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May 30, 2003

Sadism In Saudi Arabia

Wajeha Al-Huwaider talks about domestic violence in Saudi Arabia, and where many victims surprisingly hope to find their salvation:

I have met some of these women. Some of them actually think that only the US can put an end to the appalling conditions they exist under. They dream of the day the US will come to rescue them... Their guardians keep them locked up and have confiscated their passports. Now they are waiting for George Bush’s administration to free them because the institutions in their own country have failed to do so. Once again, these things are true. These are imprisoned women who live among us, forbidden from tasting freedom simply because they are ambitious and have their dreams. There was an interesting survey by Al-Jazeera TV recently. The survey covered more than 1,000 people and its question was: Would you welcome invading American troops into your country? The question required either a “Yes” or “No.” The result was 52 percent “No” and 48 percent “Yes.”

This stems directly from the Quranic teaching that women and children are possessions, not people:

As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all). An-Nisa 4:34

Posted by bubba138 at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) |

Fat And Happy? Not If You Are Amnesty International

Best of the Web has this today:

Amnesty International is concerned about the treatment of terrorist detainees in American custody. The hypocritical "human rights" outfit asserts that "the conditions of the detainees' . . . detention in Guantánamo Bay gave cause for serious concern." But Amnesty misses the biggest--and we mean biggest--cause for concern: These guys are porking out. (We mean that figuratively, of course; all food served at Guantanamo is strictly halal.) Writes Manny Howard in Slate: Between April 2002 and March 2003, the Joint Task Force returned to Afghanistan 19 of the approximately 664 men (from 42 countries) who have been held in the detention camps. . . . During their 14-month stay, the detainees (nearly all of them) had each gained an average of 13 pounds. Can an epidemic of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related ailments be far behind? Such a travesty of human rights is a heavy burden on the world's conscience.

That's the barbaric Bush administration spreading domination and disease everywhere it reaches.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) |

No Vampire Hunters Allowed

The Truth Laid Bear has this to say about the Qantas hijacking:

A man armed with two sharpened wooden stakes tried to hijack and crash a Qantas domestic jet with 47 passengers aboard shortly after take-off from Melbourne today, authorities said. The 40-year-old man stabbed two flight attendants and injured two other people before he was overpowered by crew and passengers aboard QF1737. He was in custody tonight. In response, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced that Sarah Michele Gellar [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] will be banned from all flights in the United States.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:59 AM | Comments (0) |

Why Be a Republican?

Roger Simon answers the question "Why be a Democrat?":

...I don't know. And more amazingly, I don't care. In fact, I haven't even thought about it much at all since 9/11. Party politics, as I have experienced them all my life, just don’t seem relevant to me now... I have found myself agreeing with people that, if you had asked me a couple of years ago, I would have ignored or might even have despised. And of course the reverse is true. So I’m waiting for the dust to settle before I commit myself to the Democratic Party, or to any other party for that matter. And that may take a long time...

The Armed Liberal -- who originally asked the question in the first place -- has this answer:

We're trapped between venal corporations, bloated government bureaucracies, corrupt politicians, and radicals who, frustrated with their own lives, are perfectly willing to take yours. We have problems local and global far beyond our resources to easily solve them. So we're going to muddle, as humans always have. So why am I a Democrat? Because I don't believe the GOP can solve these problems by itself.

This caused me to wonder to myself, "why am I a Republican?"

To be honest, I did not become a Republican out of principle. I was raised in a Democrat household. My parents never once supported a Republican candidate. My mom was crushed when McGovern lost the election in 1972. They felt vindicated when Nixon resigned -- "See, I told you he was a crook!" I grew up watching the daily body counts come in from Vietnam on the news. In school, many of my required reports centered on environmental issues such as oil spills and preventing commercial whaling. Had I been old enough, I would have voted for Jimmy Carter. I was the son of a hard working man -- a union member, even -- who imparted no love for big corporations. The problems at Love Canal showed me what greedy corporations were all about.

