Corzine's Speedy Recovery

It's not as if he raced home doing 91 MPH while unbuckled, but how stupid does it look to be doing 15 MPH over the limit?

No one in the motorcade used emergency lights, as his driver had been doing at the time of the accident. They kept to a pace of about 70 miles per hour, even though the posted limit is 55 on the stretch of Interstate 295 that leads to Drumthwacket, the governor’s official mansion in Princeton, where Mr. Corzine will spend the next stage of his recovery.

Newspaper Circulation Plunging

The rapid decline in newspaper circulation continues, yet you'll notice an increase at the New York Post. Some of the damage is severe and while they may be able to argue online readership is increasing in some cases, the inescapable facts are they're losing readers due to a leftwing bias and the younger generation simply does not read newspapers as much as older generations.

Top 20 circulation numbers.

More at NewsBusters, NRO Media Blog, Pajamas Media.

Gore Was Al-Qaeda Target

With all the hoopla over George Tenet's new book and 60 Minutes appearance, it's almost overlooked that Al-Qaeda plan to assassinate Al Gore back in 1998.

Via Weasel Zippers, which did a great job filling in here while I was away.

More here.

Saudi Arabia foiled a plot to use anti-tank missiles to assassinate Vice President Gore in 1998 while he was traveling in the region, according to a new book by former CIA Director George Tenet.

The book says Abdel Rahim al-Nashiri, a leading member of al-Qaeda who was later linked to the bombing of the USS Cole, tried to smuggle four Sagger anti-tank guided missiles into the kingdom about a week before the vice president was scheduled to arrive, according to MSNBC.

Maybe the left will start taking terrorism seriously when they realize the sainted Goracle was also a target.

Tony Snow Returns

Tony Snow is back on the job at the White House.

White House press secretary Tony Snow was back on the job Monday, five weeks after doctors discovered a recurrence of his cancer. He said he would soon undergo chemotherapy "just to make sure we've got the thing knocked out."

Snow, 51, has been on medical leave since undergoing exploratory surgery last month, when doctors discovered that a growth in his abdominal area was cancerous and had metastasized, or spread, to the liver.

I'm sure all those nice commenters at The Huffington Post who wished death upon him are sorely disappointed today.

Also at Michelle Malkin

Five Convicted in London Plot

Five subhumanoid creatures and members of the Religion of Peace were convicted today for their roles in a terror plot in London targeting power plants and nightclubs. Also revealed was their link to the London train bombings in 2005.

Omar Khyam was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions made from a chemical fertilizer that could endanger life. Also found guilty in the conspiracy were Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmood and Alahuddin Amin.

Two others, Nabeel Hussain and Shujah Mahmood, were cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions.

Court-imposed restrictions prohibited reporters from revealing links between the men and the four July 7, 2005 suicide transit bombers, as well as other al-Qaida cells, until the case ended.

Counterterrorism officials acknowledged that intelligence that could have raised alarms before the July 7 attacks was never thoroughly investigated, explaining they were overwhelmed by seemingly more urgent threats.

A government security official gave one-on-one briefings with reporters toward the end of the trial, detailing the path that security agents had followed.

As agents monitoring the fertilizer plot listened in on a bug, they heard one of the July 7 bombers, Mohammed Siddique Khan, warn that he planned to kill non-Muslims, the security official said during the briefing, demanding anonymity to discuss sensitive details of the cases.

A tracking device was placed in Khan's car a year before the 2005 suicide bombings and details of his phone calls and meetings with radicals were reported to Britain's domestic spy agency, MI5, on at least four occasions, he said.

Khan also took militia training in Pakistan with at least some of the fertilizer plotters, a witness in the case and officials said.

Gun-free Delusions

Tracy W. Price makes a powerful argument against calls for more anti-gun legislation.

The phrase "gun-free zone" is the ultimate delusion. A more accurate expression would be "defenseless zone." Like most mass murderers, the Virginia shooter was smart enough to choose victims who could not fight back. The Virginia Tech "defenseless zone" policy that made bringing a gun on campus an expellable offense was like a neon welcome sign to him, offering very high probability that he could achieve a high body count. The threat of expulsion or firing was effective in preventing law-abiding students and faculty from bringing a gun to school to defend themselves, but it did not deter the perpetrator. That's the insanity of gun-control laws; the only ones who abide by them are the law-abiding citizens.

Well-intentioned people argue that we should restrict access to guns. However, scientific research has consistently shown that restrictions on gun purchases and carriage cause large increases in violent crimes like rape, murder and multiple-victim public shootings.

Read it all. Information like this won't be found on the evening news.

Breck Girl Wants Your Wallet

John Edwards apparently thinks gouging "the rich" is a winning formula. He should be reminded of the huge backlash against Democrats after Clinton foisted the largest tax increase ever upon Americans back in 1993.

Then again, don't remind him. Let the Democrats run on increasing taxes and wait for the landslide loss.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said yesterday raising taxes for higher-income families back to their levels under the Clinton administration is a floor, not a ceiling, and he would consider even higher tax increases.

"What I believe is the starting place is to go back to the Clinton levels," Mr. Edwards told reporters after addressing the 2,000 delegates to California's state Democratic Party convention.

Limousine Libs Gone Wild

Fred Barnes provides an updated account of Karl Rove being harassed by Mrs. Larry David and One-Square.

Nothing more ridiculous than a pair of arrogant, know-nothing libs talking trash to an intellectual superior.

The point of recounting this stunt by two of Hollywood's most prominent limousine liberals--who have accused Rove of rudeness--is to put him in the proper political context. He is the chief target of Democrats, liberals, and the left, and they burn with a desire to see him discredited, fired, and jailed. If all else fails, and it has so far, they'll settle for tainting him as impolite.

A few Democrats have talked of impeaching President Bush, but that idea is a nonstarter. Representative Dennis Kucinich has called for impeaching Vice President Cheney. But with enemies like Kucinich, Cheney doesn't need friends. When the Democratic presidential candidates were polled at a debate in South Carolina last week, they pointedly failed to agree with Kucinich. So that leaves Rove at the top of the Democratic hit list.

Rove is more than a symbol. He is the architect of Bush's election triumphs and an influential player in pushing the president's agenda. He represents Republican success. The Democratic strategy now is to criminalize that success by treating normal political conduct by the Bush administration, spearheaded by Rove, as a series of criminal acts.

This obsession with Rove by the left borders on psychosis. Typically enough, if you can't beat the man fair and square, you have to destroy him personally. The politics of personal destruction has indeed been perfected by the Democrats.

Saudi Arabia's Hypocrisy on al-Qaeda..

This quote from today's CS Monitor sums up the average Saudi citizens hypocritical stance on al-Qaeda..

"Al Qaeda made a strategic mistake by attacking Saudis, Arabs, and Muslims. For the sake of killing one foreigner, they are killing five or 10 Saudis. The average man no longer believes it is jihad. Any attacks in Saudi Arabia they see as unjustifiable, illegitimate, and terrorism, not jihad."

Kill Americans and it's Jihad, kill a Saudi and it's murder. They will reap what they have sowed, mark my words...

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Harvard Students Stump for Gitmo Terrorists...

Acting like children, Harvard students tried to disrupt Alberto Gonzales' 25th law school reunion. They were protesting their comrades detention in Guantanamo Bay. The liberal tradition of dressing up like fools and screaming slogans was upheld....

