So what do you do when you're the Dem frontrunner for Chris Dodd's old seat and want to shoot yourself in the foot? Lie about your phony war record:
“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”
There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.
The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House.
In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.
In 2003, he addressed a rally in Bridgeport, where about 100 military families gathered to express support for American troops overseas. “When we returned, we saw nothing like this,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “Let us do better by this generation of men and women.”…
The New Haven Register on July 20, 2006, described him as “a veteran of the Vietnam War,” and on April 6, 2007, said that the attorney general had “served in the Marines in Vietnam.” On May 26, 2009, The Connecticut Post, a Bridgeport newspaper that is the state’s third-largest daily, described Mr. Blumenthal as “a Vietnam veteran.” And The Shelton Weekly reported on May 23, 2008, that Mr. Blumenthal “was met with applause when he spoke about his experience as a Marine sergeant in Vietnam.”…
It does not appear that Mr. Blumenthal ever sought to correct those mistakes…
Mr. Blumenthal has made veterans’ issues a centerpiece of his public life and his Senate campaign, but even those who have worked closely with him have gotten the misimpression that he served in Vietnam. In an interview, Jean Risley, the chairwoman of the Connecticut Vietnam Veterans Memorial Inc., recalled listening to an emotional Mr. Blumenthal offering remarks at the dedication of the memorial. She remembered him describing the indignities that he and other veterans faced when they returned from Vietnam.
'Yeah, I remember being under enemy fire in the rice paddies of Hartford.'
For lying about something that's so easily checked, this guy deserves to get dumped just for bring too stupid to be a United States Senator...and that's a pretty low bar.
update: So, what do you do when you're caught like that? Deny, deny and stage a presser with some rent-a-vets!
The choice for California Senate to replace Barbara Boxer seat ought to be a simple choice. Boxer has been an embarrassment in the Senate for a long time now, and in a year trending Republican she looks beatable even in California, with poll ratings in the low forties, normally a death knell for an incumbent.
It's her opponents who are problematical.There are three Republicans vying for the chance to square off against Boxer; Tom Campbell, the front runner,Carly Fiorina, the ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard and Assemblyman Chuck Devore, the most conservative of the three.
I've already detailed Tom Campbell's questionable ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, something that ought to disqualify him utterly either on the basis of ideology or lousy judgment.
It turns out that Carly Fiorina has some interesting details in her past as well.
During her H-P tenure, Hewlett-Packard shares dropped 49% in value. She laid off more than 20,000 H-P employees and outsourced tens of thousands of American jobs overseas, cruelly stating: "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore." See, e.g., Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 2008. Rich Heintz, editor of California Job Journal, wrote responsively in the San Francisco Chronicle: "This Marie Antoinette-inspired remark makes me wonder if HP hasn't already offshored its public relations department." When President George W. Bush briefly contemplated naming Fiorina (after her ouster), to head the World Bank, the Times of London pleaded against rewarding failure. {...}
So what does Carly Fiorina believe? Does she understand the challenges in the Middle East? Does she understand Iraq and Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas? Can she see through the "rhetoric of peace" that Nasrallah or Ahmedinejad, Abbas or Assad may articulate in an English-language interview with Reuters -- and understand that the same person's Arabic interview with Al Jazeera is more telling? Does she "get" the dangers we face in the coming decade, as Iran assures us that they are not building a nuclear weapon -- even as they continue building?
I have become increasingly interested in and concerned with that question after seeing how many times her name has been cited with approval on websites and blogs dedicated to causes that oppose Israel and call for Israel's destruction. Just "Google" the search term: "Fiorina and Islam." On an Al Jazeera website, in an article titled “Islam – The Answer,” the executive director of the Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee writes:
"In the immediate aftermath of September 11, Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, addressing an IT conference in Minnesota, extolled the importance of innovation and ideas to the technology industry she represents. She spoke of a civilization whose language became the universal language of much of the world; whose multicultural armies enabled peace and prosperity; whose commerce extended from the Americas to China and who, driven by invention, gave humanity the gifts of ‘algebra’ and ‘algorithms’. The society cured disease, carried out complicated surgical operations such as the removal of cataracts, and laid the foundations for modern medicine and physiology. Whilst most of the world was steeped in ignorance, fearful of ideas, this civilization kept knowledge alive and passed it on to others. That civilization, she told her audience, was the Islamic civilization up until the 17th century."
That speech’s full text is set forth on another website. These are Fiorina's words spoken only two weeks after 9-11:
"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.
"It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.
"One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.
"And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.
"Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.
"When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.
"While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.
"Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians." {...}
At this point, both Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum have endorsed Carly Fiorina for the nomination, and I actually understand why. As opposed to a conflicted candidate like Tom Campbell, she looks like a candidate just RINO enough to win in California while she's just conservative enough to be palatable.
I disagree with that kind of logic. It may pay short term benefits - may - but leads to long term disasters, in which case you get Arlen Spector...or worse. Far better to go with priciples and support Chuck DeVore.
The worst part is that either Fiorina or Campbell may actually end up getting the GOP nomination, at which point it's going to be a toss up between one of them or (ugh!) Babs Boxer. At that point, I'm going tohave some serious thinking to do.
The Iranian regime announced a seeming concession today in its nuclear standoff in a deal midwifed by Turkey and Brazil.
In reality, it's no concession whatsoever.
Iran announced in principle that it is willing to send some of its uranium to Turkey to be enriched to 20% (which is the threshold for weapons grade, despite what the al-Reuters article linked to says). However, the Iranians still plan to continue enrichment on their own.
