Pittsburgh Tribune Review BLASTS liberal extremists

WOW!

WOW!

On Kennedy:

To wit, Kennedy held up a New York Times story detailing how conservative groups mobilized to support the Alito nomination as some sort of illegal conspiracy that undermined the confirmation and advice-and-consent processes.

Then, as he did during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Kennedy, and switching into his affectatious theatrical-thunder voice, proceeded to smear Alito. It was a despicable performance by an out-of-touch and desperate windbag nearing the end of his useful political life.

On Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Robert Byrd:

These two liberal crazies couldn't even get the support of Sen. Blowhard Bluehair, Robert Byrd.

On Democrat extremists:

Speaking of extremes, 17th-century Frenchman of letters Blaise Pascal once offered that "too much truth stuns us." For Democrat extremists such as Kennedy and Kerry, the contemporary translation is that they couldn't handle the truth.

If the Steelers lose, I'll consider it punishment from God.

TAGS: Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Democrat extremists

Hamas demands return of Seville

The highly educated terrorist organization Hamas has demanded the return of Seville, Spain. In its children's website, Al Fateh (the conquerer), Hamas writes a story as if told from the viewpoint of the city.

"I beg you, my loved ones, to call me to return along with the other cities of the lost paradise to Muslim hands so that happiness may reign in my lands. Dress me, for I am the bride of the land of Al Andalus."

"I was once the capital of the Kingdom of Seville, connected to the Atlantic by the Guadalquivir River. I wear around my neck the scarf of the most beautiful river, more than the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Nile, where gondolas and fishing boats navigate for 24 miles, under the trees with the singing of the birds," the article says.

Again twisting history to meet its political and terrorist goals, the Hamas website tells children,

The history of the city begins, according to Al Fateh, with the Muslim conquest. The story ends when Seville was reconquered by King Fernando III, and concludes, "So the golden age of the Muslims who lost me ended, but the marks of their civilization remain."

Let's take a look at Seville, shall we?

8th century BC: Original name thought to be Ispal. Seville was probably founded during the Tarshish period. Legend has it that Hercules drove two pillars into the site that would become the city. Tarshish has never been definitively identified but the Bible, the Phoenicians and the Greeks make many references to it.

3rd Century BC: The Cathaginians conquered Ispal.

206 BC: Roman commander Scipio Africanus conquered the city.

45 BC: Julius Caesar names the city Iulia Romula Hispalis and raised its status to a colony of Rome. Both the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian were born in Itálica, a suberb of Seville.

426 AD: Seville was taken by the Vandal king Gonderic. The Vandals hung around long enough to sack the city and the surrounding area, then left for Tunisia in 429.

429: The Suebi occupied the city. The Suebi were a Germanic tribe that entered the Iberian peninsula at about the same time as the Vandals. When the Vandals left for Tunisia to seek more treasure, the Suebi moved in. The Suebi were an illiterate and poorly organized group and almost no trace of their existence is visible today although they ostensibly controlled almost all of Western Spain and Portugal at one time.

527: The Visigoths, hired by the Romans to go after the Alans and the Vandals, eventually took out the Suebi, too and took control of Seville.

712: The Moors, under Musa ibn Nusayr, beseiged and conquered the city. The Moors were Berbers and Arabs converted to Islam who originally inhabited Mauritania in Africa.

1031: The Moorish caliphate fell and for some 50 years no central government had control of Seville.

1086: The Almoravids first wage holy war against their Moorish fellow Muslims in Africa and establish Marrakech (Morrocco) as their capital. The Almoravids then conquered Seville and all the rest of Moorish Spain. The Almoravids were a confederation of 3 Berber tribes (Lamtuna, Gudula, Massufa) of the Sanhaja clan. At the same time all this was happening, Spanish kings were slowly but surely winning back Spain by bits and pieces. Through all of this, only one man, a Spanish Christian, fought Moor and Almoravid and Christian king alike, depending on who was offering the most, and NEVER lost a fight. That would be Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known to you and I as El Cid. Don't believe the movie, that's not what El Cid was at all. He was a political animal who also happened to be a brilliant battlefield tactician, somewhat on a par with George S. Patton. But that's another story.

1110: The Spanish city of Saragossa was captured under the leadership of Ali bni Yusuf. This becomes the last victory in Spanish territory for the Almoravids.

1147: As the Almoravids had done to the Moors, so the Almohads did to the Almoravids. Marrakech falls to the Almohads. The Almohads was a Muslim Berber movement that disagreed with the Almoravids calling themselves jurists and didn't think the Almoravids were practicing pure Islam. So the Almohads conquered the Almoravids and forced the Almoravids to flee to Spain.

1172: Persuing the remnants of the Almoravid empire, the Almohads conquer Seville. The Almohads continued to lose their kingdom bit by bit to Spanish Christian kings.

1248: Fernando III, king of castilla y Leon, takes Seville from the Almohads.

So we see that the Muslims fought over "the land of Al Andalus" and "the Kingdom of Seville" for some 536 years. The battles between the various Muslim movements that I write of here concern only the city of Seville. This was only the tip of the iceberg as far as internecine warfare amongst the true believers of the religion of peace in Spain, North Africa, the Arabian peninsula and the Holy Land.

In a nutshell:
A Spaniard (Christian) took Seville from the
Almohads (Muslim) who took it from the
Almoravids (Muslim) who took it from the
Moors (Muslim) who took it from the
Visigoths (Christian) who took it from the
Suebi (Christian) who took it from the
Vandals (pagan) who took it from the
Romans (Christian by the time they lost it)

Seville was Christian under the Romans for about 300 years, Christian under the Suebi and Visigoths for 283 years, Muslim under, well, whomever, for some 536 years and Christian again under the Spaniards for 758 years and still counting. That totals 1344 years under one Christian ruler or another and only 758 years under one Muslim ruler or another. Of course, Seville was pagan from the 8th century BC until about the 2nd century AD, or about 1000 years. Still, I say the Christians have the upper hand here with their roughly 1344 years in control. Zapatero can breathe a sigh of relief. We aren't going to make him give it back.

More experts in history, grography and demography:
Islam Info, Rhymes With Right, Jason Brzoska (How the hell do you pronounce your name? Are you 'merican er a furriner?), Logical Meme, BizBlogger, Anti-Strib, Red Hot Cuppa Politics, In the Bullpen, Tammy Bruce, The Jawa Report,

TAGS: Hamas, Seville, al Andalus

Dave Barry: "Newspapers are dead."

And he's not joking.

"It has to start with the kids," he said. "My son is 25. He's been around newspaper people all of his life. He doesn't get the paper. That's the first problem. The second problem is: We can no longer compel people to pay attention. We used to be able to say, there's this really important story in Poland. You should read this. Now people say, I just look up what I'm interested in on the Internet."

Ouch!

TAGS: Dave Barry, newspapers

Test case: Christianity vs Judaism vs Islam

Another religious bruhaha reared its head, today. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) has been accused of blasphemy for its new slogan: I AM. As in I AM Instant Messaging and I AM Voice Chat.

I AM is the English translation of YaHWeH, the self-proclaimed name of God. Exodus 3:13-15 says, And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations."

In John 8:58, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am."

In a letter to AOL executives Jonathan Miller, the chief executive officer of America Online, and John Buckley, corporate communications officer, one Ian Millar wrote,

He is the Creator and Savior of the world. He alone is to be worshipped. To take His name in vain, or use as a common thing is blasphemy, a vulgar sin of offense. Perhaps you have not read the Third Commandment, since they have removed it from so many public monuments in the last decade. But breaking it as a means of marketing your products offends the mind of everyone who worships Him.