Quote from protester:

"On behalf of many other Harvard Law students," she said, "I'd like to tell you that we are ashamed to have you as an alumnus of this school. And we're glad you're here to be able to tell you that."

I'm sure he was crushed to hear that.....

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Arab American News Still Not Convinced al-Qaeda Committed 9/11...

The Arab American News, a Detroit newspaper, citing a NYU School of Law study, points out that we have too many security checks on Muslims entering the country and are infringing on their rights...

The 63-page study says that the U.S. government, once ostensibly a world champion of democracy and human rights, has almost legalized a policy of discrimination against those immigrants, much along the lines of police states that Washington used to campaign against when it wanted to polish its image during the Cold War

As ridiculous as that sounds, they apparently are still not convinced that Muslims carried out 9/11...

The report is one of the first serious documentations of abuse against Muslims in the United States since 9/11, the terrorist attacks on Sep. 11, 2001 in New York and Washington, which the United States blamed on Muslim extremists.

Blamed Muslim exremists? The myth of the moderate Muslim continues....

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One Million Turks Say No! To Sharia...

Update to Friday's post: Turks to Protest Against Sharia and Islamism...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - As many as one million people rallied in a sea of red Turkish flags in Istanbul on Sunday, accusing the government of planning an Islamist state and demanding it withdraw its presidential candidate.

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Gateway Pundit has more..

Thai "Insurgents" Kill 3 Year Old...

Thai "insurgents", the media's word for terrorists, shot and killed a 3 year old child. No doubt a fatwa has been issued absolving the murder of an innocent child....

Three-year-old shot dead

Pattani - Suspected separatists shot dead a three-year-old boy in Thailand's restive south Sunday, police said, hours after hundreds of Muslims gathered to protest the killing of a retired teacher.

The child was killed when insurgents in a truck opened fire on the home of his father, a Muslim village headman, police said. The father was also injured in the attack in Narathiwat province.

The shooting came after suspected Islamic rebels threw a grenade into a crowd of people who were leaving the mosque in Pattani after evening prayers late on Saturday.

Moments later, the insurgents opened fire on the crowd outside the mosque, police said, killing a former teacher and injuring three people.

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Coming Attractions: The Frito-Lay Jihad...

Could we have another Muslim hysteria on our hands? First we had the cartoons of blasphemy, now we could have the sacrilegious corn chip jihad....

Frito-Lay Products Containing Pork Seasoning ‘Chip’ off Muslim Consumers Worldwide

From around the world, Muslims have been calling up Frito-Lay, inquiring about their products after learning of possible pork enzymes in their cheese seasonings. Muslim students and professionals, in response, started email campaigns, wrote on their blogs, and some even created groups on the popular college-networking website, Facebook.

One group on Facebook, “Fight Against Pork in Frito-Lay Products,” has already accumulated over 1,810 students globally. Its moderator urged its members to “call whether [they] are for or against the change” and for them to inform Frito-Lay of their concerns.

Muslims who eat and enjoy Frito-Lay products are concerned that its products are “haram” (Arabic for “forbidden”) since pork is not accepted under the dietary laws in Islam. Muslims can only eat products that are “halal” (Arabic for “permissible”) under Islam. This Arabic term is very much similar to the Hebrew term “kosher, since Jews like Muslims are also forbidden from consuming pork as it is restricted under Judaism.

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Muslim or Not? Obama's Convoluted Past...

Since it's a good chance Barack Hussein Obama may be the Democratic nominee, here is a good article to get familiar with his Muslim heritage and upbringing...

BARACK OBAMA’S ISSUE WITH ISLAM

Reports about Obama's Muslim parentage and education have circulated in the news. While Sen. Obama has not personally addressed them, his press office has done so vigorously on his behalf. Along with CNN [1] , Obama's spokespeople address the public's interest in more information about Obama's connection with Islam as if there was nothing to discuss, and no need of further exploration. Responding to an Insight Magazine article [2] earlier this year contending that Obama was once enrolled in a madrassa, and charging that he "has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage," the Obama press office released a statement [3] in response to "these malicious and irresponsible charges."

"To be clear," the statement read, "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago." As the former assertions seemed odd, if not untruthful to many observers, some in the media continued to examine Obama's upbringing. A friendly but detailed report [4] in The Los Angeles Times last month confirmed that Obama was registered as a Muslim at both the Roman Catholic school and the public school he attended in Indonesia during his youth.

In response to this article, Obama's press office adjusted their story. According to the Times, the statement now said, "‘Obama has never been a practicing Muslim,' but as a child he had spent time in the neighborhood's Islamic center." In his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, Obama mentions his "Koranic studies" at the Indonesian public school, which he describes as "a Muslim school." In his newest book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama describes it as "a predominantly Muslim school," but says little else. That it was not a madrassa but a "Muslim school" only raises the question of how to draw the line between one and the other

Obama's father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., was a Kenyan Muslim who was divorced from his mother when junior was two years old. "Although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist...," writes Obama in The Audacity of Hope. Later his mother married Lolo Soetoro, who was also a Muslim. According to a statement [3] from Obama's press office, however, "Senator Obama was raised in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother."

Read the rest..

Side note about the United Church of Christ, they recently announced they are dropping any references to God as "him" and will refrain from using the word "lord"...

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Get Ready for More Exploding Muslims....

Hamas boss Khaled Meshaal has warned that santions need to be lifted because the Palestinain people are "on the verge of exploding", and I think he means literally...

Hamas warns of Palestine 'explosion'

Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal has warned against pursuing the economic and political blockade of the Palestinians, who are "on the verge of exploding".

“The Palestinian people will not be patient under this pressure and they have several options before them if need be,” Mr Meshaal said in Cairo after a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.

“The Palestinian unity Government has been in place for almost two months and the sanctions remain the main issue for the Palestinians, after they had large hopes following the formation of the Government,” he said.

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Muslims Don't Want Your "Filthy" Money..

As usual, not a sign of the so-called moderate Muslim..

Muslims shun project funded by lottery

An unfinished community centre for use by Muslims has become a rat-infested eyesore, shunned by the people it was intended to serve because it was funded by a Muslim lottery winner. The skeletal framework of the community centre in the Bastwell area of Blackburn, Lancashire, has been rotting and abandoned for eight years after a £300,000 donation from Britain’s first lottery millionaire.

Mukhtar Mohidin, from Blackburn, won £17.9 million in 1994. But his attempts to give something back to his community have proved fruitless, after a dispute broke out among local Muslims, who said that the centre had been built using “filthy money” because Islam does not allow gambling.

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ITM to the Dems, Are Our Lives Worth Saving..

Omar asks the obvious question many Iraqis have...

Out of Iraq? Why Are They Doing This?

Instead of trying to come up with ideas to help they try to halt the sincere effort to stabilize Iraq and rescue the Middle East from a catastrophe.

I am Iraqi and to me the possible consequences of this vote are terrifying. Just as we began to see signs of progress in my country the democrats come and say ‘well, it’s not worth it, so it’s time to leave’.Evidently to them my life and the lives of twenty five million Iraqis are not worth trying for and they shouldn’t expect us to be grateful for this

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The Mullahs Proud to be Democrats..

Democrats receive another ringing Terrorist endorsement...

From Gate Way Pundit:

The Iranian Regime is stumping for the democrats...Boy, the Iranian press is about as biased as the American press. Republicans just can't catch a break!