"There is no relation between the swap deal and our enrichment activities," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Reuters.
The spectacle of an increasingly Islamist Turkey getting involved is a warning signal to the West. The Turks will gain additional nuclear technology which is worrisome enough on its own. And the Erdogan government, frankly is not one that can be trusted by the West when it comes to Iran.
Not only that, but since Iran has been able to play for time successfully, the amount of uranium they're proposing to send to Turkey constitutes only a small part of their uranium stockpile:
"Iran has had time to enrich a substantial amount of new LEU in the six to nine months which have passed since the first round of potential LEU-for-20 percent-enriched-fuel proposal was tabled, making the 1,200 kg of LEU constitute a less comprehensive part of its total LEU stockpile," said analyst Gala Riani of IHS Global Insight.
This entire charade is simply designed to give Russia, China and anyone else so inclined to wiggle out of supporting any sanction whatever...even the watered down useless ones likely to come out of the UN.
You may remember my piece from a few days ago about a Muslim Students Association member at UCSD named Jumanah Imad Albahri who had the above exchange with author and speaker David Horowitz in which she refused to condemn Hamas or Hezbollah and said she was for a second Holocaust.
After I wrote the piece, I received an e-mail from one of Ms. Albahri's professors, Anita Casavantes Bradford in which she defended Ms. Albahri, claiming that her student had been manipulated into the exchange by Horowitz, was allegedly friendly with some Jews on campus and definitely did not support a second Holocaust.
While I politely pointed out to Professor Bradford that the above video clearly shows that David Horowitz merely asked her directly to unequivocally condemn genocidal organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah ( something she was clearly unwilling to do), I mentioned that the best way for Ms. Albahri to clarify her views would be to issue a statement condemning these groups and state her real views on the matter. I wrote Professor Bradford that if such a statement was forthcoming, I would post a link to it here on my website.
Today, I got an email from Professor Bradford directing me to this blogpost by Jumanah Imad Albahri which was supposed to clarify things.
Unfortunately it does, and it reveals an astonishing ignorance as well as a moral relativism that is simply indefensible. And no,she still refuses to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah. I suggest you read the whole thing ( at least while it's still up), but I will go over the more relevant bits here:
Mr. Horowitz spent an hour indiscriminately attacking liberals, students, Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians, utilizing verbiage that completely departed from an academic tone and delved into hate speech—especially labeling groups and individuals that support Palestinian rights “terrorists.”
In fact, the Palestinian movement has always made heroes out of those who deliberately target innocent people. That includes those who murderchildren.... and even murderers like Salakh Khalaf, who headed the Black September group that murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, and later tortured to death two American diplomats in the Sudan in 1973 on Arafat's orders, Cleo Allen Noel and George Curtis Moore - and later had a street, several buildings and a child's soccer field named after him by the Palestinian Authority.
I asked Mr. Horowitz to explain the purported connection between UCSD’s MSA and “Jihadist Terrorist Networks.” His pamphlet did not mention the organization; rather it focused on other groups like UCI’s MSU and Berkley and LA’s MSA chapters, and offered supporting grounds that can be characterized as shaky at best, with sources that had little credibility. He chose not to engage my question (his opening arguments were the verbatim generalizations made in the pamphlet, though my question asked for specifics) but instead decided to subject me to an interrogation because of my headscarf and Palestinian kuffiyeh. The fact that Mr. Horowitz claimed on a respected national cable news network that the MSA receives forty thousand dollars to put on Justice in Palestine Week, speaks volumes to his status as a gross exaggerator who should not be trusted to deliver opinions on anything.
Actually, David Horowitz has documented quite thoroughly extensive links between the MSA and the Ikhwan, the Muslim Brotherhood, although Ms. Albahri's chapter may or may not be receiving largess from the Ikhwan or its sympathizers. And it's not just him. I suggest also that interested readers do a search on 'Muslim Brotherhood' and 'Muslim Students Association' and settle in for a few hours of highly informative reading.
Insofar as my references to Hitler and the Nazi Youth programs: it was Mr. Horowitz who spent a substantial amount of time referring to the MSA as the “Hitler Youth” and its Justice in Palestine Week as “Hitler Youth Week”— pejorative titles that as a human being, a student of history, and a person of faith, I find disgusting. I uttered them in a sarcastic manner only to point out the ridiculous and slanderous nature of Mr. Horowitz’s labels—Nazis sought the extermination of anyone who was not “white,” and this racial category excludes the vast majority of the Muslim population.
Actually, Ms. Albahri is either ignorant or simply dissembling about the links between the Nazis and the Palestinian/Arab cause.Certainly she's no student of history.
The top Palestinian leader of the era, Muhammed Amin al-Husseini, was an intimate of Hitler and an ally of the Nazis who advocated genocide of every Jew in Palestine and in fact numerous pogroms and massacres of Jews, such as the one in Hebron in 1929 were carried out on his direct orders. During WWII. Husseini, like most other Arab leaders aligned with the Nazi cause, and Husseini spent much of the war translating 'Mein Kampf' into Arabic (where Hitler's book, whose title translates into Arabic as 'My Jihad' remains a best seller), making radio broadcasts in Arabic for the Nazi cause, recruiting Muslim SS troops for the Nazis in places like Bosnia and Albania and planning strategy with the Muslim Brotherhood for a Nazi-Arab alliance with Hitler and Himmler to coincide with a Nazi breathrough in Egypt. The pro-Nazi regime which took over in Iraq was part of this strategy, which also included detailed plans worked out by Husseini and Adolph Eichmann for a death camp for the Jews of Palestine and the Middle East located in Shechem (AKA Nablus).
