Fox discloses its editorial bias. MSM denies its own bias.

Mike Adams Quotes

I first read Mike Adams when he wrote a column, a couple of columns actually, trying to get a response from the outrageous professors at Ohio Sate University who felt threatened by an OSU librarian recommending a conservative book. See this blog April 19, 2006. Here are some fun quotes from Mike's column today at Townhall.com:

“When I talk to liberals, I don’t expect them to understand my positions on various issues. I spend most of my time trying to help them understand their own.”

“It is time for those of us who are tired of the diversity movement to come up with our own definition of racism. Racism is best defined as a pathological tendency to interject race into situations where it is not relevant, merely for personal gain."

“When I am hunting and I know I see a deer in the brush, I pull the trigger. When I know it is a human, I hold my fire. When I don’t know, I also hold my fire. The feminist who doesn’t know whether it a fetus is a person, has the abortion anyway. In other words, she just pulls the trigger. Nonetheless, feminists still feel they are morally superior to hunters.”

"Marxism is an emotional disorder, not a political philosophy.”

Bush Does Something Right --Apparently on Purpose

Can it be that President Bush has finally gotten the message that seems to have escaped Congressional Republican the last several years? President Bush is actually threatening to veto the emergency spending bill, intended for Katrina aid, because it contains too much pork, according to the Washington Times this morning.

It is about time. But it may be too late to save the Republican majority from the likely defection of conservative voters disgusted with runaway spending. The Republican majority has engaged in profligate spending far too long to get saved by one veto threat, I suspect.

As I have blogged in the past, the Republicans seem to be more effective in restraining spending when they are in the minority vocally criticizing Democratic excesses. When in power, their eyes glaze over and they get infected themselves with the spending bug.

It's the spending, Stupid.

Media Matters Doesn't Matter

Few things get me as riled up as hearing (or reading) some ignoramus call another person a liar because the other person has a different understanding or different interpretaiton of the same facts. I am never sure whether the name caller is simply despicable or too dumb to understand the difference.

Today, my ire is raised because a web site called Media Matters. Media Matters is run by David Brock, the author of The Real Anita Hill and The Seduction of Hillary Rodham. He is a former conservative, turned liberal. With the expected announcement of Tony Snow's apointment as White House Press Secretary, Media Mattersis is saying that Tony Snow, as a conservative commentator, made false or misleading claims about political matters.

"False or misleading" apparently means anything that disagrees the their interpretation of the facts. This is typical liberal arrogance. A careful reading of the alleged documentation deomonstrates this. Here is one example:

Snow put forward numerous falsehoods to argue that "[e]volutionary theory, like ID [intelligent design], isn't verifiable or testable. It's pure hypothesis."

Wake up and smell the coffee. This is something on which people disagree. The other examples given by Media Matters are similar. The lesson: If you disagree with a liberal's opinion, you are putting forth falsehoods (i.e., lying).

The smear is uncalled for.

Media Matters really doesn't matter.

Ohio Public Spending Limitations

Ohio's Ken Blackwell is a candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. He is also the state's most visible proponent of a constitutional amendment design to limit government spending at all levels of Ohio's government.

And who is complaining? Of course. It is the Ohio cadre of feeders at the public trough, speculating in the press about the goodies they won't be able to spend money on.

The amendment will force all levels of government to prioritize their spending. Maybe it will halt, or at least limit the seemingly endless growth in government employment.

It is unfortunate that legislators in Ohio and elsewhere seem to be unable to rein in their spending without a constitutional amendment.

Willing to Pay the Price

The liberal spin on Mary McCarthy, the CIA's national secrets leaker, is that it was OK for her to leak national secrets as long as she was willing to pay the price, presumably employment termination and the potential of criminal prosecution. Lots of liberals got the talking points memo it seems. Watch the liberal bloviation here.

This is secular humanism at its pinnacle. Nothing is morally wrong, as long as you are willing to "pay the price."

Let's examine the argument.