You must immediately change the name of your program. I can assure you that you will lose business over this marketing tactic from people who worship the Almighty. But worse, you have offended Him by your actions; whether they are deliberate or ignorant. To treat as common the name of God is wicked. God is patient, but mankind is today making an error of epic proportions by the deliberate actions of mocking the Almighty; particularly in the technologically advanced society. His patience with the mockery of mankind will come to an end.

This new marketing idea is bad corporate policy. I implore you to change the name of your programs and rebuke the marketing team who came up with this vile idea. I will stop using AIM and urge all of my colleagues to convert to your competitors, if this is not changed very soon.

In view of the ongoing kerfluffle over the caricatures of Muhammed that appeared in a Danish newspaper, we have a chance to compare the reactions to perceived blasphemy by the three great monotheistic religions of the world, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. What do you think is likely to happen?
Do you think Christians and Jews will burn Danish Flags?
Do you think that masked Christian and Jewish gunmen will storm USAID offices to demand an apology from the US?
Do you think Christian and Jewish jihadists will threaten suicide bomb attacks against AOL?
Do you think anonymous Christian and Jewish terrorists will threaten, "AOL is next!"
Do you think that Israel and the Vatican will withdraw their ambassadors from Washington?
Will the State Depsrtment have to warn Americans not to visit the Vatican or Tel Aviv?
Do you think the Pope and the acting Israeli Prime Minister will demand that President Bush punish AOL?
Will thousands of Jews and Christians take to the streets on consecutive days to shout, "War on America, Death to USA"? Well, possibly in Washington during the presidents SOTU speech, they might.
Do you think President Bush would consider for even a nanosecond sending a delegation to Tel Aviv or the Vatican to discuss a boycott of AOL?

In my opinion, the answers to the above questions are, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no and no. If Christians and/or Jews are significantly angered by the AOL slogans, then drop AOL services. I don't use AOL and life can be lived relatively peacefully and successfully without AOL. If AOL is concerned about the loss of business and/or bad publicity, then it can change its slogan. Whatever happens, it is my prediction that it will ocurr peacefully and without diplomatic intervention.

TAGS: AOL, I AM, Denmark, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, blasphemy

Hamas' principles and "highly educated" Palestinians

Khalid Mish'al, head of the political bureau of Hamas:

We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid

Hamas' principles as specified in : The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)

They (unbelievers - infidels - kafir) are smitten with vileness wheresoever they are found; unless they obtain security by entering into a treaty with Allah, and a treaty with men; and they draw on themselves indignation from Allah, and they are afflicted with poverty. This they suffer, because they disbelieved the signs of Allah, and slew the prophets (Jesus) unjustly; this, because they were rebellious, and transgressed.

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.

Article Two:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine. Moslem Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterised by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all Islamic concepts of all aspects of life, culture, creed, politics, economics, education, society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and conversion to Islam.

Article Three:
In all that, they fear Allah and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors, so that they would rid the land and the people of their uncleanliness, vileness and evils.

Article Six:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned. In the absence of Islam, strife will be rife, oppression spreads, evil prevails and schisms and wars will break out.

Article Seven:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders.

The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.

Article Eight:
The Slogan of the Islamic Resistance Movement: Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.

Article Nine:
The Islamic Resistance Movement found itself at a time when Islam has disappeared from life. Thus rules shook, concepts were upset, values changed and evil people took control, oppression and darkness prevailed, cowards became like tigers: homelands were usurped, people were scattered and were caused to wander all over the world, the state of justice disappeared and the state of falsehood replaced it. Nothing remained in its right place.

As for the objectives: They are the fighting against the false, defeating it and vanquishing it so that justice could prevail, homelands be retrieved and from its mosques would the voice of the mu'azen emerge declaring the establishment of the state of Islam, so that people and things would return each to their right places and Allah is our helper.

Article Eleven:
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?

This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.

Article Twelve:
Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an enemy should tread Moslem land. Resisting and quelling the enemy become the individual duty of every Moslem, male or female. A woman can go out to fight the enemy without her husband's permission, and so does the slave: without his master's permission.

Article Thirteen:
Peaceful Solutions, Initiatives and International Conferences:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight.

Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah.

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:

"The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."

Article Fifteen:
The Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine is an Individual Duty:

In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.

It is important that basic changes be made in the school curriculum, to cleanse it of the traces of ideological invasion that affected it as a result of the orientalists and missionaries who infiltrated the region following the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of Salah el-Din (Saladin).

I swear by the holder of Mohammed's soul that I would like to invade and be killed for the sake of Allah, then invade and be killed, and then invade again and be killed.

Article Sixteen:
The Education of the Generations:

Side by side with this, a comprehensive study of the enemy, his human and financial capabilities, learning about his points of weakness and strength, and getting to know the forces supporting and helping him, should also be included.

Article Seventeen:
The Role of the Moslem Woman:

The enemies have realised the importance of her role. They consider that if they are able to direct and bring her up they way they wish, far from Islam, they would have won the battle. That is why you find them giving these attempts constant attention through information campaigns, films, and the school curriculum, using for that purpose their lackeys who are infiltrated through Zionist organizations under various names and shapes, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, espionage groups and others, which are all nothing more than cells of subversion and saboteurs. These organizations have ample resources that enable them to play their role in societies for the purpose of achieving the Zionist targets and to deepen the concepts that would serve the enemy. These organizations operate in the absence of Islam and its estrangement among its people. The Islamic peoples should perform their role in confronting the conspiracies of these saboteurs. The day Islam is in control of guiding the affairs of life, these organizations, hostile to humanity and Islam, will be obliterated.

Article Eighteen:
She (mothers or sisters) has to teach them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the role of fighting awaiting them. That is why it is necessary to pay great attention to schools and the curriculum followed in educating Moslem girls, so that they would grow up to be good mothers, aware of their role in the battle of liberation.

She has to be of sufficient knowledge and understanding where the performance of housekeeping matters are concerned, because economy and avoidance of waste of the family budget, is one of the requirements for the ability to continue moving forward in the difficult conditions surrounding us. She should put before her eyes the fact that the money available to her is just like blood which should never flow except through the veins so that both children and grown-ups could continue to live.

Article Twenty:
The society that confronts a vicious enemy which acts in a way similar to Nazism, making no differentiation between man and woman, between children and old people - such a society is entitled to this Islamic spirit. Our enemy relies on the methods of collective punishment. He has deprived people of their homeland and properties, pursued them in their places of exile and gathering, breaking bones, shooting at women, children and old people, with or without a reason. The enemy has opened detention camps where thousands and thousands of people are thrown and kept under sub-human conditions. Added to this, are the demolition of houses, rendering children orphans, meting cruel sentences against thousands of young people, and causing them to spend the best years of their lives in the dungeons of prisons.

In their Nazi treatment, the Jews made no exception for women or children. Their policy of striking fear in the heart is meant for all. They attack people where their breadwinning is concerned, extorting their money and threatening their honour. They deal with people as if they were the worst war criminals. Deportation from the homeland is a kind of murder.

Article Twenty-Two:
Supportive Forces Behind the Enemy:

For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.

The imperialistic forces in the Capitalist West and Communist East, support the enemy with all their might, in money and in men. These forces take turns in doing that. The day Islam appears, the forces of infidelity would unite to challenge it, for the infidels are of one nation.

O true believers, contract not an intimate friendship with any besides yourselves: they will not fail to corrupt you. They wish for that which may cause you to perish: their hatred hath already appeared from out of their mouths; but what their breasts conceal is yet more inveterate.

Article Twenty-five:
Anything contrary or contradictory to these trends, is a lie disseminated by enemies or their lackeys for the purpose of sowing confusion, disrupting the ranks and occupy them with side issues.

Article Twenty-Eight:
The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion.

We should not forget to remind every Moslem that when the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that "Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women."

Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. "May the cowards never sleep."