As a personal note, I directly heard from a friend of my father's who fought with Montgomery and the British 8th Army at El Alamein about how Cairo was decked out with Nazi flags and banners by the Egyptians to welcome the Nazi armies when the 8th Army marched back into the city after winning the battle. I would classify this as anecdotal except for the fact that this little historical detail has been confirmed by numerous others.
According to documentation from the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials, the SS helped finance al-Husseini's efforts in Palestine . And Adolf Eichmann actually visited Palestine and met with al-Husseini shortly before WWII and subsequently maintained regular contact with him later in Berlin.
After the war, Husseini moved to Egypt where he was received as a national hero. al-Husseini was indicted by Yugoslavia for war crimes, but the Mufti was never tried because there was no way to extradite him and because the Allies were afraid of the storm in the Arab world if a 'hero' like Husseini was treated as a war criminal.The Arab nations, particularly Syria, Egypt and Iraq also became havens for a number of Nazi ex-officers, technicians and scientists.
Husseini's nephew, the Egyptian born Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat As Qudwa al-Husseini, better known as Yasser Arafat continued his uncle's sordid legacy and always referred to the Mufti as 'our national hero.'
Towards the end of the exchange, I became emotional. I could no longer hear Mr. Horowitz speaking and so did not even hear his injection of Hezbollah’s credo of “rounding up” Jews in his last tangent. I could no longer contain my anger at being implicitly and improperly labeled a terrorist, an anti-Semite, and a proponent of genocide. The answer I was coerced into giving grossly misrepresented my beliefs and ideologies.
My answer, “for it,” in the context in which it was said does NOT mean “for” genocide. I was referring to his initial question that asked me for my position on Hamas, a topic that for his own political reasons he was relentless in pursuing. “For it” was not a legitimization of Hezbollah’s or anyone else’s credo for that matter that Jews should be exterminated. In fact, Mr. Horowitz’s intent was to entrap me with his barrage of questions so that he could avoid answering my question, and construe any answer that I would provide as anti-Semitic, genocidal hate speech in order to further his political agenda.
I am not a member of Hamas, nor have I ever given support to Hamas, nor do I agree their actions or stances wholesale, but I refused to offer Mr. Horowitz a blanket condemnation of Hamas that night. I felt that doing so would be a blanket condemnation of the Palestinian cause. I refused to throw the baby (the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people) out with the bathwater (Hamas.) In addition, Mr. Horowitz asked me to condemn Hamas as a genocidal organization; which to my limited knowledge on the subject, is another unsupported claim made by Mr. Horowitz.
Limited knowledge? Unsupported claim? After all the statements Hamas has made on the subject, not to mention their actions, is she serious? Perhaps Ms. Albahri needs to be reminded that Hamas has even codified its mission to kill all Jews worldwide in its Martyr's Oath, which all members swear to uphold. The Oath also quotes the Islamic scripture from the Hadith Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6985, which quotes the very words of Mohammed on the subject: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him."
Is Ms. Albari expecting us to believe that she is unaware of the Oath and the hadith quoted? If she really is that clueless, she needs to do some serious soul searching.
And then there's this:
..I condone Hamas in its ambition to liberate the Palestinian people. I condone Hamas as the duly elected representative government of the Palestinian people granted governance in an election overseen by our ex-President Jimmy Carter; and characterized as fair, open, and fully democratic. I condone Hamas in its desire to end the inhumane siege of the Gazan people. I condone Hamas in its struggle to free the 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children unjustly locked away in Israeli prisons.
Here we get to the crux of the matter. Like Ms. Albahri, I agree that Hamas is the duly elected government of the Palestinian people, and by a comfortable majority. But what does that say about a majority of the Palestinian people, that they would enthusiastically endorse a genocidal organization who makes no secret of their aims? The Nazis, after all, were also democratically elected.
Why would any rational person expect Israel to make any sort of peace with that kind of regime?
What does it say about Ms. Albahri's belief system that she pines for the release of terrorists like Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted of five counts of murder in an Israeli civilian court like most of the inmates locked up in Israeli prisons? What does it say about her moral structure that she would want people like these released as 'freedom fighters'?
When it comes to genocidal, murderous organizations, you simply can't pick and choose the parts you like. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, kind to animals and to many of his human associates. The Nazis provided full employment in Germany,restored its national pride and rid it of the hated Versailles Treaty.
Just like Ms. Albahri, many Germans might have had paid a little lip service to qualms about the regime's excesses, but they justified supporting the Nazis because because they agreed with 'the greater goal' - and because, deep down, they agreed with the agenda.
That kind of position is not only intellectually bankrupt but morally indefensible and despicable.
Whether she realizes it or not, Ms. Albahri was pegged exactly right by David Horowitz. She's simply a Jew hater who perhaps has found a few 'diversity' minded individuals who are willing to overlook the clear message of the positions she advocates and allow her to mask her sentiments. You can't support groups that make murdering Jews a major policy goal in any way without being a Jew hater.
And truthfully, I have absolutely no problem with Ms. Albahri hating Jews. But I do wish she'd either own it or simply understand that she's become, in the memorable phrase of Vladimir Lenin, a useful idiot, a foot soldier for causes whose real agenda she chooses to remain clueless about.
It's one or the other.