I believed in the ideal society -- the one in which all men lived together in peace and prosperity. Given a choice, communism -- true communism, not the brutal, bastardized Soviet style communism -- was my preferred paradigm. It represented a society in which all share everything according to each's needs and abilities. Now that would be utopia. Alas, idealism is the political Santa Claus of youth.

In 1982 I came of age and went out to register for two things -- one of them with great reluctance, and the other with equal excitement. The former was for the draft. I remember as clear as day the Jimmy Carter's State of the Union Address on January 21, 1980. It was the first time a Democrat made my mother cry:

The men and women of America's Armed Forces are on duty tonight in many parts of the world. I'm proud of the job they are doing, and I know you share that pride. I believe that our volunteer forces are adequate for current defense needs, and I hope that it will not become necessary to impose a draft. However, we must be prepared for that possibility. For this reason, I have determined that the Selective Service System must now be revitalized. I will send legislation and budget proposals to the Congress next month so that we can begin registration and then meet future mobilization needs rapidly if they arise.

The former was the vote. I was thrilled to finally become a part of the democratic system of government. To know that the course of the country would be influenced by my voice was a right and a privilege that I took -- and still take -- very seriously. I considered registering with my heart -- and checking the box marked "Communist Party." But one thing I knew was that being labeled a communist never helped a person succeed in America, and would probably severely harm them.

I had also learned that Democrats were weak. Jimmy Carter did little more than wring his hands for over a year while American brothers and sisters hopelessly remained in captivity in Iran. He did send a rescue mission to get them out, but it failed miserably. He didn't try again. Almost every American knew what we should have done, but the bleeding hearts of the Democrat party, of which Carter was chief, were loathe to get into an outright military struggle with any country for any reason. So the Ayatollah gave us the finger and we took it.

The only other choice was to go Republican. And after all, they were the "big-money" party -- perhaps some of it would find its way into my accounts.

That's how I became a Republican, but it is not why I remain one.

Over the years I have observed one key difference between the parties -- its view of the individual. I believe strongly in the independent human spirit. I believe that a single person can make a difference. I believe that a person can rise above his or her circumstances and make a better life for himself or herself. I believe that in our society -- although we do not all start out in the same place -- the choices we make determine the situation in which we live.

The Republicans, by and large, share that view. The Democrats do not. Democrats believe that the majority is oppressed and the minority are the oppressors. Democrats believe that most people cannot survive without getting help from the rich minority. Democrats believe that inequality of income and wealth is reason enough to justify redistribution of that wealth.

I started my adult life with little more than the emotional support of my family. No one gave me a "leg-up". I worked from fry cook at a fast food restaurant up to where I am now. No one ever gave me a car, paid for my rent, or helped me out when I was in dire financial need. I did not stay that way. I have become successful -- not over night, not through favor, but over many years and through hard work. Democrats seek to rob from me the financial success that I have achieved so someone else can enjoy the lifestyle I do without paying the price I have paid. That is why I am a Republican. That, and because the world -- as evidenced by Iran and Somalia -- loves to mess with Democrats. The world doesn't mess with Republicans.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:21 AM | Comments (0) |

May 29, 2003

Ouch.

Nuff said.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:30 PM | Comments (0) |

No Surprise Here

Bill Clinton wants to change the term limit law for the presidency:

Clinton said the amendment, passed after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to a record fourth term, should be changed simply to keep a person from being elected to more than two consecutive terms as president. "I think since people are living much longer ... the 22nd Amendment should probably be modified to say two consecutive terms instead of two terms for a lifetime," Clinton said.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:28 PM | Comments (0) |

Giving As Good As He Gets

Howard Dean isn't letting his own party slow him down from his pursuit of the presidency:

By now, most Washington Dems wish Howard Dean would shut his yap, stop this running for president nonsense, and scamper on back to Vermont to hang out with Ben & Jerry and the rest of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party... With so many Senate Democrats having jumped on Bush's education bandwagon, it's entirely possible that this year's presidential candidates would have decided to let Bush continue strutting about pitching himself as a great education reformer, without reminding the public how little meaningful reform is likely to come out of No Child Left Behind. But now that Dean's slamming the act as a disaster, the other candidates have been forced to at least slap Bush for the funding disaster. The ex-governor of Vermont's manner may tend toward the pugilistic and melodramatic, but he has a point when he notes that some of his rivals signed on to a pretty pathetic law.