Article Thirty-One:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is a humanistic movement. It takes care of human rights and is guided by Islamic tolerance when dealing with the followers of other religions.

Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism - to coexist in peace and quiet with each other. Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam.

It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror. Everyone of them is at variance with his fellow-religionists, not to speak about followers of other religionists. Past and present history are full of examples to prove this fact.

"They will not fight against you in a body, except in fenced towns, or from behind walls. Their strength in war among themselves is great: thou thinkest them to be united; but their hearts are divided. This, because they are people who do not understand." (The Emigration - verse 14).

Islam confers upon everyone his legitimate rights. Islam prevents the incursion on other people's rights. The Zionist Nazi activities against our people will not last for long.

Article Thirty-Two:
The Attempt to Isolate the Palestinian People:

World Zionism, together with imperialistic powers, try through a studied plan and an intelligent strategy to remove one Arab state after another from the circle of struggle against Zionism, in order to have it finally face the Palestinian people only. Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of the struggle, through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. They are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements and to bring them outside the circle of struggle.

The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.

Leaving the circle of struggle with Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who does that. "for whoso shall turn his back unto them on that day, unless he turneth aside to fight, or retreateth to another party of the faithful, shall draw on himself the indignation of Allah, and his abode shall be hell; an ill journey shall it be thither." (The Spoils - verse 16). There is no way out except by concentrating all powers and energies to face this Nazi, vicious Tatar invasion.

Islamic groupings all over the Arab world should also do the same, since all of these are the best-equipped for the future role in the fight with the warmongering Jews.

Article Thirty-Four:
Expansionists have more than once put their eye on Palestine which they attacked with their armies to fulfill their designs on it. Thus it was that the Crusaders came with their armies, bringing with them their creed and carrying their Cross.

Article Thirty-Five:
The Islamic Resistance Movement views seriously the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of Salah ed-Din al-Ayyubi and the rescuing of Palestine from their hands, as well as the defeat of the Tatars at Ein Galot, breaking their power at the hands of Qataz and Al-Dhaher Bivers and saving the Arab world from the Tatar onslaught which aimed at the destruction of every meaning of human civilization. The Movement draws lessons and examples from all this. The present Zionist onslaught has also been preceded by Crusading raids from the West and other Tatar raids from the East.

Article Thirty-Six:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is Composed of Soldiers:

The last of our prayers will be praise to Allah, the Master of the Universe.

Well, as it states in Article Thirty-one, Islam is tolerant of all religions so long as they all live "under the wing of Allah", the warmongering Jews are kicked out of the Holy Land and the Lions Club is destroyed. Right. The Lions Club? That's where I buy my Christmas trees.

Khalid Mish'al goes on to say:

It is widely recognised that the Palestinians are among the most politicised and educated peoples in the world.

Uh-huh. Educated like this?

After the outbreak of the Intifada, the same people and new recruits began to assassinate Palestinians. In the course of the Intifada, Hamas operatives have admitted to 43 such attacks, in which 46 Palestinians were killed. On the basis of intelligence information, about 40 more murders of Palestinians can be attributed to Hamas members.

And like this:

Hamas is believed to have killed more than 500 people in more than 350 separate terrorist attacks since 1993. Not all Hamas’ attacks have been carried out by suicide bombers. The group has also accepted responsibility for assaults using mortars, short-range rockets, and small arms fire.

After a bombing, Hamas gives the family of the suicide bomber between $3,000 and $5,000 and assures them their son died a martyr in holy jihad.

And like this?

Hamas Leader Mahmoud Zahar on Al-Manar TV: "Palestine Means Palestine in its Entirety - From the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River . . . We Cannot Give Up a Single Inch of it . . . Why Should We Recognize Condoleezza Rice . . . or Israel's Right to Exist?"

"If today we are unable to win the conflict decisively, for reasons known to all, we must not pass on to our sons a disgraceful defeat by recognizing the Israeli enemy's right to exist, where it has no such right."

And this:

The controversy over Danish caricatures of Prophet Muhammad escalated yesterday as gunmen seized a European Union office in Gaza and Muslims appealed for a trade boycott of Danish products.

Highly educated gunmen, no doubt.

And as a further demonstration of how the highly educated Khalid Mish'al has a firm grasp on history:

Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony.

Well, if Khalid refers to Palestine as "the Muslim world", and I am sure that he does, he might mention that the Jews had lived there for 4300 years - that would be 43 centuries - (with a time-out for bondage in Egypt) before there was a Muslim anywhere (see Abraham, Isaac, Land of Canaan, Philistines). That's 4,300 years before Muhammed.

TAGS: Hamas, Khalid Mish'al, Islam, Abraham, Isaac

Coretta Scott King, RIP

Mrs. King has died. May she Rest in Peace and may God bless.

Much more than I could write can be found here:
Sister Toldjah
La Shawn Barber
Perspectives in Motion
Cindy Swanson
D. C. Thornton
The American Mind
Independent Conservative
and many, many more - from all sides of the political spectrum.


TAGS: Coretta Scott King

Read Thomas Sowell

Read Thomas Sowell in Townhall, today. He lampoons Republicans for their historically ham-handed attempts to appeal to the mythical "black vote". And he is anything if not blunt about it.

Why would anyone who wants liberalism go for a Republican imitation when they can get the real thing from Democrats? Republicans do not have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the votes of liberal blacks.

He reminds us, starkly, that conservative blacks have not had an easy time of it in the Republican party. I don't remember this incident, but if it happened today I would be outraged:

Back in 1997, when black Republican Congressman J.C. Watts denounced people like Jesse Jackson and then D.C. mayor Marion Barry as "race-hustling poverty pimps," House Speaker Newt Gingrich took it upon himself to apologize to Jesse Jackson.

To apologize for what another man said is to treat that man as if he were your child or your servant. Gingrich then added further insult by inviting Jesse Jackson to join him in his box for the Clinton inauguration for his second term as president.

Any wonder why J. C. Watts bailed out of the House? That was pretty stupid, Newt. Sowell asks,

Did they think that conservative blacks who might have considered becoming Republican candidates were more likely to do so after seeing how J.C. Watts had been treated?

Sowell's point here is that pandering to Jesse Jackson and liberal blacks who are going to vote Democrat in lockstep anyway is a waste of time and, sadder yet, a waste of conservative black political power. Now, Sowell warns Ken Blackwell, a solid, pro-life conservative who has fought for lower taxes and is seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Ohio,

Mr. Blackwell would do well to watch his back.

This is worse than sad. A black conservative Republican columnist has to issue a warning to a black conservative Republican politician to guard his back against white conservative Republicans. It's enough to make one weep with frustration.

If you would like to read more of Mr. Sowell's views, and I think you should, you can find a good starting point with this list of Sowell's columns.

UPDATE: Here is Ken Blackwell's website,

Blackwell for Governor.
He needs your help . . . your help, unfortunately, in protecting him from rascist fatcat Ohio Republican political hacks.

TAGS: Thomas Sowell, conservative black Republican columnist, Ken Blackwell, conservative black Republican politician

The Danish Muhammed Cartoons

Here are the 12 cartoon depictions of Muhammed that have the Danes in such hot water with the Islamofascists. The Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten asked around for someone to give them or make for them a depiction of Muhammed. When the newpaper discovered that no such image existed (that's a no-no in Muhammedlandia) and nobody wanted to make one, the paper foolishly, IMHO, issued a public invitation for images. Twelve cartoonists responded with their personal impressions of Muhammed. These are what the newspaper received and then even more foolishly printed.

Even though I may have little respect for Islam and its 6th century dark ages beliefs and practices, I probably wouldn't have defied a sacred belief such as that of not depicting the prophet in any image. Not if I wanted to avoid picking a fight with the Islamofascists. I reprint these here with the caveat that I am providing a service to those who would like to see what all the fuss is about.


