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
Addendum: Anita Casavantes Bradford wrote to tell me that she is not a professor, but a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in her last year of her dissertation and thus is a TA, not a professor. She wanted that clarified because she didn't want anyone to think she was misrepresenting herself.
I almost fell out of my chair when I read this one!
Researchers have found that monkeys will 'pay' in juice rewards to see images of female monkey hindquarters or higher ranking celebrity monkeys...just like their fellow primates!
In the above article, published in Current Biology,Duke University Medical Center neurobiologists Robert Deaner, Michael Platt and Amit Khera describe how they performed an experiment with male monkeys in which they gave them juice rewards for gazing either at a neutral computer screen or images of other monkeys.
By varying the juice rewards and the pictures, they were able to find out exactly what the monkeys would 'pay' to see which images in terms of juice rewards.
They found out that the monkeys would accept a lesser reward to watch female monkey hindquarters or images of celebrity, higher ranked monkeys but needed to receive higher juice rewards in order to watch neutral images or images of lower ranked monkeys...kinda like the difference between premium pay-per-view, cable and satellite channels and the bottom of the barrel sitcoms on the local networks.
Moreover, the scientists were able to catalog distinct rankings on monkeys based on their 'ratings' - what their fellow monkeys would pay to see them!
Even more interesting, as Michael Platt Observed, the monkeys were not living in a colony, where physical interaction could contribute to dominance, social standing and sexual relationships.
"So somehow, they're getting this information by observation - by seeing other individuals interact."
The Governor of California and the Governor of Texas are both jogging along a marked trail in their home states, accompanied by a pet dog. A coyote jumps out and attacks the dog. Here is what follows:
California: #1. Governor starts to intervene and then realizes he should stop; the coyote is only doing what is natural. #2. Calls animal control. Animal control captures coyote and spends $200 testing it for diseases and $500 relocating it. #3. Calls veterinarian, who collects dead dog and bills $200 to test it for diseases. #4. Governor goes to hospital and runs up a bill for $3500 to get bite wound cleaned and bandaged, as well as being tested for possible diseases from the coyote. #5. Jogging trail is shut down for 6 months while State Department of Wildlife Services conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is clear of dangerous animals. #6. Governor allots $50,000 to start a state-run coyote-awareness program for people who live in the area. #7. State legislature spends $2 million on a study to investigate how to better handle rabies and make recommendations to eradicate animal-borne diseases. #8. Governor’s security agent is fired for not stopping the attack and for allowing the Governor to try at first to intervene. #9. State spends $75,000 required to train a new security agent for the Governor. #10. California State Employees Union files a lawsuit demanding re-hiring of prior security agent. #11. PETA files lawsuit to protest forced relocation of the coyote.
Texas: #1. Governor expends one .380 ACP Gold Dot Hollow Point, previously acquired for $1.23 at his own personal expense. #2. Governor and dog happily keep on jogging.
Her latest effort is reportedly focused on American values like "family, faith, and patriotism."
The AP reports that, according to the HarperCollins statement, the book will include "selections from classic and contemporary readings" that have moved the controvertial Republican. The nation's founding documents will be included, the publisher said, as well as "great speeches, sermons, letters, literature and poetry, biography, and even some of her favorite songs and movies."
Also included will be "portraits" of people Palin admires, including some that she met while on her "Going Rogue" book tour. On that tour, the Fox News contributor made stops largely in the sorts of rural conservative areas she called "real America" during the 2008 campaign.
The AP reports that the book will have an initial printing of 1 million copies and retail for $25.99, and that Palin will again work with a collaborator.
Palin plans to tour in support of the book, which is being released almost a year-to-the-day after "Going Rogue."
Note the CBS News misspelling of 'controversial' in paragraph 2..probably by a reporter who thinks Governor Palin is some stoo-pid rube from flyover land. Heh!
Those of you so inclined can pre-order the book on Amazon here.
In other news Governor Palin also surfaced as a speaker before the Susan B. Anthony List breakfast, which supports women running for office:
Sarah Palin said this morning that she understands why a woman "would be tempted" to have an abortion because of her experience with her son Trig.
Speaking at the Susan B. Anthony List Celebration of Life breakfast, Palin said that when she learned during her pregnancy that Trig would be born with Down syndrome, she "had no idea how I was going to handle the situation of raising a special needs child."
She said she was struck by "not knowing if my heart was ready, not knowing if I was patient and nurturing enough."
While she had previously believed that "God will never give me something I cannot handle," she said, she was left thinking, "I don't think I can handle this. This wasn't part of my life's plan."
As a busy mother who already had four kids and who was serving as Alaska governor, she said, she wondered how she would handle raising the child. She thought perhaps her sister, who has a child with autism, would have been better equipped to raise him.
Palin said the experience helped her understand how a woman would consider having an abortion, "because I've been there."
Yet once Trig was born, Palin said, she understood that "God does know what he's doing."
"And what seemed like it would be such a challenge has turned into our greatest blessing," Palin said, telling her audience he was "the best thing to ever happen" to her and her family.
Palin stressed she had always been strongly "pro-life," and had never actively considered abortion.
But she said that her experience as well as the experience of her daughter Bristol, who she said suffered "public humiliation" when she became pregnant at 17 years old, "changed my perspective on that situation."
"Our experience gave me empathy for those finding themselves in less than ideal circumstances," she said.
In the end, she said, she has "strengthened my support for choosing life," adding that it "may not be easiest, but it's the right path."