By that reasoning, it is OK for X to murder Y, as long as X is willing to pay the price.

It is OK for Islamic terrorists to fly planes into the World Trade Center as long as they were willing to play the price (which they were).

It is OK for the Government to shut down newspapers with which it disagrees as long as it is willing to pay the price (losing a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, I guess).

Does this reasoning make anyone gag besides me?

But even with the liberals' specious reasoning, their argument falls apart, because Ms. McCarthy was not "willing to pay the price." She denies she leaked the information (Newsweek disputes the denial, sort of, having confirmed that Ms. McCarthy was fired for having "unauthorized contacts with the media and discussion of classified information."” Story here.). Whoever leaked the information did so anonymously. That is not exactly being willing to pay the price, is it?

For an excellent recap of the background for the situation, click here.

Wenyi Wang Protest

Yesterday, a protester, Wenyi Wang, tried to shout down Chinese President Hu Jintao. The security officers rightfully removed her.

It is unforthunte if there were not more protesters there. Maybe there were, but the MSM would not tell us, of course. In our country, even the despicable have the right to exercise free speech. It was Hu's time to talk, not Ms. Wang's.

I certainly agree with Ms. Wang's view. Characteristically, Ms. Wang's disruption broadcast to American (at least on Fox News) was censored by the Chinese or much of the Far East media. Or, maybe they just did not think the one-person protest was that important. Regardless, there is no question that China has yet to join the civilized world when it comes to free speech.

However, it is hypocritical for the conservative blogosphere to decry liberals who shout down conservatives while applauding the attempt to shout down those with whom the conservatives disagree (even anti-free speech people). Free Speech should be universal.

Offensive Publications

So far my favorite comment on the Americnan MSM's reluctance to publish the Mohammed cartoons that sparked riots is from a column by Terry Mattingly:

"The publication of 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad upset many readers. However, other readers were just as upset when newspapers declined to publish them, with editors saying -- to a chorus of snickers in many pews -- that they did not want to offend religious believers.

"Thus, one Bob Flavell wrote to the Boston Globe and said: 'I find all of your editorial cartoons deeply offensive, morally, religiously, philosophically and spiritually. In fact, I don't like your editorials, either. And the editorializing in your news coverage is annoying as well. In keeping with your cowardly policy not to offend anyone, kindly cease publication at once.'"

Wrongful Life in Ohio

The Ohio Supreme Court has decided, in the court's own words, "Parents of an unhealthy child born following negligent genetic counseling or a negligent failure to diagnose a fetal defect or disease may bring a medical malpractice action for those costs arising from the pregnancy and birth of the child." Schirmer v. Mt. Auburn Obstetrics & Gynecologic Assoc., Inc.,108 Ohio St.3d 494, 2006-Ohio-942. (Click on the case name for copy of the opinions.)

If the doctor had not been negligent, it was alleged, the parents woudl have decided upon an abortion to avoid having an abnormal, unhealthy child.

Given a constitutional right to abortion found in Roe v. Wade, (1973), 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147, this Ohio decision was probably inevitable. Persons wrongly deprived of a right should generally be able to recover damages from the wrongdoer. If Roe v Wade is ever overturned, decisions like this one will have to change.

The good news is that the damages are limited to the costs of the pregnancy and birth. As a result, experienced medical malpractice lawyers in Ohio would not bring such as case. The potential recovery is not high enough to justify the high costs (expensive experts and depositions) and extensive time required to bring and prosecute a medical malpractice case.

The dissenting opinion suggested that the legislature and not the courts should determine whether the public policy of Ohio should allow recovery of damages for wrongful life. The dissent said, "Because I believe that adopting this new cause of action is unwise and cannot be justified by traditional tort concepts of causation and damage, I would leave the matter for the legislature to determine."

Ohio State Drops Charges

A unanimous vote of the Ohio State University Mansfield, Ohio, Branch professors sought to terminate the employment of a conservative librarian. Three professors filed a harrassment complaint.