Dean just may be the dark horse that comes thundering in to win at the last of the race. In a powerfully shrewd move, he has shown he can take a swipe at the president and his Democrat primary competitors. Shrewd men go far in politics.

Update: President Elect 2004 polls for May have Dean at the top of the nine. But they also have Bush over Dean 321 to 217:

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, seems at the same time an odd choice and the perfect choice to put against the popular President... The biggest issue separating Bush and Dean is the recent Iraq war (Dean was the first Democratic candidate to come out strongly against it), and that could be the critical issue in an election between these two. However, Bush's popularity seems tough to beat right now. As history has shown, as we approach the election his numbers will inevitably drop... However, of all the current Democratic candidates, we believe Dean has the greatest chance of turning these numbers around and surprising everyone. After all, it wouldn't be the fist time an unknown Democratic governor of a small state took on a popular President named Bush who had just invaded Iraq - and won!

Posted by bubba138 at 03:57 PM | Comments (0) |

Licensed To Thrill?

You've got to believe that this caused laughs at the prison license-plate plant:

When Liz Hill of Westerville, Ohio, bought a car after graduating from college, she did not think too much of her new license plate (pictured, left) until she took a second look, a Columbus television station reported. The combination of letters and numbers sends a message that she does not want.

"I laughed at first," Hill said. "I was like, 'So my license plate says this. It's wonderful.' I told my sister, my mom and my dad and they laughed too. But on my way to Dublin (Ohio), on (Interstate) 270 I had some honks and a couple people pulled next to me and kind of snickered."

Posted by bubba138 at 02:16 PM | Comments (0) |

Veiled Threat?

The Smoking Gun has the goods on Sultaana Freeman:

Following her 1997 conversion to Islam, Sultaana Freeman (formerly Sandra Keller) was arrested in Decatur, Illinois for battering a foster child. Freeman, 35, pleaded guilty in 1999 to felony aggravated battery and was sentenced to 18 months probation. As a result of the conviction, state officials removed two foster children from Freeman's care. The mug shot of the felonious Freeman (below left) was taken after her arrest in the Illinois case.

Let's see. When arrested for battery the converted Freeman had no problem with the having a photo taken without her veil, but now she does. Sounds fishy to me.

Update: By the way, this case has been going on since at least June of last year.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:43 PM | Comments (0) |

What to Do About Iran

He doesn't actually say it in so many words, but it sounds like Matthew Levitt is calling for a forced change of regime in Iran:

They should be concerned. Experts now believe Iran's nuclear program is much farther along than previously thought. Iranian dissidents recently identified two previously undisclosed uranium-enrichment facilities. This mix of weapons of mass destruction, together with frenetic state sponsorship of terrorism and sheltering of al Qaeda leadership figures, places Iran firmly at the pinnacle of the Axis of Evil... Thursday's National Security Council meeting should work off the basic premise that Iran, with its advanced weapons-of-mass-destruction programs, can no longer be allowed to function as the world's "foremost state sponsor of terrorism."

This would be a mistake. The U.S. is currently involved in the rebuilding effort that is necessary in Afghanistan and Iraq. Beginning a third war before goodwill has been undeniably established in at least one, if not both those lands, would confirm the claims of the left and anti-American voices that the U.S. is nothing more then an imperialistic tyrant bent on world domination. It would also serve to distract our attention from the Road Map to Peace in Israel-Palestine.