This one is going into the lore, alongside Christie's takedown of his Democrat opponent during the gubernatorial campaign for calling him fat.
Especially charming is watching his staff trying to keep from laughing hysterically in the background...and even more charming is seeing a politician who not talks the talk but walks the walk.
The Council has spoken! Here are the results of our weekly Watcher's Council contest.
This week's council winner was Rhymes With Right for Didn’t These Administrators Read Tinker v. Des Moines? , a wonderful exposition on the legal wrongs of what happened to those Northern California teenagers who were sent home by their school administrators for wearing American flag tee shirts to school on Cinco De mayo.
It boggles the mind that the Obama Administration is placing its entire stance on the so-called peace process on a leader with absolutely no l basis for leadership.
With all the propaganda peddled by the Arabs and their groupies on the Left about 'violent, right wing settlers', an incident like this one shows who the violent ones really are:
The family was in Jerusalem to take part in the national holiday's events on Wednesday, and was hosted by relatives who live in the city. They made their way from the Nof Zion neighborhood towards Silwan, when a group of Palestinian youths suddenly lunged at them.
"Traffic was moving slowly and there were Arab vehicles in front of us and behind us, and a few minutes later some 10 youths about 15-year-old began throwing stones at our car," said Haim, the family's father.
According to Haim, the incident ended without serious injures, after a large stone smashed the back window of the car and missed their two-and-a-half-year-old infant's head by mere centimeters.
"The baby seat with placed so that its front was facing the attackers. They saw a small child looking at them through the window, and still threw stones at us - which, luckily, only caused him light injures from the broken glass," Haim said.
A short while later, Haim managed to make his way out of the area, when, just several hundred meters from the scene of the incident, he noticed a squad car carrying Border Guard officers.
"I stepped on the gas and managed to get out of the traffic jam. I drove quickly and I asked the officers to open a chase after the youths who attacked us," he said.
But according to Haim, the officers told him they were not allowed to open a chase, so as not to create any tension in the region.
The Border Guard district commander said he is looking into the report and has launched an investigation. Meantime, the family has filed a complaint with the police and filed for damages.
Yediot, of course is treating this as a possible attack so far, but the injuries to the child and damages to the vehicle are consistent with the family's story. And it is by no means the first time that the Palestinians have deliberately targeted children.In fact, it's standard operating procedure for them, and they make heroes out of the most successful child murderers.
During the intifada, I subscribed to a Palestinian mailing list under a pseudonym. I will never forget the ghoulish glee with which the other subscribers would greet news stories of dead Jewish children, and in particular dead pregnant Jewish women.
But after all, would you expect from people who have so little regard for their own children ?
The Palestinians regard this as a no-holds-barred tribal war, and that's pretty much how they have gotten away with fighting it thus far, while the Israelis have prided themselves on trying to avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage for the most part,no matter what you might see on al-Jazeera or on the BBC.
Right now, thanks to Obama's conduct towards Israel, the Palestinians feel emboldened.
But if we see attacks like this one escalate and we see anything like another intifada,things could change rapidly,particularly if the Jews of Judea and Samaria continue to see them go unanswered by the Israeli government.
At that point, the Jews in Judea and Samaria might begin defending themselves and taking the fight directly to their enemies. And if that happens, there could be a solution to the Middle East conflict that the Palestinians can't imagine in their worst nightmares.
Pure comedy gold. Our Attorney General, the chief law enforcement official in America and the man whose job it is to oversee the protection the country against Islamic terrorism can't even manage to come out and say that Times Square Bomber Shahzad and the Christmas underwear Bomber were motivated by Radical Islam!
He can't even bring himself to admit a connection between Islamic terrorism and Islam.
Does anyone else but me feel like is these were white militiamen who professed a version of Christianity, Holder would have no trouble making the link?
I'd say they ought to run this on Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya as a comedy feature...except, as the Ayatollah Khomeini reminded us so many times, there is no laughter in Islam.
The Russians made their position on any against Iran's illegal nuclear program very clear today:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States and other Western nations on Thursday against imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Interfax news agency reported.
The European Union has said it may impose unilateral sanctions if a U.N. Security Council resolution fails.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has been lobbying Western companies not to do business with Iran, but has not imposed sanctions against them.
Countries facing Security Council sanctions "cannot under any circumstances be the subject of one-sided sanctions imposed by one or other government bypassing the Security Council", Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
"The position of the United States today does not display understanding of this absolutely clear truth."
Russia is in talks with the United States and other U.N. Security Council members on a fourth round of sanctions. Moscow has indicated it could support broader sanctions but has stressed they must not harm the Iranian people.
Washington has not publicly warned of unilateral sanctions but has made clear it wants tougher measures than veto-wielding Security Council member Russia is likely to accept.
Permanent Security Council member China has joined Russia in opposing Washington's plans to impose tough, wide-ranging sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activity and open up fully to U.N. nuclear inspections.
Translation? The Russians will only sign on to watered down sanctions via the UN that are meaningless and do not interdict sales of gasoline and refined petroleum products to the mullahs. They won't comply with any other sanctions, and probably won't even comply with the watered down ones.
It's also a signal that the Russians are going to continue working with Iran to strengthen its defenses of its nuclear facilities.
Add that to Obama's farcical nuclear summit, his release of America's classified nuclear secrets and the Russian's recent nuke deals with Syria and Turkey and you begin to get a picture of how bad the epic fail in Washington really is.
So much for that `reset button'.
We unfortunately have a clueless amateur in the White House. And we're going to continue to suffer for it.