The story above was published in the official Iranian Fars News on Friday.They must have been impressed with the democratic presidential candidates, especially since only 4 of the 8 democrats think their is a global War on Terror.

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Edwards "Forgets" to Call Out Bush During Debate...

John Edwards campaign manager sent an email to his supporters declaring he would call on the evil dictator George Bush to ax Karl Rove during last nights debate, and is still posted on his website as of Friday night.

Only problem was pony boy wimped out. Squashing a potential moonbat feeding frenzy.....

Edwards breaks a promise?

On Wednesday, the campaign manager for former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, sent an email to supporters preparing them for Thursday night's debate where Edwards would call for President Bush to fire Karl Rove.

"Tomorrow, John Edwards is going on national television to take part in the first presidential debate. And that night, he's going to call on George Bush to fire Karl Rove," wrote David Bonior. "Please add your name" to an Edwards petition (CLICK HERE) "so when John speaks out at tomorrow's debate it's clear that he's speaking for thousands."

One problem -- Edwards did no such thing last night.

Oops.

What's up with that, Edwards people?

JohnEdwards.com

John Edwards will sound this call Thursday evening during the first
presidential debate, and we want to show that when that happens, he’s speaking
for thousands.

Maybe he should speak for himself before speaking for thousands...

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Turks to Protest Against Sharia and Islamism...

Another mass protest against Sharia and the creeping Islamist threat in Turkey is planned for this weekend. This rally will be held in Instanbul and like the previous Ankara protest, hundreds of thousands are expected to attend.

MEMRI:

"Unite for the (secular) Republic, tomorrow will be too late" is the official slogan for another massive demonstration against AKP government that is to be held in Istanbul on Sunday, April 29, 2007.The event, which follows the giant April 14 demonstration in Ankara, is supported by hundreds of NGOs, particularly women's organizations, and is expected to also draw hundreds of thousands.The organizers have been calling on everyone to "unite for the secular Republic" and to "defend Ataturk's principles," and have invited all citizens who say "no to shari'a and Islamism."

If the Islamists do try and go too far, the Turkish Army may have to step in..

Army 'concerned' by Turkey vote

Turkey's army has warned against questioning the country's secular system after a disputed first-round presidential vote in parliament.

In a statement, it said it will not shy away from displaying its position.

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Murtha's Most Asinine Comment to Date...

That's a bold statement, but here it is..

"Look, these guys have lied to us so much, I've even lost confidence in the military."

This is coming from a man who fought in Vietnam and watched congress turn their backs on the military in a time of war.

As the phrase goes, those who forget history are bound to repeat it..

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Top Al Qaeda operative taken into US custody is 7/7 Bombing Mastermind..

Update to: Breaking News: Top Al Qaeda operative taken into US custody

From: LGF

As noted earlier today, the Pentagon announced the capture of an important Al Qaeda leader, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi. Tonight the Times Online reports that al-Iraqi is believed to be the mastermind behind the 7/7 bombings in London.

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IHT: Top jihadi strategist brought Iraq’s insurgents into the al-Qaeda fold

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi is among the most important figures to have been captured since 9/11 and his detention is a significant blow to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.

More than anyone else, it was Abd al-Hadi who rebuilt al-Qaeda after its leadership fled from the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Once secured in the tribal areas of Pakistan, he began forging a firm alliance with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and bringing the jihad in Iraq under the al-Qaeda banner. He ran terror training camps, planned strategy with bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and directed operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Europe

Jimmy Carter: Stop "Knee Jerk" Support of Israel..

The disgrace of an ex-president, Jimma Carter has been in Iowa spreading his ant-Semitic rhetoric...

“The main reason I came to Iowa is to make sure you knew you could shape an outcome in the 2008 presidential election.… As long as American politicians are seen as 'knee-jerk supporters' of Israel, the country’s role as the principal Mideast peace broker will be endangered.”

– President Jimmy Carter, April 18, 2007, University of Iowa

Rage Inducing "Progressive" Op-Ed of the Week...

Courtesy of the LA Times, we have this piece of garbage. As usual, completely oblivious to the threat we face from Islamic fascists. Plus the same old garbage, 9/11 will never happen again, Katrina Katrina Katrina, Bush is a dictator.....

9/11 was bad, but ...
The attacks were appalling, but they don't pose the threat politicians make them out to be.

Giuliani's line of argument — though "argument" is too generous a word — isn't new. Since 9/11, our political leaders have proceeded on the assumption that Americans are cringing, cowardly souls more than ready, when we hear the word "terrorism," to suspend our critical capacities, mortgage our futures and jettison our civil liberties and our principles — all for impossible assurances of "safety." The awful thing is, many of us obediently conformed to this condescending stereotype. The United States is the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world, but after 9/11, many of us started to act as if we're in danger of imminent extinction.

We're not.

The 9/11 attacks were appalling and tragic, but they did not threaten the survival of the nation. The year 2001 aside, total deaths (not just of Americans) caused by international terrorism worldwide have never exceeded — or even approached — 2,000 a year. Sept. 11 was an outlier: On 9/11, a group of brutal, extremist Islamic thugs got very lucky. Even Osama bin Laden couldn't have imagined that the Twin Towers would collapse, killing nearly 3,000 people.

(actually, that's exactly what he hoped would happen....)

After 9/11, the Republican line was that all future terror attacks on U.S. soil must be prevented at any cost. That's the line Giuliani was parroting this week, but its effectiveness hinges on our collective willingness to let fear swamp our capacity to reason.

It goes on and on...

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Hillary Pandering to the Extreme Left...

To quote a good freind of mine "I could almost see her going on Huffpost, but firedoglake?" If you think about it, the Democratic party is taking a hard left as it is, so why not pander to the base...

Hillary And Hamsher, Blogging And Blackface

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton caused a minor stir this week with her guest-blogging appearance at Firedoglake, a site where one of the lead bloggers last year painted Sen. Joseph Lieberman in blackface before apologizing and removing the entry at the behest of Lieberman's opponent.

Clinton, D-N.Y., posted an entry at Firedoglake on Tuesday to mark Equal Pay Day and to tout her legislation aimed at guaranteeing women the same pay as men when they do the same work. Clinton also briefly engaged the blog's readers in the comments at the bottom of her post.

Mary Ann Akers, who writes The Sleuth blog for The Washington Post, reported that Democratic activists privately questioned Clinton's decision to appear on Firedoglake because of the tarnished reputation of Jane Hamsher, one of its chief bloggers.

Last summer, while following Democrat Ned Lamont of Connecticut in his bid to unseat fellow Democrat Lieberman, Hamsher posted an image of Lieberman in blackface at The Huffington Post. Although Hamsher never worked in a paid capacity for Lamont's campaign, she did produce a video for the campaign. Her close connections to Lamont prompted the campaign to contact her about the image.

Breaking News: Top Al Qaeda Operative Taken into US custody

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has taken into custody a top al-Qaeda operative who plotted the assassination of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and other officials, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday

Will follow up...

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UPDATE: Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was also accused of commanding al Qaeda's paramilitary operations in Afghanistan and launching attacks on U.S. and coalition forces from Pakistan, the Defense Department said.

The Iraqi was detained trying to get back into Iraq to "manage al Qaeda's affairs" there, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

The Latest Version of the Tin Foil Hat..

Electrosmog?

The woman who needs a veil of protection from modern life

No, she's NOT a beekeeper. This woman believes that her bizarre headgear can save her from the dangerous electrosmog all around us. Can she possibly be right?