The librarian's offense? He recommended some conservative books to be required freshmen reading. The problem: recommending these conservative books made openly homosexual professors feel "threatened."

Ohio State has now dropped the charges. See article here. See also here.

The recommended books: "The Marketing of Evil" by David Kupelian, "The Professors" by David Horowitz, "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis" by Bat Ye'or, and "It Takes a Family" by Sen. Rick Santorum.

Sources: Worldnetdaily.com, Agape Press, and of course, Fox News.

A criminologist at University of North Carolina, Wilmington, attempted to contacts the complaining professors to confirm their, uh, concerns. See Dr. Mike Adams column at townhall.com.

Congratulations NKU

The Northern Kentucky University has appropriately handled the case of the university professor who urged her students to vandalize a University-authorized pro-life display. The professor, Sally Jacobsen, apparently personally participated in the vandalism.

Two days after the event, Ms. Jacobson was unrepentent, but now has apologized, saying "I deeply regret my impulsive action in dismantling that display." This apology came after the University reprimanded and suspended her until her retirement next month.

I hope that her apology is sincerely intended and that she recognizes that free speech rights apply as well to those who disagree with her.

According the the news report (linked above), the prosecutor is looking into the vandalism and will probably not prosecute the strudents involved.

Ms. Jacobson's act was both wrong and criminal (the two are not always congruent). I, for one, hope that there be no prosecution at this point and that the matter will drop. The pro-life display has been restored. Call me soft on crimninals, but not all wrongs are righted by crinminal prosecutions. At this point, it seems to me that there are more dangerous criminals out there to occupy the prosecutor's energy.

Jury of Peers

I think Alice will be on trial, judged by the Queen. Or maybe Goldilocks for a B&E at the three bears' place. Story here.

Violence Erupts in Easter Rumble

Headline: Easter Bunny Charged With Battery for Mall Attack.

He kept going and going and ....

If Only Everyone Had One

I want one, too, don't you?

Check this story on Foxnews.com. I think he got his cheap. I would pay more.

Hamas Promises ....

On Monday April 10, 2006, Hamas promised no more suicide bombings of Israelas a matter of policy. (There was actually a formal cease fire on February 8, 2006.)

So what came of that promise last Monday? More suicide bombings of course. And Hamas defends the suicide blast.

The promise of dropping suicide bombings as a matter of policy came on the heels of the European Union's announcement that it was suspending financial aid to the Palestinian Authority. So the Palestinian authority went shopping. It recieved promises of aid from Qatar, Russia, Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, and Iran.

A history of suicide bombing since the original Feb 8, 2006, cease fire: here.

Moonbat Logic

The moonbats at the University of California Santa Cruz and their friends are upset because some students put out an anti-military press release (after chasing military recruiters off campus) and Michelle Malkin pubicized the contact information contained on the press release. Oh, the gall of her to publish portions of a press release. This act of conservative treachery has earned Michelle lots of hate mail.

It turns out that moonbats believe in racial and gender sensitivity only for persons who agree with them. For the crude and ugly epithets levied upon Ms. Malkin, go here.

It occurs to me that,

You know you're a moonbat if...

-You believe that diversity is essential to a civil society, except for people who disagree with you and especially conservatives and fundamentalist Christians.

-You want to be different and unique, just like everyone else (who is a moonbat).

-You believe that reason should never trump emotions in political matters.

-You think George Bush is the Anti-Christ ... or would be if you believed in Christ or God, that is.

-You believe that Republicans are racists (but somehow it is not racist to call a Republican oriental a "slant-eye" or "chink").

-You believe that African-Americans cannot be racist.

-There is no evidence possible that could make you doubt global warming.

-You believe we could solve the problems of Islamic jihadists if we would all just love each other (but it is OK for you to continue to hate conservatives).

-You prefer to think of terrorist suicide bombings as "unfortunate events."