The public broadly supports a new Arizona law aimed at dealing with illegal immigration and the law’s provisions giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.
Fully 73% say they approve of requiring people to produce documents verifying their legal status if police ask for them. Two-thirds (67%) approve of allowing police to detain anyone who cannot verify their legal status, while 62% approve of allowing police to question people they think may be in the country illegally.
After being asked about the law’s provisions, 59% say that, considering everything, they approve of Arizona’s new illegal immigration law while 32% disapprove.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 6-9 among 994 adults, finds that Democrats are evenly split over Arizona’s new immigration law: 45% approve of the law and 46% disapprove. However, majorities of Democrats approve of two of the law’s principal provisions: requiring people to produce documents verifying legal status (65%) and allowing police to detain anyone unable to verify their legal status (55%).
The poll also reports that a firm majority of Americans disapprove of Obama's handling of this issue:
76% of Republicans disapprove of Obama’s handling of immigration policy, while just 8% approve. Independents disapprove of Obama’s job on the issue by more than two-to-one (57% to 25%). Even among Democrats, as many disapprove (38%) as approve (37%) of the way he is handling the issue, while a quarter (25%) offer no opinion.
I have a feeling that an Amnestia bill might no go through Congress very easily...even loyal Obamabots are looking down the road at November and realizing that things are already grim enough as it is without even more of them falling on their swords for him.
That's the title of Ann Coulter's latest..and boy, is she spot on:
Americans can thank the Supreme Court for the attempted car bombing of Times Square, as well as any future terrorist attacks that might be less "amateurish" and which our commander in chief will be unable to thwart unless the bomb fizzles.
Over blistering dissents by Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, five Supreme Court justices have repeatedly voted to treat jihadists like turnstile jumpers. (Thanks, Justice Kennedy!)
That's worked so well that Obama's own attorney general is now talking about making massive exceptions to the Miranda warnings -- exceptions that will apply to all criminal suspects, by the way -- in order to deal with terrorists having to be read their rights as a bomb is about to go off.
Let's be clear: When Eric Holder thinks we're being too easy on terrorists, we are being too easy on terrorists.
Either the five liberal justices demanding constitutional rights for terrorists are out of their minds, or the religious worship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt has got to stop. According to liberal logic in the war on terrorism, FDR was a bloodthirsty war criminal.
When six Germans and two Americans were suspected of plotting an attack on U.S. munitions plants during World War II, FDR immediately ordered them arrested and tried in a secret military tribunal held behind closed doors at the Department of Justice.
Within weeks, all were found guilty. Six of the eight, including one U.S. citizen, were given the electric chair. One German was sentenced to life in prison and the other American citizen -- who had turned himself in and revealed the plot to the FBI -- got 30 years.
The Supreme Court upheld the secret trial, but didn't get around to producing an opinion until after Old Sparky had rendered its own verdict.
Consider that the eight saboteurs never actually did anything other than enter the country illegally, which I gather is considered a constitutional right these days (except in my future home state of Arizona).
Still, FDR had them executed or imprisoned after trial in a secret military tribunal.
How many future car bombers would be discouraged if Faisal Shahzad were tried by military tribunal and executed by, say, the end of the month? What if Army doctor Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had already gotten the chair?
But we can't do that because, according to five Supreme Court justices who aren't "progressive" enough for American liberals, terrorists waging war on U.S. soil get full constitutional protections.
So, instead, we're left arguing about whether an exception should be made to Miranda rights in the case of a terrorist who plotted with foreign agents to plant a car bomb in Times Square. ("You have the right to remain violent ...")
Our Constitution was never intended to be a suicide pact, and the Court has re-affirmed that many times. Unfortunately, it appears that we have some Supreme Court Justices who have yet to figure that out.
Russia's ZAO Atomstroyexport signed an agreement to build a power plant with four nuclear reactors on Turkey's southern coast at a cost of as much as $20 billion after more than a year of negotiations.
"This will be the first case in which Russia not only builds a power plant, as we have in Iran and India, but will also own it," Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russian state nuclear holding company Rosatom Corp., told reporters in Ankara during a trip by President Dmitry Medvedev to the Turkish capital.
Atomstroyexport, Russia's reactor builder, will own 100 percent of the project, and may later sell as much as 49 percent to investors, Kiriyenko said. "Turkish investors are interested. We're also holding talks with European investors." He declined to name potential buyers.
Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said in February 2009 that a group of companies led by Atomstroyexport had bid for the Turkish power plant contract. Turkish authorities delayed awarding the contract since the tender in September 2008, as Russia had submitted the only bid.
"For Turkey, which is just starting to develop nuclear energy, this is a smart move, since they don't have to pay anything up front, just provide the site," Kiriyenko said. "Russia will bear all the costs and recoup them through guaranteed electricity sales" at a fixed price, he said.
Kiriyenko said discussions with Syria on building a nuclear power plant are in the "preliminary stages."
Yesterday in Damascus, Medvedev said he had discussed the possibility of building a plant with Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, and that cooperation on nuclear projects may get a "second wind."
So an increasingly Islamist Turkey is going to start on the nuclear road, and the Russians are going to rebuild Syria's reactor them. It's illuminating to see how much the Russians actually respect Obama and his nonsense about non-proliferation.
Both deals, of course ( especially the Syrian one) are just a back channel way to get arms and materials to Iran, no matter what 'sanctions' Russia agrees to at the UN.
The funny thing is, given Russia's history with Turkey and Islam, this is oddly reminiscent of Kruschev's old remark about how the capitalists would sell their enemies the rope to hang them with.