No, she's NOT a beekeeper. This woman believes that her bizarre headgear can save her from the dangerous electrosmog all around us. Can she possibly be right?

Before knocking on Sarah Dacre's door, I take the precaution of checking my mobile phone. It's switched off, as she has requested.

Picture of the Day...

FromCaption This!

News Item: Democrats hold their first debate. "No, I hate America more."

Huge Terror Bust in the Magical Kingdom...

Saudi Arabia arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, storm its prisons to free the inmates and use aircraft in their attacks, the Interior Ministry said Friday

The militants planned to carry out suicide attacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones.” The Interior Ministry said some of the military targets were outside the kingdom, but it did not elaborate.

Some of the militant were being trained to fly aircraft, the statement added, raising the specter of more attacks like Sept. 11, 2001 in which terrorists hijacked passenger planes and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington.

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Dems Vow to "Restore" Rights to Gitmo Terrorists...

Yesterday we had Harry Reid quoted by al-Qaeda in Iraq. Today we have Patrick Leahy, among others, pledging to restore rights to the worst terrorists in U.S. custody. These include Khalid Shekh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh who planned the 9/11 attacks...

U.S. senators vow to restore rights to detainees WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Influential U.S. senators vowed on Thursday to restore to foreign terrorism suspects the right to challenge their imprisonment, saying Congress made an historic blunder by stripping them of that right last year Hundreds of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members held at a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba could be affected. The United States has drawn international criticism over its continued detention of terrorism suspects in Guantanamo, with human rights groups demanding the prison be closed and detainees charged with crimes or released. Last year's Congress, with a Republican majority, passed a law setting specific rules for U.S. military tribunals. It included a ban on non-citizens labelled "enemy combatants" from using "habeas corpus" petitions to challenge the legality of their detention in court, asserting that military panels at Guantanamo were a substitute for court review "This is wrong. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American," Leahy said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which would share jurisdiction on changing the law

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Jewish Woman Attacked, Branded with Swastika...

Two men with a "Middle Eastern" appearance, assaulted a woman in France, upon realizing she was Jewish, a swastika was painted on her stomach....

Any guesses as to what religion these "Middle Eastern" men adhere to?...

Swastika daubed on French Jewish woman in anti-Semitic attack A young Jewish woman was viciously attacked on Thursday by unidentified assailants in a train station in Marseilles. The attack was described by one observer as the "worst anti-Semitic incident in France since the murder of Ilan Halimi" over a year ago. According to details received from Roche, the attack occured in the afternoon when a 22-year-old woman arrived at the metro station of the La Rose district - which has a mixed Muslim and Jewish community According to reports, two unidentified men of Middle Eastern appearance approached the woman and began abusing her. At some point, they began hitting her, and one report states that she was dragged by the hair. When they saw a Star of David on her neck, they lifted her shirt and drew a cross on her abdomen. One of the witnesses said it was a swastika.

The Barber Shop Jihad Continues..

If you are an Islamic Fascist and you don't agree with something , you have only one option, set off a bomb.

You don't have to think, makes life so much easier..

Barber shops blown up

TIMERGARA, April 25: Two hair-cutting salons were blown up and four adjacent shops damaged when two bombs went off in a market in Kumbar, the native village of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, leader of the banned Tehrik Nefaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi, in Maidan area on Tuesday night.

Witnesses and officials said the blasts in the Ahmad Market blew up the salons of Bacha Rahim and Karim.

In Upper Dir district, a salon and a music shop had been blown up in the Wari Bazaar on Monday night.

Traders and shopkeepers in Wari took out a procession in protest against the worsening law and order situation in the area and declared the blasts a terrorist activity.

The barbers and music shop owners in Upper and Lower Dir had received threatening letters in March.

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Bible Raper Going to Jail...

Now it's his turn to get raped...

Bible rape vigilante convicted

IT TOOK a jury just half an hour yesterday to convict a man of the rape of a Muslim woman as punishment for her reading the Bible.

Abdul Reda Al Shawany, 52, was found guilty by a jury at Campbelltown District Court of two counts of rape on the elderly mother of 13.

The court was told Al Shawany had seen the interest by his victim, then a Muslim, in the Bible and Christianity as an "insult" to Islam.

The case stunned Sydney when details emerged that Al Shawany had lured his victim to his Warwick Farm unit in September 2002 by claiming he had news of her family in her war-torn homeland.

He then raped her twice – telling her when he had finished "well let your Christ benefit you".The victim converted to Christianity after the attack

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Iraqi Government Condemns Senate Vote for Withdrawal...

The Dems are more than ready to abandon Iraq, they have made that quite clear. They may think Iraq is a mess now, if we pullout the Sunni areas will be 100% under al-Qaeda's control and WILL be used as new base of operations for attacks on the west

Iraqi spokesman criticizes Senate vote

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi government spokesman criticized the U.S. Senate vote to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by Oct. 1.

"We see some negative signs in the decision because it sends wrong signals to some sides that might think of alternatives to the political process," Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press.

He spoke after the Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1. The House passed the same bill a day earlier, and President Bush has promised a veto.

"Coalition forces gave lots of sacrifices and they should continue their mission, which is building Iraqi security forces to take over," al-Dabbagh said. "We see (it) as a loss of four years of sacrifices."

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Another Global Warming Hypocrite...

Teresa Heinz made the cover of the next N Magazine with the ironic caption "On saving the Earth", a two part series about how to save the planet. Apparently she forgot to mention her Gulfstream V jet, her fleet of SUV's, and her boats, including long face's 42 footer that gets a earth saving one mile per gallon...

Here’s the Track’s stand on global warming: Until the celebrity windbags quit blowing hot air about saving the planet, the greening of America doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.

Singer Sheryl Crow wants us to spare just a square per flush and wear something called a “dining sleeve.” But when will she cut down on her gas-guzzling tour buses, tractor-trailers and cars?

And now here comes Teresa Heinz, she of the $35 million Gulfstream V, the speed boats - including hubby John Kerry’s 42-foot-long Scaramouche that gets less than one mile per gallon - and a fleet of fuel-sucking SUVs.

Ta-raaaaay-za’s the covergirl for N magazine’s upcoming green issue where she lectures us about how we can save Mother Earth. (Part II of the enviro-talk, God help us, continues in the next issue.)

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Al-Qaeda Quotes Harry Reid's "Hopeless" Statement for Propaganda...

What a disgrace!! The U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has been quoted word for word by al-Qaeda in Iraq's statement today. Following in the footsteps of Tokyo Rose, Hanoi Jane, we now have this fool. Traitor...

Islamic State Of Iraq: The Cross Worshippers And Their Henchmen Plans Have CollapsedApr 25, 2007 By Ubaidah Al-Saif, Jihad Unspun Arabic Source: Al-Fajr Media

As usual, this was followed by a swift visit by the new (American) Defense Minister “Gates” who said, “The American support to the Maliki government is not unlimited”, insinuating that the American administration is impatient with the Maliki government that is incapable of handling the strikes of the Mujahideen. This comes on the heels of an important statement by House Majority Leader Harry Reid who previously said, “The Iraqi war is hopeless and the situation in Iraq is same as it was in Vietnam.”

W Zip

Paki's Ban Play Making Fun of Burqa...

Pakistan has banned a play poking fun at the burqa, highlighting the great sense of humor Islamists are world renowned for...