TAGS: Denmark, Jyllands Posten, Muhammed, cartoons, Islamofascists

Filibuster CRUSHED

The Democratic Daily:

Ted Kennedy gave an awesome floor speech a while ago

John Kerry is on the Senate Floor right now - cleaning some clocks… Speaking the Truth to Power!

Ted Kennedy is up now - roaring like a lion! …

We’re down to the wire on this.

How we stand and fight this fight, will be determined by those who are willing to stand beside Kerry, Kennedy and the other Democratic Senators who understand that fighting the good fight, means making a stand at the right moment in history.

The Time To Stand Is Now

Now refers to filibuster attempt as "symbolic".

Pharyngula:

Remember these names when Alito screws us over. These are the ones who didn't even try to stop him.

Akaka, Daniel K. (Coward-HI)
Baucus, Max (Doormat-MT)
Bingaman, Jeff (Toady-NM)
Byrd, Robert C. (Ditherer-WV)
Cantwell, Maria (One-termer-WA)
Carper, Thomas R. (Lickspittle-DE)
Conrad, Kent (Stooge-ND)
Dorgan, Byron L. (Loser-ND)
Inouye, Daniel K. (Pawn-HI)
Johnson, Tim (Milksop-SD)
Kohl, Herb (Flunky-WI)
Landrieu, Mary L. (Parasite-LA)
Lieberman, Joseph I. (Sycophant-CT)
Lincoln, Blanche L. (Puppet-AR)
Nelson, Bill (Candy-ass-FL)
Nelson, E. Benjamin (Lowlife-NE)
Pryor, Mark L. (Chicken-AR)
Rockefeller, John D., IV (Weasel-WV)
Salazar, Ken (Dissembler-CO)

Daily Kos:

But a battle is not a war.

In every case, the warriors in those wars suffered immense setbacks, repeatedly so, and found it hard to get the politicians to speak up and stand up for them. Eventually, however, because they refused to surrender, and because they took the fight beyond the electoral arena, they won.

Yeah, like, after Yorktown, the British took back Boston and New York.

After Tripoli Harbor, the Barbary pirates became a great sea power.

After San Jacinto, Santa Ana recovered Houston.

After Gettysburg, Lee crushed Grant.

After Chapultepec Castle, we had to return Texas to Mexico.

After San Juan Hill, Spain invaded Los Angeles.

After Stalingrad, Hitler knew he had it won.

Firedoglake:

I don't think anyone can look at the Alito battle on the part of the netroots community and say it was anything other than a huge success.

Well, it was better than 90-10, I guess. 25 votes against cloture. I thought there were 45 Democratic Senators? Am I wrong about that? Are there only 25?

The Sideshow:

Let me say that again: We've gone from zero to only two votes short in just a few days. That's kind of the opposite of the conventional wisdom.

Let's check that math. There were 97 Senators voting today and a cloture motion requires 60% to pass (59 votes) or 41% to defeat it (39 votes). The losers managed to scrape up 25 votes. That would be, er, 14 votes short, not 2 . . . I think.

TalkLeft:

The final vote is tomorrow, and over 40 Senators are expected to vote against his nomination. This means Alito will receive more "no" votes than any other confirmed Supreme Court nominee in the last 100 years, other than Justice Clarence Thomas.

Well, there is that.

Final Tally: 72-25 in favor of motion to cut off debate (cloture) and move to an up-or-down vote (with one Republican Senator hospitalized after a car accident).

TAGS: Alito, filibuster, flop

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D, MA)

June, 1950 - graduated from Milton Accademy with "C" average

September. 1950 - admitted to Harvard under "legacy" program (brothers were Harvard grads and father donated millions)

May, 1951 - forced to withdraw from Harvard for cheating on a Spanish exam - paid a friend to take the test for him.

1951 - Joined Army for 4 years - father Joseph P. got it shortened to 2 years. Discharged 1952 - rank, Private

Sptember, 1953 - readmitted to Harvard

1954 - Playing a match for Harvard's rugby team, got into 3 fistfights and was ejected from game by referee Frederick Costick who said that in 30 years of rugby officiating was first player he ever had to eject. Costick said,

Rugby is a character-building sport. Players learn how to conduct themselves on the field with the idea that they will learn how to conduct themselves in life. When a player loses control of himself three times in a single afternoon, to my mind, that is a sign that, in a crisis, the man is not capable of thinking clearly and acting rationally. Such a man will panic under pressure.

March, 1957 - paid $15 fine for speeding (Mass. license)

March, 1958 - while at U of Virginia law school was known as "Cadillac Eddie" - was chased and finally caught hiding lying down in the front seat of his car by Deputy Sheriff Thomas Whitten. Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving; racing with an officer to avoid arrest; and operating a motor vehicle without an operator's license (Virginia). (Mass license)

Lat 1958 - arrested again for speeding and no Virginia license (Mass license)

1959 - -cited once more for reckless driving (Mass license)

July, 1969 - after a party attended by 6 married men, including Kennedy, Joseph Gargan, Jack Crimmins, Ray LaRosa, Charles Tretter, Paul Markham and 5 single girls referred to by the men as "The Boiler Room Girls", including Mary Ellen Lyons, Rosemary Keough, Susan Tannenbaum and Mary Jo Kopechne, at the Sidney Lawrence Cottage on Chappaquiddick Island, Kennedy left in his car with Kopechne. He drove the car off of the Dike Bridge. Kennedy escaped from the car and swam to safety, Mary Jo Kopechne did not.

Since Chappaquiddick - divorce, sex scandals (Au Bar - William Kennedy Smith rape charge, "sandwich" with Sen. Dodd, etc.), love child with Caroline Bilodeau, named Christopher, surfaces at aged 21, etc.

January 30, 2006 - comes completely unstuck during anti-Alito speech to US Senate. Read about it here, watch it here.

Jesus!

By the way, the filibuster to be lead by Kerry-Kennedy was CRUSHED, 72-25.

TAGS: Edward M. Kennedy

Hamas demands Israel change its flag

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Israeli cabinet that Hamas seemed to be "acting responsibly". Within an hour or so of this erroneous statement, Hamas' Grand Mufti Ayatollah Sheikh Vizier al Bul Bul Emir, or whatever title he's hefting these days, Mahmoud Zahar, said,

"Israel must remove the two blue stripes from its national flag. The stripes on the flag are symbols of occupation. They signify Israel's borders stretching from the River Euphrates to the River Nile."

Well, the blue stripes on Israel's flag may mean that to him, but not to the Israelis nor to any Jew. If Grand Mufti Ayatollah Sheikh Vizier al Bul Bul Emir Mahmoud could read, which is doubtful, or could access the internet, which is even more doubtful, he might learn the following:

The Israeli flag depicts two blue stripes as are found on some tallit, or Jewish prayer shawls, with the Magen David, or Star of David, between them. Basically, the Israeli flag is a Jewish prayer shawl with the Magen David stuck on it.

The tallit, or tallis, is the Jewish prayer shawl. It is white overall with blue or black stripes towards either end. There is no "official" Jewish tallit as far as overall size or the color of the stripes are concerned except that it must be big enough to wrap around the shoulders, like a shawl, and not just around the neck like a scarf - that would be a no-no. The fringes, called tzitzit, at each corner of the tallit, however, are quite another matter as are the rules for wear and care of the tallit itself. The requirements for the tzitzit are quite strict. You may look that one up yourself. We are concerned about the blue stripes on the flag.