The situation in Iran is different than the situation in Iraq. The forgotten fact of the latest conflict is that we did not start a new war with Ira, but continued the one we had already declared over twelve years ago. There was never a surrender, never a declaration of peace, never a treaty declaring an end to the Gulf War. Instead, there had been a twelve year cease-fire based upon compliance of U.N. resolutions.

We do not have an active conflict with Iran, and we never have. Perhaps we should have back in Jimmy Carter's day, but it didn't happen and there is no use crying over spilt milk. We haven't the pretense to treat Iran like Iraq or Afghanistan.

Further, there is deep, well spread, and vocal support for democratization of Iran by Iranians that actually live in Iran. In other words, the environment in Iran is ripe for there to be a very real government "of the people, by the people, for the people." This can be brought about, or helped along, not by military might, but by external socio-economic pressure. Not by sanctions, but by making Iraq and Afghanistan so successful that Iran is forced to change just to keep up.

The U.S. didn't take out the evil empire by means of force, but by means of being stronger economically. Given the same type of pressure, Iranian theocracy will fall under the weight of itself just as Soviet communism did.

Finally, all indications are that the common Iranian is more like the common American in attitudes than most Middle-Easterners. The like western styles, they like western music, and most important, the grasp and yearn for western ideals. Iranians that come to America by and large fit into the culture with little adjustment and great advancement. They believe in self-determination, self will, and hard work. And like Americans, they love their country and want it to be all that it can be.

Let us not stifle the aspirations Iranians have for themselves by going off half-cocked and turning them against us. Let us instead make them so hungry for what they can have that the clerical system of injustice collapses under the weight of its archaic restrictions and regulations.

Update: For further insight into Levitt's thinking check out:

• The Zarqawi Node in the Terror Matrix
• Stemming The Flow Of Terrorist Financing
• The State of Denial: Arab Journalists and Intellectuals are Apologists for Terror
• The Political Economy of Middle East Terrorism
• Sponsoring Terrorism: Syrian sponsorship of Islamic Jihad, and PFLP-GC, and Hezbollah, and Hamas
• Google results
  

Update: Sullivan thinks Iran is the major source of instability in Iraq.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) |

New Chief Justice

Jay Nordlinger muses about the supreme court:

William Rehnquist may step down this year, and we'll need a new chief justice. My choice, I guess, is somebody already on the Court: Clarence Thomas. The more I read about him, the more impressed I am with him. He is a brave and independent-minded man, embodying many of the qualities that an American should have — that anyone should have. But he is also a formidable judge, consistently writing intelligent, lively, and eloquent opinions. (More important, they are right opinions.) He is a fairly young man. He has guts and dignity. His elevation to chief justice would be a massive middle finger to those who deserve to be flipped off. He is a principled conservative — a constitutionalist, as a jurist should be. And it is not the least significant thing in the world that he would be a black chief justice (much as I wince at the racial angle).

If this happens, look for loud protestations from N.O.W. and Patricia Ireland's new base of operations, the Young Women's Christian Association [does that really say Christian? -- Bry].

Does anyone have Anita Hill's phone number? Heaven knows it is ok for a president to be overly endowed with testosterone but a chief justice? I think not.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:38 AM | Comments (0) |

May 28, 2003

Reality Shows Go Same-Sex

You had to know someone was going to do it sooner or later:

The Bravo cable network is going where no television dating show has gone before: matchmaking gay men. "Boy Meets Boy," a six-episode series that will premiere in July, also twists reality show conventions by secretly including straight men among the pool of dating prospects.

Now who are the straight men that are volunteering for this show?

It appears "Boy Meets Boy" will handle it in a lighthearted, non-exploitive way, he said.

Ummm...yeah, right. And all the reality shows handle their material in a non-exploitive way. Really. I just hope they don't show any of those raunchy hot-tub type scenes that have been over-played on the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. Yeccch! It brings to mind Molly Ringwald in Sixteen candles, "Come on! I don’t want to see it!"