Unfortunately, it's effect is not going to be limited to Russia.
It's not well known, but historically the countries that have most driven Islamist expansion successfully in recent times are not the Arabs but a group of countries referred to as the Northern Tier - Turkey, Pakistan and Iran. We are approaching a time when all three countries will be armed with nuclear warheads and ICBMs.
Just another example of how thin skinned the current occupant of the White House is:
When President Obama was asked if he would play a round of golf with his talk-radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh, the response, relayed by a top Democrat, was: "Limbaugh can play with himself."
This is according to Zev Chafets in his new book, "Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One," due May 25 from Sentinel.
Chafets reports he encouraged Limbaugh to reach out to the president just after last July's "Beer Summit" that Obama hosted between Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. Joseph Crowley, the Cambridge cop who arrested Gates after he locked himself out of his own home.
"You guys are both golfers," Chafets told Limbaugh. "Would you play a round with the president and show the country that there are no hard feelings?"
"He's the president of the United States," Limbaugh told Chafets. "If any president asked me to meet him, or play golf with him, I'd do it. But I promise you that will never happen. His base on the left would have a s--t-fit."
"How about letting me ask?" Chafets said.
"Go ahead," Limbaugh said. "Nothing will come of it."
Chafets writes that he reached out to Obama adviser David Axelrod, "whom I know slightly," but Axelrod didn't return calls. Then Chafets spoke to "a very senior Democratic activist with whom I'm friendly" who said he would convey the message.
A day or two later the adviser responded, "Limbaugh can play with himself." Chafets wouldn't name the aide or say whether the quote was directly from Obama.
A spokesman said Limbaugh had not seen the book, and wouldn't comment. The White House did not respond to e-mails.
The Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution Wednesday that cuts some of its business ties to Arizona.
The council's move comes amid controversy over Arizona's tough immigration law -- SB 1070. Thirteen of the council's members approved the resolution.
That makes LA the nation's largest city to boycott Arizona over SB 1070.
What this means is that the Los Angeles City Council voted to terminate any contracts with the State of Arizona that canbe broken without getting the city sued.
There's apparently about $56 million in Arizona-related investments, plus 15 contracts with Arizona-based companies that are worth a combined total of $7.7 million. It's likely the latter that could be affected.
Check out the overwrought, crazed rhetoric from Councilman Ed Reyes, who co-introduced the bill with councilwoman Janice Hahn:
"Los Angeles the second-largest city in this country, an immigrant city, an international city. It needs to have its voice heard," said Councilman Ed Reyes. "As an American, I cannot go to Arizona today without a passport. If I come across an officer who’s having a bad day and feels that the picture on my ID is not me, I can be... deported, no questions asked. That is not American."
Needless to say, Councilman Reyes has no clue as to what the law actually says. But if he were deported, would anyone miss him?
What we're seeing today, as Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said is the spectacle of supposedly law abiding citizens from out of state attempting a boycott in favor of illegal activity in Arizona.
Still I suppose it's a nice distraction from the City Council actually coming up with a solution for Los Angeles' major budget shortfall ( think of L.A. as Athens, frying in Greece). Or for that matter, dealing with its own illegal alien problem, one of the contributing causes to that shortfall.
It is high time to send a message to Obama and the world that Jerusalem is not negotiable.
A petition to Netanyahu urging him to include the Temple Mount, site of both Holy Temples as a designated Israeli National Heritage Site has garnered nearly 3,100 signatures at http://www.gopetition.com/online/35455.html.
Here's the wording :
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,
I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the Temple Mount. As you know, the Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world for the Jewish people, yet the Muslim authorities, aided by Israel Police, systematically deny the right of religious expression on the Mount to all non-Moslems.
On numerous occasions the High Court of Justice has upheld the Jewish people’s right to pray at the site, yet the police continue to prevent this. Furthermore, Jewish visitors are harassed and degraded. This discrimination is a grave trampling of civil rights. Israeli law is not recognized by the Wakf authorities; illegal digging has destroyed priceless historical remnants of Jerusalem’s Jewish history.
Please, end this travesty and allow Jewish freedom of expression at the Temple Mount. I urge you include the Temple Mount in your “Heritage Plan” of sites significant to the Jewish people.
Aside from all that, it will make Prez Zero absolutely furious!
When Brown announced yesterday that he was stepping down as Labour leader, it seeme dobvious that Labour and the Liberals were going to get into bed with each other and form a coalition. But apparently the Lib-Lab talks broke down again.
Today, Gordon brown shocked the country by suddenly resigning his office...after which Conservative leader David Cameron headed to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen,who asked him the traditional question: "Will you form the new administration?"
As soon as Cameron said yes,he officially became Prime Minister:
Tory leader David Cameron has entered Number 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister for the first time - and said: "This is going to be hard and difficult work."
He told the waiting media: "On behalf of the whole country I would like to pay tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister for his long record of dedicated public service."
And he added: "I aim to form a proper and full coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats."
US President Barack Obama is thought to have already congratulated him by telephone, while Downing Street staff showed Mr Cameron's pregnant wife Samantha around Number 10.
The couple arrived there straight from Buckingham Palace where the Tory leader had accepted the Queen's request for him to form a new government.
That's it, as opposed to the US. No transition,no last minute nothing. Brown resigns, he's out - immediately. Cameron gets called in, pops in to see the Queen, done deal.
As part of the deal, Nick Clegg is reportedly slated to become Deputy Prime Minister.