Let's take a brief timeout to address the Magen David. King David had no Star of David. The Magen David is relatively modern. Relative, of course, to the 5000 year history of the Jews. In fact, Jewish scholars instantly consider ancient "discoveries" which depict the Magen David to be forgeries. Some say that the Magen David depicts the shape of David's shield or perhaps the symbol on it, but there is little evidence to support this. The two interwoven triangles were a common symbol of good luck in that part of the world in ancient times and indeed still are today and depictions of images much like the Magen David are found in artifacts from many civilizations from the area.

As for the stripes on the tallit and the Israeli flag, the tallit stripes are simply Jewish tradition. The blue threads in the tzitzit (fringes, remember) are, again, quite another matter. Jewish tallit can have black stripes, gray stripes, blue stripes, gold or silver accent stripes, whatever you'd like. The tallit in reality only exists as a place to put the tzitzit. That's because the Positive Mitzvah #14 requires that a tzitzit be at all four corners of every four-cornered garmet, which most garments used to be. Take a look in your wardrobe and tell me how many four-cornered garments you own. Probably none, right? So, in modern times, in order to fulfill the Tzitzit requirement, the Jews have to have a tallit. Ultra Orthodox Jews, and some other very observant Jews, have a special poncho-like tallit that they wear under their shirts at all times so that the tzitzit are always exposed. I have never seen one but I would guess that the shirts must be specially designed also. Most Jews just wrap the tallit around their shoulders at prayer.

The blue die (Jews say, "techailet") used in ancient times came from the blood of a very rare mediterranean snail which the Jews called a chilazon. That snail has probably long ago disappeared. The blue die from these snails was so rare even in olden days that it was as valuable as gold. The Romans forbade common people from wearing anything with blue in it. That color was reserved for royalty. So the Jews had to forsake their requirement for techailet and many substituted black, kind of like a sign of mourning, I guess. Some Jews believe that the chilazon will return come judgement day.

In any event, the blue stripes in the tallit don't mean much of anything and the same blue stripes on the Israeli flag mean just as much. That is to say, not much. Caution, don't get the tallit and the tzitzit confused. The tzitzit is of vital importance to the Jewish religion and, as I stated earlier, the rules concerning tzitzit are complex and strict.

I think that the Grand Mufti Ayatollah Sheikh Vizier al Bul Bul Emir Mahmoud Zahar has a good point. The Israelis should change their flag. They should put four stripes around the Magen David, enclosing it in a box. The stripes should all be the color crimson. That would signify that stepping on the Magen David would cause the sand to run red with the blood of the Palestinians, Iranians, Syrians, Lebanese, Hamas, Hizbollah, Fatah, Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaeda and anyone else who would like to try.

TAGS: Hamas, Magen David, Star of David, Israeli Flag, tallit, tzitzit, prayer shawl

Nasdijj: What, me white man?

Award winning and zillion book-selling Navajo Indian writer Nasdijj has been exposed as a white man who used to write gay pornography. Nasdijj had passed himself off as a Navajo Indian, writing anonomously, who told one interviewer that as a Navajo Indian child he was, "hungry, raped, beaten, whipped, and forced at every opportunity to work in the fields."

The LA Weekly called attention to doubts about his ethnicity after interviews with scholars, Indian authors and his acquaintances and colleagues. Then, The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C. reported that Nasdijj's social security number matched that of 56 year-old Timothy P. Barrus.

Barrus/Nasfijj, Navajo/white gay porn writer, has his own blog, http://www.nasdijj.typepad.com which has, well, one photo on it showing two guys having nooses adjusted around their necks with the post title: Deserving Death For Evil Deeds. Google's cache, however, contains some pretty wild and rambling stuff which Nasfdijj is apparently trying to make disappear. Content Alert!

Following the About Me link, we discover only that he calls himself Yinishye Nasdijj, is a "father. AIDS Activist" and his interests are "making art". The Editor & Publisher says that he wrote a long post yesterday in which, "Nasdijj did not acknowledge any wrongdoing . . ." I can't find that post, today. Oh, I see why. The Google cached page is from 13 January. Hmmmm.

He played the Frey card in an email to The News and Observer:

"The real scandals are racism, poverty, disease, AIDS, FAS [fetal alcohol syndrome], autism, a medical system that is a train wreck, an environment that can barely breathe, and a war that is a self-created nightmare," the e-mail said. "Journalists need to focus on the REAL problems."

What's with these publishers? Apparently they'll publish anything and make any sham autobiographer rich in the process, especially when the fiction-as-fact skewers life as we know it in these United States.

TAGS: Nasdijj, fiction

Things you didn't know that you needed to know

From The Times of London, Rules of Thumb and Useless Information, among other sources.

CAN CARROTS HELP TO IMPROVE YOUR VISION?
The eyesight myth dates back only to the Second World War when the Royal Air Force was trying to hide the fact that it had developed a sophisticated radar system to shoot down German bombers. They said that the accuracy of British fighter pilots at night was a result of them being fed huge quantities of carrots.

It’s true that carrots are rich in betacarotene. The body converts betacarotene to vitamin A and extreme vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness. But only a small amount of betacarotene is necessary for good vision. If you’re not deficient in vitamin A, your vision won’t improve, no matter how many carrots you eat.

WHY DO MEN HAVE NIPPLES?
Because we are mammals and blessed with body hair, three middle ear bones, and the ability to nourish our young with milk that females produce in modified sweat glands called mammary glands.

Although females have the mammary glands, we all start out in a similar way in the embryo. During development, the embryo follows a female template until about six weeks, when the male sex chromosome kicks in for a male embryo. The embryo then begins to develop all of its male characteristics. Men are thus left with nipples and also with some breast tissue.

Men can even get breast cancer and there are some medical conditions that can cause male breasts to enlarge. Abnormal enlargement of the breasts in a male is known a gynecomastia. Gynecomastia can be caused by using anabolic steroids. So, if your favourite athlete suddenly develops man boobs and starts winning gold medals, you know the reason why.

NEVER TAP ON A GUAGE ANY HARDER THAN YOU'D TAP ON THE END OF YOUR NOSE

IS SEMEN NUTRITIOUS OR FATTENING?
You are what you eat. In this case, it is somewhat true, as sperm contains important genetic material. But sperm is not particularly nutritious or fattening.
The average ejaculate, about one teaspoon, contains between two and three hundred million sperm. Total calories: about five. These calories are derived mainly from fructose, a type of sugar, secreted into semen by the prostate gland to provide the sperm with the energy to swim. Other good stuff found in semen includes water, vitamin C, citric acid, phosphate, bicarbonates, zinc, and prostaglandins. A veritable breakfast of champions.

ANYTHING ABOVE 87 OCTANE IS SPECIALLY FORMULATED FOR SUCKERS.

WHY CAN YOU LIGHT A FART?
An average fart is 59 per cent nitrogen, 21 per cent hydrogen, 9 per cent carbon dioxide, 7 per cent methane and 4 per cent oxygen.
Farts can travel at speeds of 10ft (3m) a second
A person produces about half a litre (1pt) of farts a day.

Women fart as much as men.

The gas that makes farts stink is hydrogen sulphide. This gas, which is less than 1 per cent of the make-up of a fart, contains sulphur, the smelly component. Foods that cause smelly farts include beans, cabbage, cheese, eggs, fizzy drinks.

Most people pass gas about 14 times a day.

Farts contain the flammable gases hydrogen and methane. The proportions of these gases depend largely on the bacteria that live in the colon which digest food that has not previously been absorbed by the gut. There is some danger associated with igniting flatulence. But students and Boy Scouts don’t seem to care.

IF A GUY HAS CORDS ON HIS SUNGLASSES, HE'S A DICK. IF THE SUNGLASSES ARE MIRRORED, HE'S DANGEROUS.