Already, the Traditional Values Coalition plans to alert its 43,000 member churches to protest the series, said Andrea Lafferty, the Washington-based group's executive director. "Clearly, they've hit a new low," Lafferty said. "What's next after `Boy Meets Boy'? `Boy Meets Sheep'?"

Well, that quote isn't going to score any tolerance points, that's for sure. Is Lafferty getting her material from Rick Santorum?

Posted by bubba138 at 03:52 PM | Comments (0) |

Is Iran Next?

Pedram over at the Eyeranian thinks so.

I think there would be very few tears shed if the Iranian Theocracy gave way to a republican democracy. However, substitute Syria for Iran and you pretty much have the news mix of last month. The U.S. did nothing in Syria and I do not foresee them doing anything in Iran either. Instead, diplomatic pressure and tough talk resulted in the closing of several terrorist offices, including that of Hamas.

If anything happens in Iran, it will have more to do with the pressure that having prosperous democratic neighbors brings. Democracy is the best hope for the Middle-East -- and by extension, the world.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:15 PM | Comments (0) |

Tax Cuts In Effect

Bush has signed the $350 billion version of the tax cut plan and this is what it will mean in savings:

Income:	$30,000	$50,000	$70,000
Single	$50	$400	$955
Single, one kid	$326	$400	$1,133
Married, two kids	$826	$877	$2,021

And apparently the effects of the cut will come sooner rather than later:

He said the Internal Revenue Service will begin posting new withholding tax tables on Wednesday so employers can begin leaving more money in workers' paychecks; child tax credits checks will begin arriving in mailboxes in July.

This is a good move in the right direction, but even this conservative can see the cuts could have more heavily favored lower income families. According to this article, the highest income bracket gets a 3.6% cut, while the rest get only 2%:

Highest income tax brackets reduced, reaching back to Jan. 1, from 38.6 percent to 35 percent, from 35 percent to 33 percent, from 30 percent to 28 percent and from 27 percent to 25 percent. The lowest, 10 percent bracket expands in 2003 and 2004.

On the other hand, the Senate did limit Bush's request for a cut on investor taxes:

Doesn't entirely eliminate taxes on corporate dividends as Bush demanded, but investors will see the tax rates on their earnings drop as the top rates on dividends and capital gains fall to 15 percent. Lower income earners will pay a 5 percent rate on both.

Further, this should help families:

Married couples who pay higher taxes than they would if filing as two single taxpayers will see some of that "marriage penalty" disappear, as the 15 percent bracket would be expanded and their standard deduction increased in 2004 and 2005.

Reuters reports that the Bush administration and Republican controlled legislatures are not through yet. Some even think this may lead to a more sensible tax system altogether:

Eventually, Bush could create a flat-tax system, under which savings and investment would be tax-free, said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a political action committee. "Everything that Bush has done on tax policy since 2001 (has had) one common theme -- that is, to lead us to the promised land of a flat tax," Moore said. "We're crossing this river in five or six jumps rather than one huge leap."

Now that is something I would vote for.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) |

PC Gone Wild

I know this is an old subject, but it is in the courts now and it is still ridiculous:

Experts in Islamic law are being called to testify in the lawsuit of a Muslim woman fighting a state order to take off her veil for her driver's license photo. Sultanna Freeman, 35, says Florida's insistence on photographing her face violates her religious rights... "This is about religious liberty. It's about whether this country is going to have religious diversity," said Howard Marks, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

It is not about religious liberty. It is about choices. Sultanna has chosen to wear her veil for her photo. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim women have chosen not to, and are comfortable with that. Sultanna can choose to remove her veil, or she can choose to not drive. No one has asked her, let alone are forcing her, to change her religion. She is not being persecuted.