-You think of Islam as a religion of peace and the parts in the Koran about beheading unbelievers (Surah 47.4, see also 9.5) doesn't really mean anything.


Comments? Other moonbat characteristics? Keep it clean! Crudity will not be tolerated.

National Day Of Mourning

Today is always a sad day of the year for me. Tax day, that is.

I am busy scrambling to get my tax extensions done, so I may not be able to blog again today.

Muslims Kill Christian During Mass

Dateline Egypt: Knife wielding Muslims attacked three Christian churches druing mass. One Christian is dead. Story here.

When I report on Muslim terrorism and killing, I have had many Mulsims assure me that Islam is a religion of peace. And they sincerely believe it.

But that really begs the question, doesn't it.

Even if 90% or more Muslims denounce the killing of innocent "civilians" (I use "civilian rather than "innocent", because radicals say no unbeliever is"innocent"), what is to be done about the remaining radicals who are prepared to kill for Islam? How are they to be weeded out of the Muslim pack and isolated?

How is society to know who is a peaceful Muslim and who is an aspiring violent jihadist? I wish someone could tell me.

Amateur Castrations

I could not let this one pass.

In North Carolina, three men claimed they were performing consensual castrations on men who traveled many miles for the service. In a raid, police found what appear to be testicles in Tupperware container [A new use to be touted at Tupperware parties?] along with bloody scalpels and prosthetic testicles. The three men were apparently lovers in a weird triangle and involved in S&M in their basement "dungeon." They have been charged with practicing medicine wtihout a license and felony castration.

I am not making this up.

Religion Central to 70% of College Students

According to an article in the Washington Times, religion is central to the lives of 70% of college students. Here is a further breakdown:

"A breakdown of collegiate party preferences reveals further complexities. Republicans are composed of 34 percent traditional conservatives, 30 percent religious centrists, 20 percent secular centrists and 16 percent who consider themselves traditional liberals.

"Among Democrats, 59 percent are traditional liberals, 24 percent are religious centrists, 9 percent secular centrists and 7 percent are traditional conservatives."

There was no information on how many of them were Scientologists.

[You may have to sign up for the Washington Times Insider to follow the link.]

Islam Beats Scientology in Poll

Islam easily out-polls Scientology in CBS poll, 19% favorable versus only 8% favorable.

Congratulations to the public relations experts at the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) for overcoming Osama factor. After all, Scientology has Tom Cruise and John Travolta going for it.

Islam also beat out the favorable rating of convicted ethics criminal Ohio Governor Bob Taft who has a favorable rating of only 15%.

Christian protestants recieved a favorable polling of 58%, Catholics at 48% and Judaism at 47% favorable, but fundamentalist Christians are only at 31% favorable.

Crazy Cynthia, Again in the News

The Fraternal Order of Police appears to be urging the police officer
Crazy Cynthia struck to bring a civil action for damages. See Article here.

Not guilty by reason of insantity, I think.

Playboy Mag: Target of Muslim Violence

The Indonesian version of Playboy Magazine featuring beautiful, but not nude, women is the target of violent protests in Indonesia. Islamic intolerance is again proven.

No cartoons of Muhammed, no clothed (albeit scantily) beautiful women allowed. Why would anyone become a Muslim voluntarily?

See story here.

Crazy Cynthia Again

Crazy Cynthia played the gender card. Nada.

Played the race card. Nada.

See the ifeminisits comment on foxnews.com.

Google Support for Terrorist News?

Fact 1: There is somle prestige to being listed in Google news as a news source.

Fact 2: Google has a policy to refuse hate speech news sources.

Yet, Google continues to list al-Manar, the Hezbollah-owned news source which is notorious for hate speech as a Google news source on the Google news pages.

For video clips of al-Manar television hate speech, see here.

The United States designated al-Manar television as a terrorist outlet in 2004. See Al Jazeera article here (speaking of terrorist outlets). The Uniteds States has block al-Manar's assets. See here.