THE 1904 OLYMPIC GAMES IN ST. LOUIS
Included mud fighting, rock throwing, pole climbing, spear (not javelin) throwing

It was so hot during the games that the staff at the Far East Tea House couldn't even give away their product. They poured the hot tea over ice cubes! Iced tea was invented and the drink quickly became the games's most popular beverage.

A teenager named Arnold Fornachou was selling ice cream at his exposition booth. He ran into a big problem - he ran out of the paper dishes on which to serve the ice cream. In a stroke of genius, he noticed that the guy in the next booth, a Syrian named Ernest Hamwi, was selling waffles. Arnold rolled one of Ernie's wafer-thin waffles up and invented the ice cream cone. Within ten years more than one-third of all ice cream was served in a cone.

THE FIVE MOST STOLEN ITEMS IN A DRUGSTORE:
Batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses, Preparation H.
Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. One of Preparation H's main ingredients is shark liver oil. The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

DOLPHINS ARE THE ONLY OTHER MAMMALS BESIDES HUMANS THAT HAVE SEX FOR FUN

AMERICAN AIRLINES SAVED $40,000 IN 1987 BY ELIMINATING ONE OLIVE FROM EACH SALAD SERVED IN FIRST CLASS

GHANDI'S FUNERAL
In the movie "Gandhi" 300,000 extras appeared in the funeral scene. Of the 300,000, approximately 100,000 received a small fee, and the other 200,000 did it for free.

FROM WHENCE CAME OZ?
The name for Oz in "The Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."

CATS
A fall of 30 feet can be survived my most cats.

In 1888, an Egyptian peasant discovered an estimated three hundred thousand mummified cats in Beni Hassan, Egypt. Of the cats that were not stolen once the find was made public, the remaining mummified cats were shipped to Great Britain to be used as agricultural fertilizer.

In a lifetime, the average house cat spends approximately 10,950 hours purring.

One out of four American households own a cat.

DOGS
About 30% of American admit to talking to their dogs or leaving messages on their answering machines for their dogs while they are away.

An average city dog lives approximately three years longer than an average country dog.

Border collies are the most intelligent breed of dog.

Chocolate can be fatal to dogs. Chocolate contains a chemical theobromine, which is poisonous to dogs.

In 2002, dogs killed more people in the U.S. than the Great White shark has killed in the past 100 years.

TOBACCO ROAD
When Christopher Columbus and crew landed in the New World they observed the natives using a nose pipe to smoke a strange new herb. The pipe was called a "tabaka" by the locals, hence our word tobacco.

IS THAT YOU, FAUNTLEROY?
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

CELSIUS TO FAHRENHEIT
The formula for converting C to F is: degrees C x 9 / 5 +32
Minus forty degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus forty degrees Fahrenheit.

PRESIDENTS
Bill Clinton is the only President ever to be elected twice without ever receiving 50% of the popular vote. He had 43 percent in 1992 and 49 percent in 1996.

Nine U.S. Presidents never went to college: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Harry Truman.

To avoid long encounters with the press, President Ronald Reagan often took reporters' questions with his helicopter roaring in the background.

Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson's public parties at the White House. At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing 1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of cheese for weeks.

TEXAS
In 1974, Fred Gomez Carrasco, San Antonio drug dealer and gangster, was shot to death by Texas Rangers after an 11 day hostage-taking seige. At the coroner's inquest, the coroner ruled "death by suicide". He stated, "When a Texas Ranger orders you to halt and you do not halt, you have just commited suicide."

Weekend open posts and trackback parties:
Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Conservative Cat, Samantha Burns, Don Surber, Right Wing Nation, Point Five, Stop the ACLU, The Uncooperative Blogger, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Stuck on Stupid, Gribit's Word, NIF (Funny), MacStansbury, The Bullwinkle Blog,

TAGS: useless information, rules of thumb

Kerry yodels from the Alps - hears few echoes

UPDATED!

"I think it was a historic day yesterday. It was the first ever call for a filibuster from the slopes of Davos, Switzerland."

According to this, the Republicans have 53 of 55 votes as well as 3 Democrat votes pledged towards cloture with 1 "leaning in favor of voting for" candidate Samuel Alito. That's 57 of the required 60 to cut off debate and force an up or down vote. I don't know who the Republican holdouts are, for sure, but they are probably Chafee and Snowe. At least one of those should come around and that would leave only 2 Democrats who can read public opinion polls - which senators are addicted to doing - and count past all 20 fingers and toes - a more doubtful proposition - to garner the required 60 votes.

There is a big difference between voting yea or nay on cloture and voting yea or nay on the nominee. To vote against cloture, in essence a vote for a filibuster, the Democrats risk several things, the least damaging of which is to simply lose the cloture vote. That's pretty meaningless. If the Democrats succeed in getting 41 Senators to oppose cloture, the move could be viewed by the American voters as disruptive and obstructive to preparations for the Super Bowl - an unforgivable gaffe.

A successful vote against cloture would bring on a filibuster and could very well result in the evaporation of the "gang of 14" and the introduction of the "nuclear option". The nuclear option is the threat by Republicans to vote by simple majority (51) to change Senate rules to require only a simple majority to approve cloture on Supreme Court nominees and not the 3/5 super-majority (60 votes) as Senate rules now require.

I saw on some lefty blog yesterday the charge that the nuclear option would be breaking Senate rules. That's silly. Back when the nuclear option was first being threatened there were many who charged that it would be in violation of U.S. law and/or the Constitution. If you can find any mention of cloture or filibuster or simple majority Senate Supreme Court confirmation votes or 3/5 super-majority Senate cloture votes in the Constitution or the U.S. Code, I'll eat the copy that you can provide - with no salt or beer chaser. In fact, if you can find any requirement in the Constitution or the U.S. Code that requires the Senate to even conduct a vote on a presidential Supreme Court nominee, I'll eat that, too, and cheerfully so.

Prior to 1919, there was no procedure for cloture at all. Debate could theoretically go on forever. In fact, Henry Clay once got so angry at John C. Calhoun's interminable debating tactics that he suggested a cloture rule back in 1841. The Senate rejected any proposal to limit its prerogative of unlimited debate. In 1919, President Wilson, weary of unlimited debate, suggested a method be found to limit the debate. The 2/3 super-majority rule was adopted by the Senate and was called "cloture". In 1975, the Senate modified the cloture rule by reducing the 2/3 to a 3/5 super-majority. And remember, that is 3/5 of Senators present, willing and able to vote. It would be 60 if all 100 senators were present, 31 if only 51 senators were present.

The Senate (and the House, separately) operates under its own rules which it, alone, makes. The current Senate rules were all passed either by simple majority votes or by acclamation and are subject to change under the same criteria. Any party which can scrape up 51 votes (or a simple majority of senators present and voting) can change any Senate rule at any time for any reason or add a new one or delete an existing one. Changing a Senate rule to favor the party in power, however, is a double-edged sword. When that party eventually loses power, the sword of the Senate rule it adopted or changed can now be swung against it. That's why Senate rules are not being forever modified and re-modified.

If, in fact, the Senate's cloture-invoking 3/5 super-majority rule were indeed changed, Sen. Richard Byrd would likely drop dead of a heart attack or stroke but no one else in the senate would care so much. He is about the only guy in there who adheres (supposedly) to the old standards of behavior that have held sway in the Senate for oh these many years but are now mostly ignored. Senators now regularly engage in name-calling, which he abhors (supposedly), petty cut-throat tactics, which he abhors (supposedly) and Senators yodeling from Davos (which I am 100% sure he abhors).

Wiser heads I am sure will prevail and I am also sure that Senators Kerry and Kennedy are counting on them. This whole affair is a sop to the lefty wing-nut base and was doomed to failure as soon as Kerry opened his gaping maw.