Some religions use illegal drugs in their ceremonies and rituals. Use of these drugs is still illegal. The Jewish religion calls for animal sacrifice. You don't see that happening.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0) |

The Roadmap Moves Along

President Bush will meet next week with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to move the peace process along:

Despite recent setbacks to the peace process, Bush hopes to "focus on moving forward," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in announcing the planned meeting. McClellan said that Bush would also go separately to Egypt next week to meet with Arab leaders, and to Qatar, headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, to meet with U.S. troops... He said PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat will not be invited.

This move is critical, especially since Arafat has been crowing about still holding the real power in Palestine. The fact that he has not been invited to the three-way meeting is good news:

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Tuesday that concrete results could be expected from the summit. "The President would not bother coming all the way out here to leave without a decision of some kind," Shalom told Israel TV.

Yep.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) |

Davis Recal Taken Seriously

Davis supporters are now taking the recall effort seriously and are mounting an anti-recall effort. These groups, of course, are very pleased with the job Davis has done and want to highlight all his achievements over the past five:

Calling itself "Taxpayers Against the Recall," the pro-Davis campaign is expected to attack the recall rather than defend Davis. Its first tactic is a counter-petition drive that has no legal effect but seeks to send a statement of public condemnation...

Ummm, well, maybe not. However, I'm sure they will run a principled, issue oriented campaign.

One Democratic strategist said the counter campaign will pay top dollar – $2 per signature, as opposed to the 75 cents per signature the recall petitioners are getting. The Democrat said they hope to persuade recall circulators to switch sides or at least greatly drive up the costs for the recall's new financial angel, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista.

Woops, wrong again. Same Davis, different campaign. The triad pillars of any Davis campaign are:

• Deflect all attention away from Davis. Heaven forbid we remind everyone what they already know about Davis being incompetent and crooked.
  
• Attack, attack, attack the opposition. Make up stuff if you have to (and you always have to).
  
• Out spend the opposition by at least 250%. If you cannot get the votes by pointing out the opposition's negatives, buy as many as you can.

I am not totally for the recall (here is another reason why) myself, but I do respect the disciplined approach that Issa has taken in developing the strategy:

What the governor and his friends didn't know was that Issa had been quietly plotting his moves since the California Republican Party convention in February. "What's happened has been almost exactly what he outlined that day in the hotel room, what he walked me through in February," said state Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta. Issa had taken Haynes into his confidence during the convention, calling him to a private meeting at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. "He said ... it's not smart to do anything before the war," Haynes recalled. "He just walked through how it needed to go. The only thing that delayed it was the war started two weeks later than he thought it would."

Update: It is worth asking the question why Davis and company are even putting in the effort here. After all, less than 20,000 signatures have been turned in, and the Rescue California is only claiming 200,000 -- well short of the 900,000 needed to put it on the ballot:

The only two counties to report receiving signatures were Sacramento County, which tallied 8,425, and San Diego County, which reported 10,165, Carbaugh said, adding that it was still unknown how many of those signatures were valid. "With numbers like that, they aren't scaring anyone," said Roger Salazar, a Davis adviser.

Not scaring anyone except those mounting the anti-recall effort, that is.

Update: WorldNet Daily reports that it knows who is scared, Lord Gray himself:

Meanwhile, Gov. Davis has gone into overdrive in an attempt to raise enough cash to fend off the outraged voters of California. But whatever the voters eventually decide, it is obvious that even Davis, himself, knows he's in deep trouble right now. The Union-Tribune story goes on to observe: "Although publicly dismissive of the recall effort, Davis is said to be obsessed with it. As one Democratic strategist put it, 'He's scared out of his mind.'"

Posted by bubba138 at 06:29 AM | Comments (0) |

May 27, 2003

What Is Bigger Than American Idol?

Eurovision -- that's what.