Pakistan bans staging play satirising burqa

ISLAMABAD - Irate Islamist lawmakers persuaded the Pakistan government on Thursday to stop a theatre group staging a satirical play about the burqa, the all-covering head-to-toe garment worn by conservative Muslim women.

“Burqavaganza” played earlier this month during an arts festival in Lahore, the eastern city regarded as Pakistan’s cultural capital, and home to some of the most liberal and most puritanical parts of the Muslim nation’s society

“The burqa is part of our culture. We can’t allow anyone to ridicule our culture,” Culture Minister Sayed Ghazi Gulab Jamal told the National Assembly.

Predictably, religious conservative Pakistanis did not find it funny, going as far as to describe the play as blasphemous, a crime in Pakistan that can carry a death sentence.

No joking allowed in Islam....

W Zip

Israel's Version of Harry Reid...

Israeli Arabs account for 19% of the Israeli population. Not something the rest of Israel's citizens can feel all warm and fuzzy about. Just another classic example of how Muslims put their religion before anything else....

Israeli Arab 'helped Hezbollah'

A leading Israeli Arab politician, Azmi Bishara, is being investigated for allegedly helping Hezbollah during last year's conflict in Lebanon.

This emerged after an Israeli court partially lifted a blackout on news about the case.

Mr Bishara resigned from the Israeli parliament earlier this month after leaving the country. At the time the allegations against him were not known.

He says he is being persecuted for criticising Israel's politics.Mr Bishara has caused controversy in Israel before because of visits to Lebanon and Syria.

'Aiding the enemy'

He is under suspicion of crimes against Israel's security, aiding the enemy during war, contacting foreign agents and receiving money from abroad in violation of anti-money-laundering laws, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld is quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

W Zip

Weasel Zippers Reporting for Duty....

I will be helping out JWF while he attends to some business, gotta pay the bills!!!...

Yours truly,

Mr. Weasel Zippers...

Who's Winning, Harry?

Amir Taheri makes an interesting point. If Harry Reid says we've lost in Iraq, then who won?

Because all wars have winners and losers, Reid, having identified America as the loser, is required to name the winner. This Reid cannot do.

The reason is that, whichever way one looks at the situation, America and its Iraqi allies remain the only objective victors in this war.

Reid cannot name al Qaeda as the winner, because the terror organization has failed to achieve any of its objectives. It hasn't been able to halt the process of democratization, marked by a string of elections, and it has failed to destroy the still fragile institutions created in the post-Saddam era. Al Qaeda is also suffering from increasing failure to attract new recruits, while coming under pressure from Iraqi Sunni Arab tribes, especially west of the Euphrates.

In military terms, al Qaeda hasn't won any territory and has lost the control it briefly exercised in such places as Fallujah and Samarra. More important, al Qaeda has failed to develop a political program, focusing instead on its campaign of mindless terror.

What about the remnants of the Saddamite regime? Can Reid name them as victors? Hardly. What's left of the Baath Party has split into four warring factions with rival leaders in exile.

The remnants of the Republican Guards have also split. Some have joined Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, now the Loch Ness monster of Iraqi politics. Others have set up crime syndicates and/or death squads with no discernible political ambitions.

Reid may believe that Iran, either alone or with its Syrian Sancho Panza, is the victor. If that's the case, Reid shares the illusion peddled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Read the whole thing.

American Thinker Back Online

Many of us who read The American Thinker were a bit alarmed Tuesday and into Wednesday when strange pages appeared when trying to access their home page.

Well, they're back now.

All I can say is, watch who you register with.

While you're there, you may as well check out Rick Moran's The Trouble With Harry.

Haditha Fabricated?

Newsmax has a bombshell report from Philip V. Brennan.

Convincing evidence that corroborates NewsMax.com's accounts of the Haditha insurgent ambush has compelled the prosecution to take extraordinary steps to bolster their crumbling case.

The stunning announcement that all charges are being dropped against Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, formerly accused of murder in the Haditha incident where 24 Iraqis were killed during an insurgent ambush against the Marines, is indication that the prosecutors have a very weak case against all the defendants, lawyers for the some of the accused say.

Read the rest.

The Haditha incident brought forth some of the worst pack mentality journalism from the drive-by media in recent years. Let's see if they even touch the latest information.

More from AJ Strata and Sister Toldjah.

B-L-to-tha-izzack like Hillary

Michelle Malkin demolishes faux soul sister, The Pantsuit. Gizoogle it and have even more fun.

In 1992, Bill Clinton hit a politizzle home run wit his Brotha Souljah" moment . Chill as I take you on a trip. In 2007, Hillary Clinton suffered a reverse Poser Souljah" strikeout. If it's not tha end of her presidizzles aspirations, it should be.

Allow me ta explain. Fifteen years ago, then-Gov mah nizzle. Clinton was hatin' ta solidify his centrist credentials . Real niggas recognize the realness.. An obscure quote by an obscure radical rappa provided tha perfect exploitable opportunity. Interviewed by The Washington Piznost in tha wakes of tha Los Angeles riots, Souljah had wondered aloud . Aint no stoppin' this shit nigga: "If Black thugz kizzle Blizzack thugz every day, . Drop it like its hot. motha fucka. . "why not have a week n kill white people?"

Bill Clinton took ta tha B-U-Double-Lizzy pulpit at tha Rainbow Coalition n denounced Shot Calla Souljah. "If you took tha words 'white' n 'black' n you reversed them," he lectured sternly, "you M-to-tha-izzight thiznink David Duke was giv'n tizzle speech."

Politizzle cheerleada framed this as an act of politizzles bravery - publicly repudiat'n an extremist racial separizzles rhetoric ta demonstrate independence from minority crazy ass nigga in tha Democrat Party . One, two three and to tha four.

Sen fo my bling bling. Clinton - whom conventizzle wisdom mistakenly casts as tha cracka more disciplined politizzles of tha household - didn't learn frizzay her hubby's Sista Souljah triumph . Subscribe nigga, get yo issue.. She turned it on its heezee: Instead of dissocizzles wit racial extremists, she has chosen ingratiation like this and like that and like this and uh.

And tha results is comedy border'n on politizzles suicide.

Read the rest of either version. Whichever way you slice it, Mrs. Clinton looks like an idiot.

Gaza: Worse Than Somalia

Jonathan Schanzer tallies the litany of disaster. Of course, the left and the Islamists love to blame Israel, but that simply denies the reality.

Hamas, the terrorist group that Palestinians last year elected to govern their territories, is failing to govern at all.

March alone saw at least 46 kidnappings of civilians in the Gaza Strip, as well as over 25 killings of Palestinians by fellow Palestinians.

Internecine violence has gotten so bad that one human-rights activist says Gaza "has become worse than Somalia." Yasser Abed Rabbo, an executive-committee member of the rival Palestine Liberation Organization, calls it "anarchy."

Read the rest. It's not a pretty picture.

Lynne Stewart Disbarred

The terrorist supporter Lynne Stewart finally has been disbarred. What annoys me is she's not idling away in a super max facility, or better yet, facing a firing squad.

She's still out on the street, but convicted terror helper Lynne Stewart is out of the legal profession.

A state appeals court yesterday formally disbarred Stewart, officially ending her 30-year career as a lawyer.

The Appellate Division made the disbarment retroactive to Feb. 10, 2005. That's the date she was convicted of providing material support to terrorists by helping her jailed client, blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, communicate with his followers. He is the suspected mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Over two years ago she was convicted, yet this piece of garbage still walks free. Ridiculous.