UPDATE: I want to clarify that, if there is an attempt to invoke the nuclear option by changing Senate rules, the Democrats could wage a filibuster against that. In that case, current Senate rules require a 2/3 super-majority vote to invoke cloture to cut of debate on changes to Senate rules.

I also edited the reference to super-majority to read either 2/3 or 3/5, depending, because not all super-majorities are created equal. I also added in the history of Senate rule changes regarding cloture votes.

TAGS: John Kerry, Alito, filibuster, yodel

John Kerry's Swiss mathematics

2+2=41

TAGS: Alito, John Kerry, filibuster

Harry Reid on filibuster: No way, José.

Everyone knows there is not enough votes to support a filibuster.

TAGS: Alito, Harry Reid, filibuster

Digby exhorts Califronians

Filibuster!by digby

John Kerry is calling for a filibuster of Alito. Flood your Senators' offices with phone calls now.

Here are the phone numbers.

Might I make a special appeal for Califronia voters to make a forceful appeal to our Senator Dianne Feinstein. She is supposed to be a voice for women in the Senate and right now she is a voice for lukewarm water. Let her know that her constituents demand that she represent the people of California's support for a women's right to choose and a judiciary of fairminded jurists, not Federalist Society fascists.

(202) 224-3841---Washington
(415) 393-0707---San Francisco
(310) 914-7300---L.A.
(619) 231-9712---San Diego
(559) 485-7430---Fresno

Federalist Society fascists, you say?

fascism - noun [U] - a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control of social and economic life, and extreme pride in country and race, with no expression of political disagreement allowed

Some famous fascists:

Benito Mussolini: After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage....

Hmmmm. That doesn't sound like the Federalist Society to me, what with all the combating and repudiating of complex democratic systems and ideology and no voting. Let's try another.

Adolph Hitler:All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.

I don't believe the Federalist Society concerns itself with medical issues like blood poisoning. They leave that to the AMA. Then there is this:

The Jew's life as a parasite in the body of other nations and states explains a characteristic which once caused Schopenhauer, as has already been mentioned, to call him the 'great master in lying.' Existence impels the Jew to lies and to lie perpetually, just as it compels the inhabitants of the northern countries to wear warm clothing.

I rather think that Eugene B. Meyer, president of the Federalist Society and a member for 20 years, might raise some small objection to that, although I'm sure he wears warm clothing in the winter.

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade:We reject the capitalist system, which disregards the needs of the people, dehumanizes private property, and transforms the workers into shapeless masses that are prone to misery and despair.

We shall defend the move toward nationalization of banking and the takeover of the major public services by corporations.

The State will have powers to confiscate without compensation any land, the ownership of which has been acquired or enjoyed illicitly.

I don't think the Federalist Society would sign up to any of that. In fact, I cannot identify any fascist leanings of the Federalist Society at all. Must just be more left-wing drivel.

TAGS: Alito, filibuster, Federalist Society, fascists, left-wing drivel

Who is Georges Sada and why should we care?

The New York Sun publishes an interview with Georges Sada, director of the Iraq operations of the Christian humanitarian organization, World Compassion. Mr. Sada previously was known as General Sada and was Air Vice Marshal in Saddam Hussein's military. Mr. Sada has written a book, just published by Integrity Publishers, Saddam's Secrets - How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein.

About his book, Sada says,

This book is not just a tell-all about Saddam Hussein. I hope that this book will help people to see what this man was really like. But more than anything I hope that people who read it will see that appeasing tyrants is always a bad idea. As we all know now, kissing up to Saddam Hussein was a recipe for disaster. And we're still paying the price for that today.

In the interview with the Sun, Mr. Sada says that he is convinced that Hussein moved his WMD's to Syria before we attacked Iraq. He says that those movements took place in two Iraqi Airways Boeings which were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, then flown 56 times to move the weapons. He says that ground transportation was also utilized to move WMD's to Syria (reported, among many other sources, here).

The Sun goes into little detail to tell us who Sada is, or, more importantly, who he was. You might like to know a little more about Mr. Sada in order to establish his bonafides in your own minds.

Georges Hormis Sada graduated from Iraq's Air Academy in 1959 and was trained by elite forces in Great Britain, Russia and the U.S. An ace fighter pilot who trained other pilots, he went on to become air vice marshal in Saddam Hussein's military.

Georges Sada was born into an Assyrian Christian family in northern Iraq and became a born-again believer in 1986. Georges had great favor with the former Iraqi dictator, as he is one of the few Iraqi men to ever publicly confront Saddam Hussein and live to tell about it. Georges believes a key reason why he served as one of Saddam's most trusted advisors was to persuade him against attacking the nation of Israel with chemical weapons, something Saddam attempted to do on two separate occasions.

Now retired, Georges is director of the Iraqi Institute for Peace and also serves as spokesman for the newly elected prime minister of Iraq. He is also the president of the National Presbyterian Church in Baghdad and chairman of the Assembly of Iraqi Evangelical Presbyterian Churches.

In recent years, Georges held the position of principal advisor to the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. Additionally, he acted as the lead consultant for the reconstruction of all three branches of the Iraqi defense system. In June of 2003, Georges received the prestigious International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation presented by the Bishop of Coventry, England.

And a little more here:

Sada, head of the International Centre for Reconciliation in Iraq, was retired from the Army in 1991. In the first gulf war he had responsibility for prisoners of war but disobeyed direct orders from Saddam's younger son Qusay, to execute Kuwaiti, British and American prisoners. He was thrown into prison later and is thankful to this day that his own life was not taken.

And here:

Sada also served as Minister of Defense under Allawi.

And here:

MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday, 01 December 2005

General Georges Sada - The Power Of One

The Rev Fred Nile MLC, leader of the Christian Democratic Party, gave the following address in State Parliament (Australia);

Last Monday I met a remarkable man in Canberra in the main hall of Federal Parliament House, General Georges Sada, who is the National Security Advisor to the Iraqi Government. During the Iraqi regime led by Saddam Hussein, General Sada was the Air Vice Marshall in charge of the Iraqi Air Force with particular responsibility for fighter aircraft. He was the guest speaker at the annual prayer breakfast held in the main hall of Federal Parliament House, which was attended by more than 600 guests. Many Federal parliamentarians took part in the prayer breakfast, including John Anderson, Peter Costello, Kevin Rudd, Harry Quick and Bruce Baird, as well as the Governor General.

General Sada told us some interesting stories. One story concerned orders he received, when he was the Air Vice Marshall, from Saddam Hussein to equip 96 supersonic fighters - I understand they were Russian aircraft - with chemical bombs which would be dropped on the main population centres of Israel.

He was given that order in front of a number of defence officials in the regime and he refused to carry it out. He persuaded Saddam Hussein that the Iraqis could not succeed in their mission because they would be "flying blind" while Israel had the "eyes". He meant that the Israelis had superior military equipment and could identify the aircraft before they reached their targets. However, some of the aircraft could have got through. Sada said that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Some of them were destroyed but a large number were shipped across the border into Syria, where they remain to this day.

Sada shared another story with us, of which I have had confirmation from a former American Air Force Colonel, David Eberly. In January 1991 Colonel Eberly and some other coalition pilots were shot down over Iraq and captured. They were made prisoners of war. Saddam Hussein gave the order that all the pilots were to be executed as they were classified as criminals of war. Because Sada was head of an air force department he was put in charge of the prisoners of war. He received the order that they were to be executed but disobeyed it.

As a consequence, Saddam Hussein threw him into prison, where he suffered greatly. The pilots whose lives were saved by Sada's stand have expressed their appreciation for his bravery. Sada was ordered to join Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party in 1986. He refused to do so and was thus forced to retire. The key fact in this man's life is that he is a Christian. I was amazed that a Christian could hold such a high position in the Iraqi regime. But his ability to fly aircraft and to organise the air force for Saddam Hussein made him invaluable.