Other sources:

counterterroism blog
filo Views on Worlds Affairs
Atlas Shrugs

Iran Celebrates Uranium Enrichment

Doesn't it just warm your heart that the Iranian Press is reporting that Iran is apparently awaiting an imminent announcement that Iran has achieved uranium enrichment to 3.5%, enough for nuclear fission.

Put this together with Iran's new "stealth" missiles, it spells bad news for Israel. Remember that it was the president of Iran who threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Backtrack here.

Beauty Contest Winner's Life Threatened

Islamists are barbarians part 2. ABC News reports.

Contract with America Breached?

The 1994 Contract with America contained 10 points. The first point was support for a balanced budget amendment. In 1995, a balanced budget amendment bill passed the House of Representatives, but was rejected by the Senate. Letely, however, the Washington Times points out in an editorial this morning that Republican spending seems unrestrained. Although the letter of point one of the contract with America was not breached, the spirit has been.

I looks to me as if the Republican party was better able to restrain spending when it was a minority party. As the majority party, the Republicans have been infected with the spend-other-people's-money disease.

Remember, the money does not belong to Republicans or Democrats. The money belongs to you and me, and it is taken from us by force. Force of law, to be sure, but the law is backed up ultimately by force of arms.

The bottom line is that perhaps the Republicans need to be taught a lesson by losing control of Congress. We the people are no worse off (at least in the spending arena), because the Republicans would become fiscally conservative again working to restrain Democratic spending.

Military Insecurity

while the headlines are full of illegals aliens that want open borders, news of carelessness with miliary secrets get buried in back pages, it seems, at the major US papers. But this military carelessness rivals the security threats at our borders, doesn't it?

Hamas: No More Suicide Bombings,

Although Hamas has now called for an end to suicide bombings, other violence (presumably non-suicide bombings) are threatened if there is not progress toward Palestinian statehood, according to Guardian Unlimited. According to Yihiyeh Musa, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, "The suicide bombings happened in an exceptional period and they have now stopped,' he said. 'They came to an end as a change of belief."

Let us all pray that all Hamas bombings, suicide and otherwise, are now at an end.

Muslims Think Born-Again Christians Want War

I have received a truly odd article from Islamonline.net. The article argues with apparent sincerity that born again Christians want war with Islam to hasten the Rapture, so they can meet Jesus. This sort of thinking is credible to those who themselves would like to die in a holy war to acquire the services of 50 virgins.

The paper argues that George Bush is a born again Christian. Therefore, he is pushing for Armageddon. Download the paper here.

The footnotes (among other things) are flawed. For example, one footnote claims that there have been 100,000 civilian lives lost in Iraq. However the article cited really does not support the number. As the footnoted article says, the large number was an estimate based upon an inference.

Anything to paint a negative picture, I guess.

Defendant Bill Clinton

Gone, but not forgotten. Bill Clinton is a defendant in a multi-million dollar civil suit in California over his business dealings. The plaintiff, Peter Franklin Paul, reportedly plans to file a Federal Elections Commission complaint over Hillary Clinton's campaign finance reporting, after a California Superior Court judge dismissed Mrs. Clinton from Mr. Paul's civil suit where she was named as a defendant with her husband. Read about it in Worldnetdaily here.

Just when I thought we were done with Bill.

The Federal Elections Commission complaint will contend that Mrs. Clinton falsely classifed Mr. Paul's contributions which were unlawfully arge and that Hillary should be forced to repay them.

Let's see. Mr. Paul makes an illegal campaign contribution. Hillary wins. The relationship goes sour over a business deal with Bill. Mr. Paul now wants to be repaid his illegal campaign contribution.

Nobody is clean in this one, even if the allegations are true.

I think I have to go wash my hands.

If CAIR is Against It, It Must be Good

I admit I have been lukewarm about the proposed immigration bill, which as I understand it is to build a long wall beteen the US and Mexico, but provide amnesty for those inside. Many hardworking illegal immigrants are here and we won't pay to send them back anyway. Illegal border crossings are taxing our medical facilities in border areas, after illegals are left in the desert. When they work here, they pay sales taxes and excise taxes, if not income taxes.