Confronting the Great Divide

Tony Blankley has a fantastic piece in the Washington Times today.

It would appear that the great divide in both public opinion and between politicians is not Republican-Democrat, liberal-conservative, pro- or anti-Bush or even pro- or anti-war (or, in Europe: pro-or anti-American).

Rather, the great divide is between those, such as me, who believe that the rise of radical Islam poses an existential threat to Western Civilization; and those who believe it is a nuisance, if episodically a very dangerous nuisance.

For those in the latter category, the great thrust of modern history exemplified in Francis Fukuyama's concept of "The End of History" continues onward. The great secular triumph of (more or less) free markets, a world economy, democracy, individual rights, socialized economic security and their management by merit-based technocrats will be an inevitable continuity in human affairs. The episodic terrorist violence, so far killing far less people than die in car crashes or from lung cancer each year, does not justify re-ordering our social priorities. It does not justify any significant intrusions into civil liberties. It does not justify a major shift of tax revenues from social spending to war and homeland security programs. It certainly does not justify fighting wars on the other side of the world that kill and grievously wound painful numbers of American and European soldiers — and even greater numbers of local residents in the war zones.

Read the rest.

The current administration and the military is fighting on numerous fronts around the world to maintain our liberties, while those who claim of the mantle of civil liberties fight us tooth and nail every step of the way, aided and abetted in their perfidy by the truculent Democrats and a recalcitrant media. A bitter irony.

The sad reality is we'll never be able to put aside our differences in this country, as the angry left has made rational discussion an impossibility and, because of their intractability in the war we're in, we're likely to suffer calamitous times in the years ahead.

Sadly, even then they'll likely deny a problem exists.

Unhinged Harry Reid Constituent Gone Wild

I blame Harry Reid for this (hat tip: bubbaman).

LAS VEGAS - A man accused of threatening a Nevada Republican Party official with a rifle was arrested Tuesday in a vehicle in which police found swords, knives, a shotgun, shells and a flare gun, authorities said.

Matthew Hunter Kramer, 31, did not resist officers who arrested him on a warrant issued after the April 3 confrontation at state Republican Party offices in Las Vegas. It wasn't clear why he was not arrested earlier.

Zachary Moyle, executive director of the state GOP, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kramer invited him to look at something in the trunk of his Mercedes before pulling out a rifle, pointing it at his face and warning that he would be back if President Bush vetoed an emergency war spending bill being considered by Congress.

Bush and Democratic leaders are locked in a dispute over the president's pledge to veto legislation if it sets a timetable on the Iraq war.

Kramer also removed photos of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney from the wall of the office and threatened to harm staff members, Moyle said. Kramer left his cell phone number with office staff before leaving, police said.

He is charged with criminal syndicalism, assault with a deadly weapon and aiming a firearm at a person, police Officer Martin Wright said.

Criminal syndicalism makes it a crime to advocate sabotage, violence or terrorism to accomplish industrial or political reform, said Ron Bloxham, a Clark County prosecutor. It carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Curious how Reid's name doesn't even make it into the story, which won't just be staying in Vegas.

Wolcott's Rush to Stupidity

Looks like Vanity Fair hack James Wolcott has found a new obsession (via Newsbusters).

Though by reading this dreck, one detects the whiff of a Media Matters press release.

For us non-dittoheads (that is, the unconverted), a more fitting memorial to Mount Rushbo might be a diorama of the environmental destruction that he did so much to enable in his multi-decade reign of denigration. Global warming's most popular denialist, talk radio's most imitated showman, conservatism's minister of disinformation, he has injected millions of semi-vacant American skulls with a cream filling of complacency that has helped thrust this country into the forefront of backward leadership. He has given Republican lawmakers the rhetorical cover fire to do nothing but snicker as the crisis emerged and impressed itself on the rest of the world. He conscripted concern for nature as just another weapon in the Culture Wars. May the grasses of his favorite golf courses go forever yellow and dust storms whip from the sand traps.

Sounds like this no-talent tool Wolcott is just a tad envious that someone so beneath him and his Upper West Side sensibilities is laughing all the way to the bank at the expense of morons like him.

Calling All Moonbats

We may have stumbled across a solution for all those pesky liberals and other assorted malcontents who already live in an alternate universe.

Call it Planet Goracle.

For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.

There's still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, which could be deemed inhospitable to life once more is known about it. And it's worth noting that scientists' requirements for habitability count Mars in that category: a size relatively similar to Earth's with temperatures that would permit liquid water. However, this is the first outside our solar system that meets those standards.

"It's a significant step on the way to finding possible life in the universe," said University of Geneva astronomer Michel Mayor, one of 11 European scientists on the team that found the planet. "It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

(AP Photo/ESO)

First They Came for the Shock Jocks

The grievance-monger industry is in overdrive. What was once a practical joke is now a scandal.

CBS Suspends New York Shock Jocks for Racially Charged Radio Prank

Still recovering from the Don Imus scandal, CBS Radio suspended two local shock jocks after they twice broadcast a racially charged prank call to employees at a Chinese restaurant.

The hosts of the daily morning show, WFNY-FM's "The Dog House With JV and Elvis," have been suspended indefinitely without pay, CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo told The New York Times in an e-mail Monday. One of the hosts, Jeff Vandergrift, apologized on Monday's show, she said.

Local chapters of the Organization of Chinese Americans, an advocacy group, released a statement Sunday protesting the segment. By Monday, California state Sen. Leland Yee and others joined the campaign.

In the segment, broadcast on April 5 — a day after the infamous Imus comment on CBS — and again last week, a caller to a Chinese restaurant intersperses an order for takeout with lewd language.

The caller tells one female employee he wants to come to the restaurant to see her naked and refers to a part of her body as "hot, Asian, spicy." The caller also attempts to order "shrimp flied lice."

I've never even heard of these guys, but should they be bounced for anything, it's lame humor even Beavis and Butthead would eschew.

In those prank-filled days of my youth, long before caller ID, most people would simply hang up on crank calls.

Now it's earth-shattering news.

Harry Reid's Bloody Hands

Harry Reid seems quite determined to drive over the cliff and take his party with him. While I'm all for the Democrats self-destructing, by denying the troops the necessary funds for the war, he's endangering both their lives and ours. If the Democrats are so naive to think our enemies will just lay down their arms if we bug out of Iraq, they're even more dangerous that I ever imagined.

To be sure, Reid won't risk calling for an immediate pullout. He cautioned his party's bug-out-now wing to be patient, despite "the restlessness" of those who "voted for change in November [and] anticipated dramatic and immediate results in January."

The problem, said Reid, is that "George W. Bush is still the commander-in-chief - and this is his war."

And there's the real problem: From the start, Reid and the Democrats have seen the war in Iraq as a partisan opportunity.

They refuse to present a unified front to the rest of the world - especially to America's enemies - because, in their pinched view, to do so would be to weaken their own prospects for retaking the White House in 2008.

No, Reid didn't repeat his declaration of defeat during yesterday's speech from the Senate floor.

It probably has dawned on him just how big a political blunder he committed - witness Sen. Chuck Schumer's gentle contradiction of the majority leader over the weekend, insisting that "the war is not lost."

Meanwhile, Michael Barone examines the quandary the Democrats find themselves in, having to deal with the lunatics like CodePink while trying to straddle the fine line of public opinion: pandering to those who want out while not wanting to be blamed for cutting off funding. Good luck with that.