Shortly after Sada was forced out of the air force, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and Sada was the first man he called back into service. He was restored to his former position and put in charge of the air force. Sada was obviously a loyal citizen of Iraq but because he would not execute the American prisoners he was thrown into prison.

Sada is a remarkable man. I understand that he will be visiting Parliament House tomorrow. I am not involved in Sada's visit - I have only just learned of it - but I urge honourable members to take the opportunity to meet this remarkable Christian, who showed amazing courage and faith by putting his life at risk to protect the American pilots. (Emphases mine) Sada got a lot of press coverage, mostly bad, when, acting as spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, he offered amnesty to "resistance fighters". He was widely quoted as saying, for instance, by Democrat.com:

"If he (a guerrilla) was in opposition against the Americans, that will be justified because it was an occupation force. We will give them freedom."

864 Americans died - and 16,000 were wounded - and Bush wants AMNESTY for their attackers? Impeach Bush Now!

But what he was not so widely quoted was adding this:

Such people, Sada warned, would face the full force of the US-backed Iraqi security forces.

"He should expect to be killed. Those who continue fighting the government can expect anything ranging from prison to the death penalty," he said.

and this:

Some people were cheated, some were misled. Some did this because they had no salaries, no food, no bread.

His claims about the movement of Saddam's WMD's cannot be verified, unless and until, of course, the Assad government in Syria falls. But what about the story of his defying Saddam's order to put to death the American, Kuwaiti and other coalition downed pilots?

This from Air Force Colonel David Eberly, shot down near Al Quim, Iraq, 1/22/91 and liberated 3/5/91 (42 days in captivity):

At the time we first met, we were enemies. He was clearly the enemy," Eberly told me. "He was the other side of the blindfold, like anyone else who had put a gun to my head or spit on me or any other level of mistreatment.

"And yet in his mind, he personally viewed us differently. He viewed us as pilots who had protection under the Geneva Convention. He is a big man in the sense that he recognized what Iraq had signed up to, and it nearly cost him his life in trying to uphold that signature."

And what, exactly, happened to prompt these comments from Col. Eberly?

On Jan. 24, (2001) Qusai first ordered the POWs executed. When Sada balked, Qusai accused him of disobeying the orders of the president.

Sada tried to reason with Qusai, reminding him that even the prophet Muhammad once said that if prisoners of war learned 10 verses of the Koran, they could be set free. This only angered Qusai, who threatened to put the POWs in areas being bombed by American forces. Sada urged him not to use them as human shields. He kept turning to the Geneva Convention, which made Qusai angrier still.

"This was the end," Sada thought. "And I knew something was going to happen to me."

He was right. Qusai pitched him into a cell in the same prison as the POWs, and Sada wondered if his head would be separated from his body at last. But even locked up, Sada still had his contacts check on the POW pilots, making sure they were still alive.

After 12 days, Sada finally found a way to reach Qusai: He made the war personal.

"If you kill the pilots," Sada told him, "you will have new war between America and your family. They'll come and kill your father, your brother...." He ticked off Hussein family members.

"After that," Sada says, "he was changed. He thought twice."

Finally, Sada was released from prison. A few weeks later, the war ended and Eberly and the other POWs were released. Battered physically and mentally, they returned home in early March.

And Sada says this of Col. Eberly:

"He was very calm, very confident, very brave and very clever," Sada says of Eberly now, smiling over the "clever" part.

So, we have a better idea who Georges Sada is and who he was as well as what he did. This documentation should add some weight to his assertions that Iraq's WMD's were, in fact, moved to Syria. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

More comment and opinions on Georges Sada:

High Desert Wanderer - Wow, if this is true it will do strange things to politics around the world. It’s going to be interesting to see the fallout from this book.

Cold Fury - ... and probably also spells the eventual end of Bashar Assad.

Conservative Culture - It probably won’t silence the liberal talking heads but will lend credence to the earlier reports about what Saddam had available to him.

Atlas Shrugs - Mr. Sada's comments come just more than a month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria."

Right Wing Nut House - And that is the overwhelmingly belief by the world’s best intelligence agencies that Saddam did indeed have stockpiles of WMD in the six months leading up to the war. The French, the British, the Germans, The Israeli’s, the United Nations (UNSCOM and IAEA), not to mention the CIA, DIA, and most politicians here in this country. That’s quite a number of people to be dead wrong about such a huge issue.

Ace of Spades - The WMDs may be in Syria. But I don't think one man's say-so proves that proposition.

Lorie Byrd at PoliPundit - But George Bush is president, so this story will probably receive a great big yawn, when it is mentioned at all.

Michelle Malkin - . . . the story of the day that the rest of the MSM won't be covering.

Sister Toldjah - Don’t forget that former UNSCOM inspector Bill Tierney speculated in an interview with Frontpage Magazine last November that they had been moved to Syria as well. And also keep in mind Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s visit to Syria back in January of 2002 where he told Syria - an ally of Iraq - that he believed President Bush had already made up his mind to invade Iraq.

MacsMind - As I told you here, a "little birdie" is sqawking - Loudly and speaking things about how a certain Senator "tipped off" Iraq through a meeting in Syria about what was to come. Mr. Rockefeller, you are in trouble.

Mein Blog Vault - Keep your ears open - we WILL get to the bottom of this, and a lot of leftists are going to end up having egg on their faces (per usual).

Right Voices - We know Saddam had them, and now we can’t even find the evidence that they existed? That is the part that troubles me.

Publius Rensezvous - Every Democratic talking point, and the thesis bolstering the opposition to Gulf War II could be slipping through the fingers of the liberals who have berated President Bush since the development of one of the most telegraphed operations in the history of war.

The Autonomist - If Sada's assertion's are verified, and in my opinion they eventually will be, the Democratic Party and the rest of the American far Left will be squashed like a bug, New York Times stock will be available for 1/4 cent per share and John Kerry will be reduced to having to work as a model in a Botox clinic.

SoCal Pundit - With all we know about the Syrian regime today, it is not hard to imagine them assisting Saddam in the concealment of his WMD.

Pardon My English - Note to liberals: this is your cue to begin bashing this Iraqi General, President Bush, myself for even writing on this, and completely avoid addressing the claims of this book.

Conservababes: Right from New Fallujah - I'll wait here for the media to pick up on this, research it, interview Sada and admit that maybe, just maybe, WMDs *do* exist after all.

Jay Reding.com - If there is one thing that history teaches us, however, it’s that widely-assumed judgments like “Saddam did not have any WMDs” can easily be overturned by explosive new evidence - and while that evidence hasn’t yet materialized, it remains a possibility.

GOP Bloggers - I'm only skeptical because you'd think the CIA would do all it can to salvage its reputation and blow this story open, but, then again, it's the CIA.

what if? - May those who mocked the failure to find WMD in Iraq ultimately be the ones who must issue the mea culpas.

Irish Pennants - But most Democrats and journalists won't even consider the danger this could pose, because discovery of Iraqi WMD would validate President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq. They would rather be blind to a danger to the United States than concede an argument in domestic politics. This is both amazing and frightening.

Political Mind Field - has transcript of Sada's interview with Hannity and Colmes last night.

Junk Yard Blog - Some may say that Gen. Sada is acting as a Bush shill, but stop and think for a minute: Is it really in the Bush administration’s interest to have a causus belli to attack Syria pop up at the same moment that the situation with Iran is deteriorating? I don’t think so.

Liberty Just In Case - We'll see. Another guy trying to sell a book. Sorry, but I've got way too many to read right now as it is....

Myopic Zeal and Toad Pond

Right Wing Nation - Where is this story in the NYT?

TAGS: Georges Sada, David Eberly, Saddam Hussein, Iraq, Syria, WMD