It's important to note that The deal isn't formally done yet between the Conservatives and the Liberals, although it's probably been framed out. Gordon Brown was sup[posed to have waited a while longer and then resigned to continue a continuity of government, but apparently he decided otherwise for his own reasons.
It's an open question how long the new coalition can last, The Tories and the Libs are not exactly on the same wave length politically. The answer will probably come after the reported referendum on electoral reform the Libs want is held.
Conservative icon and author David Horowitz, a man who was part of the Left's elite in the sixties and seventies abruptly changed direction and broke with the Left over principle, an act that took no small amount of courage.
One of his pet causes involves campaigning for academic freedom for conservatives on campus and attempting to educate students in the face of the leftist narrative that dominates most college campuses, and to take on the unholy alliance between th eLeft and Islamists.
Part of that alliance is the Muslim Students Association (MSA, a very successful Muslim Brotherhood front prominent in pushing the Islamist agenda on campuses nationwide.
When dealing with jihadists, its important to cut through the froth and get to the heart of the matter without being sidetracked. Here, Horowitz confronts an MSA member at UCSD and shows us exactly how bold these people have become:
MSA member: Good evening, I just wanted to say thank you for coming to campus tonight and presenting your point of view, its always important to have to sets of, ah, views going on at the same time. Um, very useful. My name is [Jimena Imad Musa Ahmal Bahiri](sp) and I’m a student here at UCSD. Ah, I was reading your literature, I found that much more interesting than your talk, and I found some interesting things about the MSA, which is an organization that is very active on campus and is hosting our annual “Hitler Youth” week, you should come out to those events. Um, if you could clarify the connection between the MSA and Jihad terrorist networks, because last time I checked, we had to do our own fundraising, and we never get help from anyone. So if you could clarify the connection between UCSD’s MSA or if you don’t have such information, if you could connect other MSA’s on UC’s, because the connection wasn’t to clear in the pamphlet, just if you could clarify.
Horowitz: Okay. Will you condemn Hamas, here and now?
MSA member: I’m sorry, what?
Horowitz: Will you condemn Hamas?
MSA member: Would I condemn Hamas?
Horowitz: As a terrorist organization. A Genocidal organization.
MSA member: Are you asking me to put myself on a cross?
Horowitz: So you won’t. I have actually had this experience many times. You didn’t actually read the pamphlet, because the pamphlet is chapter and verse. The main connection is that the MSA is part of the Muslim Brotherhood Network as revealed…
MSA member: I don’t think you understood what I meant by that. I meant if I say something, I am sure that I will be arrested, for reasons of homeland security. So if you could please just answer my question.
Horowitz: If you condemn Hamas, Homeland Security will arrest you?
MSA member: If I support Hamas, because your question forces me to condemn Hamas. If I support Hamas, I look really bad.
Horowitz: If you don’t condemn Hamas, obviously you support it. Case closed. I have had this experience at UC Santa Barbara, where there were 50 members of the Muslim Students Association sitting right in the rows there. And throughout my hour talk I kept asking them, will you condemn Hizbollah and Hamas. And none of them would. And then when the question period came, the president of the Muslim Students Association was the first person to ask a question. And I said, ‘Before you start, will you condemn Hizbollah?’ And he said, ‘Well, that question is too complicated for a yes or no answer.’ So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll put it to you this way. I am a Jew. The head of Hizbollah has said that he hopes that we will gather in Israel so he doesn’t have to hunt us down globally. For or Against it?
MSA member: For it.
Horowitz: Thank you for coming and showing everybody what’s here.
***********************************************
It really is that simple. If someone supports genocidal groups who favor a second Holocaust for Jews, than ipso facto one supports genocide and a second Jewish Holocaust.
Hamas has even codified its mission to kill all Jews worldwide in its Martyr's Oath, which all members swear to uphold. The Oath also quotes the Islamic scripture from the Hadith Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6985, which quotes the very words of Mohammed on the subject: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him."
Even as little as a decade ago, Muslims like this fine young MSA member felt the need to at least dissemble a bit and steer clear of calling for a second Holocaust. They no longer feel that need today, and given the climate on many college campuses feel perfectly at home shilling for genocide openly.
Rest assured, the aims of the Muslim Brotherhood and other adherents of Islamist fascism may begin with the Jews, but they will not end there.
Through key intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I have just learned that reclusive Taliban leader and top Osama bin Laden ally, Mullah Omar has been taken into custody.
According to the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program there is a bounty of up to $10 million on Omar for sheltering Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qaeda network in the years prior to the September 11 attacks as well as the period during and immediately thereafter.
At the end of March, US Military Intelligence was informed by US operatives working in the Af/Pak theater on behalf of the D.O.D. that Omar had been detained by Pakistani authorities. One would assume that this would be passed up the chain and that the Secretary of Defense would have been alerted immediately. From what I am hearing, that may not have been the case.
When this explosive information was quietly confirmed to United States Intelligence ten days ago by Pakistani authorities, it appeared to take the Defense Department by surprise. No one, though, is going to be more surprised than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It seems even with confirmation from the Pakistanis themselves, she was never brought up to speed.
If this is true,it seems to be the usual case with Pakistan. They turn a blind eye towards Islamist terrorism until something outrageous happens, and when we lean on them and threaten to cut off the baksheesh they get from us, they turn over one of the Taliban or al-Qaeda to keep us happy.
that, considering everything, they approve of Arizona’s new illegal immigration law while 32% disapprove.