We witness here a division in the Democratic Party -- its politicians and its voters -- we have seen ever since military action started to be considered in 2002. Then, most House Democrats voted against the Iraq war resolution, most Senate Democrats for it. The lineup today is not necessarily the same: Mr. Levin, who voted against the war resolution, insists the troops must be funded; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who voted for the war resolution and said last November that of course the troops will be funded, now says he's for Sen. Russ Feingold's March 2008 deadline.

What's curious is that congressional Democrats don't seem much interested in what is actually happening in Iraq. The commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, returns to Washington this week, but last week Mrs. Pelosi's office said "scheduling conflicts" prevented him from briefing House members. Two days later, the members-only meeting was scheduled, but that brings to mind the fact Mrs. Pelosi and other top House Democrats skipped a March 8 Pentagon videoconference with Gen. Petraeus.

How long this fight will go on is unclear. Some Democrats predict it will continue for months. But their dilemma remains the same. They want to be seen as acting to end the war. But they dare not be seen as not funding the troops.

Check out AJ Strata for more.

UPDATE: Hard to fathom, but Reid is getting dumber by the day. Check out the latest at Hot Air. More also at Michelle Malkin, Riehl World View, Protein Wisdom, Jules Crittenden.

Why the Palis Suffer

Hint: it's not the fault of Israel.

Crow on Hygiene

I expect this idiot to say she was just joking any time now. But seriously, do these environmental nutcases ever realize what laughingstocks they are?

UPDATE: Here's the latest poop. Sure enough, One-Square says it was all a joke. Sure, whatever.

More from Allahpundit.

Lightweight Gets Heavy

It's pander time for Barack Obama, who thinks trips to Darfur, Kenya and Ukraine have enabled him to master foreign policy.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday that the United States has let the world down under the leadership of President Bush, who he said has been a "disappointment" to other countries, as he proposed doubling the foreign-aid budget as a way of recapturing global leadership.

"This president may occupy the White House, but for the last six years, the position of leader of the Free World has remained open," Mr. Obama, Illinois Democrat, said in an address to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs about the U.S. international role.

OK, so by just willy-nilly doubling our foreign aid budget and making nice to our enemies, they'll like us more? Obama naively thinks peace through weakness and cash will win people over.

Getting out ahead of the crowd, Mr. Obama called for boosting the size of the U.S. Army and Marines, training more troops in language skills and expanding efforts to contain the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And he called for doubling U.S. foreign assistance spending by 2012 -- a move that he said would mean $50 billion a year -- noting that doing so would help meet the goal set by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Not for nothing, but the size of the Army and Marines have increased since 2001 and part of our agenda in the Mideast indeed has been to contain WMD. But this may be a tough sell to the tinfoil-hat crowd in his party, since they believe no WMD exist.

Reid Looking to Hasten Surrender

The gutless puke Harry Reid will not retreat from widespread condemnation over his declaration of defeat last week, and is compounding the error by seeking to accelerate the terms of surrender.

Defying a fresh veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass legislation within days requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq beginning Oct. 1, with a goal of completing the pullout six months later, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday.

Reid said the legislation "immediately transitions the U.S. military away from policing a civil war." He said that troops that remain in Iraq after next April 1 could only train Iraqi security units, protect U.S forces and conduct "targeted counter-terror operations."

The Nevada Democrat outlined the elements of the legislation in a speech a few hours after Bush said he will reject any legislation along the lines of what Democrats intend to pass. "I will strongly reject an artificial timetable (for) withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job," the president said.

Bush made his comments to reporters in the Oval Office as he met with senior military leaders, including his top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.

Of course, the Democrats have no idea what's going on, since they're skipping briefings.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are trying to limit coverage of their surrender announcement. I wonder why?

From: House RadioTV
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:45 PM
Subject: Iraq Supplemental conference meeting coverage

Dear Members of the Radio-TV Correspondents' Association,

I want to apprise you of a troubling situation regarding House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey's decision this morning to deny television coverage of today's Iraq Supplemental Appropriations conference meeting.

Imagine the furor if Republicans tried such a stunt. The situation is called troubling.

DWI Killer Stands By While Victim Dies

A regular Good Samaritan, this Qadir Ahmad.

A young Queens mom died cradling her newborn son early yesterday after a drunken driver slammed into their vehicle - then didn't lift a finger to help his victims, police and witnesses said yesterday.

Tragic mother Paula Serrano, 28, lay mortally injured on a Rego Park street while horrified and hurt family members who had been in the taxi van with her cried and screamed for help.

But alleged drunk driver Qadir Ahmad, 19, and his passengers only looked on from across the street, not one of them offering to help after their car plowed into the taxi and hurtled the woman to her death, witnesses said.

Three children - Serrano's 3-week-old son, whom she was holding at the time, her 6-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old nephew - miraculously survived the crash.

Serrano's body was found yards away from the wreckage.

"She still had her hands folded together like she was still holding the baby," said Serrano's stricken brother, Eloy Coatl, 26, one of seven adults in the car, including the driver.
...
The crash injured several other passengers in the taxi, but all it did to Ahmad was sober him up a little, police said.

His blood-alcohol content, taken later at the precinct, was .089 percent, they said. The legal limit is .08 percent. Cops said the percentage was likely higher during the crash.
...
Ahmad, of Lake Grove, L.I., was charged with vehicular manslaughter and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Newsday account.

According to 7online, Ahmad tried to assign blame elsewhere.

"I was going 35-40 miles per hour. Next thing, I saw white vehicle coming right in front of me," the alleged drunk driver, Qadir Ahmad, said. "I jammed my brakes as fast as I could."

Nineteen-year-old Qadir Ahmad was in the other vehicle. a red Camry. He claims a third car actually caused him to run the intersection. But officials are not only blaming Ahmad for the accident, they are also charging him with drunk driving.

Boris Yeltsin Dead at 76

Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, has died, a Kremlin official said Monday. He was 76.

Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov confirmed Yeltsin's death, but gave no cause or further information. The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified medical source as saying he had died of heart failure.

Although Yeltsin pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, many of its citizens will remember him mostly for presiding over the country's steep decline.

He was a contradictory figure, rocketing to popularity in the Communist era on pledges to fight corruption — but proving unable, or unwilling, to prevent the looting of state industry as it moved into private hands during his nine years as Russia's first freely elected president.

Yeltsin's greatest moments came in bursts. He stood atop a tank to resist an attempted coup in August 1991, and spearheaded the peaceful end of the Soviet state on Dec. 25 of that year. Ill with heart problems, and facing possible defeat by a Communist challenger in his 1996 re-election bid, he marshaled his energy and sprinted through the final weeks of the campaign. The challenge transformed the shaky convalescent into the spry, dancing candidate.

Here is my favorite Boris Yeltsin moment.

(AP photo)

Al-Qaeda Planning Massive British Attack

Maybe if they just surrendered faster, Al-Qaeda would be nice to them. Harry Reid thinks it's a workable strategy.

AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.

Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.

Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”.

The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq.

There is no evidence of a formal relationship between Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, and the Shi’ite regime of President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, but experts suggest that Iran’s leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organisation’s activities.

The intelligence report also makes it clear that senior Al-Qaeda figures in the region have been in recent contact with operatives in Britain.

MPACUK calls it scare-mongering, of course. Still, don't think they're not trying to acquire nuclear capabilities and would use them immediately.