I am concerned about national security implications of our porous borders. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)'s recent participation in anti-immigration bill protests is persuading me that the bill must be good. See Michell Malkin's blog.

More on Crazy Cynthia

This isn't new news. It is a flashback to an old Jonah Goldberg column showing that insanity is nothing new for Crazy Cynthia McKinney.

Where do these people come from?

Islam Compatible with Civilization?

In a positive development, European Imams are banding together to "prove" that Islam is compatible with Western values, according to a report in the Washington Times.

In the meantime, The Mujahadeen Council, a leading insurgency group linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq, has announced the killing of a Christian in Mosul "for offending the prophet Mohammed, according to ADNkronos International. And of course, there is the case of Abdul Rahman, discussed in other posts.

I'd say the European Imams have their work cut out for them!

Homeland Insecurity

With the arrest of a Department of Homeland Security official for internet importuning of a minor for sex, it seems that the level of competence of DHS officials is boiling into the forefront. See Michelle Malkin's blog today for the scary details.

All bureaucracies have problems, but I had no idea it was this bad.

Da Vinci Code Decision

In London, two goofy authors who claimed to be historians had sued Random House over the widely successful The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. They lost after a trial. See AP article here.

In 1982, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh's book Holy Blood, Holy Grail was published. Their book supposedly chronicled the authors' historical research into the holy grail, ultimately speculating that Jesus was not cricified, but eventually married Mary Magdalene and had a family creating a bloodline: the holy grail. Again, this as supposedly historical research.

So these guys sue Random House alleging that The Da Vinci Code violated their copyright by "appropriat[ing] the architecture" and using the central theme of their 1982 work. They make no claim that Mr. Brown lifted unattributed passages from their book.

Wait a minute. Their 1982 book claims to be historical research. How can anyone claim to copyright history? Obviously, no one can. The suit was a tacit admission that the 1982 historical research was false, a mere fiction. The judge said as much in his decision, calling Baignet and Leigh "authors of pretend historical works."

Besides, ideas cannot be copyrighted. A copyright protects only the expressions of the idea.

Why did that case ever get as far as a trial?

Hamas Mistakes Bribery for Blackmail

According to Al Jazeera, the European Union has suspended $600 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas calls the suspension "blackmail." See Al Jazeera story here.

No. Stopping the payment of a gift is not blackmail. Paying the gift in the first place was bribery.

And if the bribed won't stay bribed, why keep paying the bribe?


UPDATE: Maybe the bribery (or blackmail, if you are Hamas) is working. Will Hamas actually recognize Israel? If they do, will they get their "aid" (i,e,. bribes) from the EU again?

Here is more on the Palestinian Authority cash problems from the Christian Science Monitor.

Death for Aposasy "Absurd"

About ten days ago, a correspondent from Islamonline.net, who identified himself as Shahul Hameed, told me that "In conclusion, it is absurd for anyone to suggest that Islam advocates killing people who covert to another religion," quoting Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Kutty. He also assured me that the Afghan clerics who were demanding death for Christian convert Abdul Rahman were tribal extremists.

Indeed.

Today, the news includes a report from a South Africa news source that the the head of Islamic jurisprudence at Afghanistan's Science Academy confirms that in Islamic law, death is the mandated penalty for apostasy.

Tribal extremist? Or high government official?

Hamas Tells the World

If there were not a sincerely held opinion by an Islamic leader, it would belong in News of the Weird. Worse than merely an odd opinion, it is supposedly the result of a study.

What is it? Jews controlling U.S. Christianity.

Goodbye Trent Lott--We Hope

Conservatives have become increasingly unhappy with the big spending Republicans in Congresss. I, for one, believe that Republicans were more effective at holding down spending when they were a minority party, sad to say.