“It could be just a reference to a huge explosion,” said a counter-terrorist source. “They [Al-Qaeda] have got to do something soon that is radical otherwise they start losing credibility.”

Despite aspiring to a nuclear capability, Al-Qaeda is not thought to have acquired weapons grade material. However, several plots involving “dirty bombs” - conventional explosive devices surrounded by radioactive material - have been foiled.

Last year Al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq called on nuclear scientists to apply their knowledge of biological and radiological weapons to “the field of jihad”.

Also at Weasel Zippers.

E-mail Messages for Harry Reid

Harry Reid has rightfully been pummeled since he declared defeat last week. Even the oily Charles Schumer backpedaled somewhat from Reid Sunday.

Meanwhile, Pat Dollard has a great e-mail message from a soldier in Ramadi, Iraq.

yeah and i got a qoute for that douche harry reid. these families need us here. obviously he has never been in iraq. or atleast the area worth seeing. the parts where insurgency is rampant and the buildings are blown to pieces. we need to stay here and help rebuild. if iraq didnt want us here then why do we have IP’s voluntering everyday to rebuild their cities. and working directly with us too. same with the IA’s. it sucks that iraqi’s have more patriotism for a country that has turned to complete shit more than the people in america who drink starbucks everyday. we could leave this place and say we are sorry to the terrorists. and then we could wait for 3,000 more american civilians to die before we say “hey thats not nice” again. and the sad thing is after we WIN this war. people like him will say he was there for us the whole time.

Read the whole post.

Michelle Malkin has also been inundated, and adds more today.

Moderate Muslims Missing

Amil Imani addresses a frequently asked question.

But where are all the peace-loving moderate Muslims that supposedly are in great majority? The Muslims who are neither jihadists themselves, nor do they support them? I and others, time and again, have been calling upon them to stand up and show the world that they oppose the fanatical Islamists. It is small comfort even if the vast majority of Muslims are not fanatic radicals, when they do nothing to demonstrate their position. It is instructive to recall that it is invariably a minority, and more often than not a very small minority, that launches a campaign of death and destruction.

Perhaps it is wishful thinking on the part of the non-Muslims to believe that one can be a Muslim moderate, given that Islam is radical at its very core. To be a moderate Muslim demands that the person explicitly renounce much of the violent, exclusionary, and radical teachings of the Quran. By so doing, the individual issues his own death warrant in Islamic countries, is condemned as apostate if he lives in a non-Islamic land and may even earn a fatwa on his head.

Read it all.

Hypocrite Edwards Hedges His Bets

More duplicity from Mr. Two Americas.

Two years ago, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, gearing up for his second run at the Democratic presidential nomination, gave a speech decrying the "two different economies in this country: one for wealthy insiders and then one for everybody else."

Four months later, he began working for the kind of firm that to many Wall Street critics embodies the economy of wealthy insiders -- a hedge fund.

Edwards became a consultant for Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based firm known mainly for its hedge funds, just as the funds were gaining prominence in the financial world -- and in the public consciousness, where awe over their outsize returns has mixed with misgivings about a rarefied industry that is, on the whole, run by and for extremely wealthy people and operates largely in secrecy.

Me, I personally have nothing against wealthy people, as I aspire to some day be one myself. What annoys me is this guy tries to comport himself as a man of the people and champion of the poor while he lines his pockets any which way he can.

You can't have it both ways. Now it also appears the brief amount of work he did for Fortress is paying big dividends in campaign contributions.

Fortress announced Edwards's hiring as an adviser in a brief statement in October 2005. Neither Edwards -- who ended his consulting deal when he launched his presidential campaign in December -- nor the firm will say how much he earned or what he did.

But his ties to Fortress were suggested by the first round of campaign finance reports released last week. They showed that Edwards raised $167,460 in donations from Fortress employees for his 2008 presidential campaign, his largest source of support from a single company.

Nearly 100 Fortress employees or their family members donated to Edwards around the time of a fundraiser his campaign held at the firm in mid-March. Senior executives, individual fund managers, lawyers and a secretary gave the maximum $2,300 donation. Three administrative or executive assistants gave smaller amounts.

A man does need to pay for his $400 haircuts.

HuffPo Debates: Fairly Unbalanced

Much has been made of the cowardly Democrats and their infantile decision to boycott Fox News debates. So now it appears they'll be happy participate in debates involving the Huffington Post, home of the far-left fringe.

The 2008 presidential contenders may soon be slugging it out in cyberspace, with pioneering online-only debates being planned for early next fall, a new media partnership says.

The political blog Huffington Post, online portal Yahoo and Slate Magazine will host the debates — one for Democratic candidates, one for Republicans — sometime after Labor Day, with PBS host Charlie Rose serving as moderator, the sponsors planned to announce Monday.

Voters will be invited to submit questions, and can blog in real time to share their opinions on the candidates' answers.

Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, said the idea for online debates was hatched earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which bloggers and citizen journalists had been invited to cover.

Frankly, any Republicans who enter into something like this do so at their own peril, as you can almost guarantee an ambush. Seems to me this will be a fiasco and it's just another way for the gasbag Arianna Huffington to stick her beak into the political process and puff up her already over-inflated ego.

Rove Harassed by Environmental Wackos

Huffington Post simpletons Laurie David and Sheryl Crow decided to ambush Karl Rove at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Global warming was the talking point last night at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner when singer Sheryl Crow and "Inconvenient Truth" producer Laurie David walked over to Table 92 at the Hilton Washington to chat with Karl Rove -- and the resulting exchange was suitably heated.

"I am floored by what I just experienced with Karl Rove," David reports. "I went over to him and said, 'I urge you to take a new look at global warming.' He went zero to 100 with me. . . . I've never had anyone be so rude."

Rove's version: "She came over to insult me and she succeeded."

So these two interrupt the guy at a dinner and proceed to lecture him, and he's being rude?

Typically, they offer up some ghost-written tripe on the hate site.

We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.

We reminded the senior White House advisor that the US leads the world in global warming pollution and we are doing the least about it. Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.

As usual, plenty of incoherent comments follow. Here's just a sample.

Laurie and Sheryl, I hate to inject paranoia into your wonderful efforts, but if Karl Rove were personally enraged at me, I would be watching my back big time.

This is a man who was bringing corrupt things to pass for years in Texas when all he had to work with was one single corrupt FBI agent. Now he has unimaginable resources at his disposal. In many ways he's running the whole show.

So many of the worst scum-bag things that have happened in Washington since 2000 have Rove's stench about them, from the lie on days 1-20 about the Clinton people having vandalized the White house on the way out, to the disappearance / death of Chandra Levy, to the politicization of the justice department. I could name 100 more.

We have to get this guy's dirty hands out of our government!

By: blueguitar on April 22, 2007 at 09:39am

Chandra Levy?

UPDATE: More at Right Voices.

First, The Good News

The Russians are gradually moving back to the days of controlled, state-run media, and now are looking to put a happy face on things.

At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be “positive.”

In addition, opposition leaders could not be mentioned on the air and the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told by the new managers, who are allies of the Kremlin.

The United States portrayed as the enemy? We have plenty of that already in this country.

How would they know what constituted positive news?

“When we talk of death, violence or poverty, for example, this is not positive,” said one editor at the station who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution. “If the stock market is up, that is positive. The weather can also be positive.”

Read the rest. It's not a pretty picture in Russia.