Now Trent Lott, complaining about porkbusters who are criticizing a $700 million allotment in a spending bill to tear up an operating rail line, said in the Washington Post,

"Lott vigorously defended the rail line plan.

"'I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina,' he said. 'We in Mississippi have not asked for more than we deserve. We've been very reasonable.'"

Deserve? Deserve?

Mr. Lott thinks that Mississippi "deserves" your money. You earned it. But Mississippi deserves it. That is exactly what is wrong with government charity. It becomes an entitlement.

Mr. Lott has been in Washington too long.

For more on porkbusting bloggers, see here and here.

Crazy Cynthia Still in The News

Tom Delay publicly calls Crazy Cynthia a racist and a grand jury will consider her assault on a Capitol police officer. News article here

Update: Tom Delay to file ethics charge against Crazy Cynthia according to WorldnetNewsDaily.

Update: Crazy Cynthia apologizes to the House of Representatives, as two independent witnesses present testimony to the grand jury. No indication yet of any apology to the police officer she struck.

Congress Person at Large

I quess we can all sleep secure in our beds knowing that Crazy Cynthia is on the job in Congress. Her interview on Fox News this morning was choice. Watch the video link if it is still there.

Notice how courteous she is when the interviewer tries to ask her questions. Notice whether she actually answers questions that are asked.

Democracy and Islamic States

Democracy in its various forms, from direct (existing in pure form nowhere in the world) to representative, requires that the people have ultimate governing authority over themselves.

Afghanistan and Iraq have adopted a form of constitutional government, expressly subservient to Islam. For example, the Afghanistan constitution expressly states that freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial and every other right stated in the constitution is subject to a higher authority, specifically "the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."

OK, but whose beliefs prevail? The case of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian convert, illustrates the problem. The beliefs and provisions of Islam include the Hadith (the sayings of Mohammed), which proclaims death to any who convert from Islam to any other religion. The Afghan judge in Rahman's case, the prosecutor, and many Afghan clerics accordingly demanded death as the Islamic penalty for Mr. Rahman's apostasy.

But others outside Afghanistan differed. Islamonline.net called the death penalty for apostasy "absurd." Even the normally radical Islamic Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called Mr. Rahman's conversion "a personal matter" and called for his release.

So, who decides what the "beliefs and provisions" of Islam may be?

Although both the Afghan in Iraqi constitutions permit the people to vote for their leaders, neither really provides for a democracy. At best, both have a representative theocracy, because in case of a tie, someone's interpretation of the "beliefs and provisions of Islam" always trumps the will of the people.

In an Islamic state, the beliefs and provisions of Islam must legally control over the written constitution. That is not democracy at all.

And never will be.

Barbarians?

Fundamentalist Christians sometimes get upset when people are blaspheming: working on the Sabbath, dancing (according to some), engage in homosexual behavior. What do Christians do about it?

They pray for souls. They pray for guidance. They pray that the misguided will come to salvation.

What to fundamentalist Muslims do when there is music at a wedding? Load the guns! See the story in the Pakistan Daily Times.

Or in the case of apostates like Christian convert Abdul Rahman, threaten to cut off his head and tear him to pieces until there is nothing left. See story here.

And, oh yes, rioting ... burning buildings. All over some cartoons.

Can the civilized world really co-exist with these people?

Call Out the SWAT Team

Now prosecutors are charging a teacher for giving a "wedgie" to a student.

Granted, it seems a bit playful, even bad taste. But criminal? Really?

See story here.

Red White and Blue: Gang Colors!

At least that is the message being sent by one San Diego High School.

Banning the colors of the American flag. What could they be teaching the children by that ban?

Sheesh.

Welcome

This is an opportunity for me to rant about the news and about the lack of common sense we see from our elected officials and from bureaucrats around the nation. There should be plenty to rant about. However, besides the dumb stuff we see from our public officials, issues relating to radical Islam and the odd behavior of Muslims and their governments is also fair game.