You may recall Israel was snubbed last year, with anti-semites crying for its exclusion from the contest. Here's what Ha'aretz has to say about this year's competition:

Turkey won the competition this year for the first time, after years during which the ethnic style of its songs was rejected, leaving it with the lowest scores. The Turkish song this year was no better than in previous years. Perhaps this year at long last there was greater openness to this style, and perhaps the mass and open voting led millions of Turkish immigrants in Europe to pick the song. But in the final weighting of the songs, the music is less important than the politics. The considerations for awarding points have been and apparently will continue to be political.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:42 AM | Comments (0) |

We Have Seen The

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Posted by bubba138 at 07:31 AM | Comments (0) |

May 23, 2003

Blogging the Nine

The New Republic is keeping a running update of the activities and speeches of the Democrat primary contenders. They are even grading each entry -- although the grading system is subjective at best. Still, check it out.

Oh, and don't forget to compare their overall scores.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:51 AM | Comments (0) |

The Scariest Iraq Possible

Is the one described by Salam Pax: The entrance of (Saddam) Hospital in Najaf, now obviously changed to Sadir Hospital. One icon goes another comes, not even necessary to repaint the whole picture. It is scary how well the two images fit on top of each other. I came back from the trip seriously worrying that we might become an Iran-clone. If anyone went to the streets now and decided to hold elections we will end up with something that is scarier than Khomeini’s Iran.

And I wonder if we'll see this reported on the BBC:

The US army was helping the hospital bring back X-Ray machines and other stuff that was stored elsewhere to make sure it didn’t get looted....Throughout the south in all the hospitals we have been to, there was military presence...Having military there makes everybody feel safer, to the point where in Basra, because the main general hospital and the college of medicine are in the same compound, the British forces are making the area safe enough for that college to be the only one with regular attendance and classes.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:41 AM | Comments (0) |

Bloggers Have Hit the Big Time Now

Really. They have. Or at least one has.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:32 AM | Comments (0) |

Asteroid News

Apparently, a huge asteroid didn't kill the dinosaurs:

For almost two decades, the asteroid theory has been held up as the most plausible reason for the demise of the planet's dominant species. But drill samples taken from an asteroid site in the Yucatan, Mexico, show preserved life-forms in the rock strata that lived 300,000 years after the dinosaurs were presumed extinct.

And those wily Japanese are up to some cool stuff again:

A Japanese rocket lifted off today with the world's first probe designed to bring back samples from the surface of an asteroid, a journey that will take four years and cover nearly 400 million miles. If successful, Muses-C will be the first probe to make a two-way trip to an asteroid.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:13 AM | Comments (0) |

The Truth About Matrix

Stewart Kirkpatrick of the Scotsman has the goods on the true meaning of the movie Matrix:

Aside from pornography and gambling, very few things go down better on the internet than long involved arguments about films, preferably science fiction films. For instance: the Lord of the Rings is racist. Discuss (Actually please don't. I don't care. The races involved are elves, orcs and talking trees. They’re not real. It doesn't matter. Anyway LotR is about the demise of Edwardian England and the threat of the Soviet Union). Other well-worn topics include: "Old Star Trek vs the New Star Trek vs the even newer Star Trek" and "Do the new Star Wars films suck?" (answer: yes). The Matrix Reloaded is the latest movie to enter this maelstrom of online obsession... But for Initiates (do you see what I did there?) The Matrix Reloaded is a treatise on Gnosticism. The argument runs like this: Gnostics believe the world is a false and evil place (maybe they've read the Daily Mail once too often). They believe that only by gaining access to hidden knowledge can they escape the restrictions of this veil of tears and reach a higher spiritual reality...

Don't stop there. Go read the whole thing. If you don't, you won't gain the elusive hidden knowledge.

Update: In the same vein as Matrix, Natasha Mitchell wonders if we are really seeing what we think we are seeing:

Natasha Mitchell: Now don’t be unsettled by this but opening our eyes poses a huge philosophical problem. It goes something like this, as with Alice, could all of us be living in a Wonderland of sorts? When we peer out into the world is all that we see potentially a confabulation – a grand visual illusion staged by our brain?

Posted by bubba138 at 07:04 AM | Comments (0) |

Is Marin In?

Rosario Marin was the keynote speaker at a Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce banquet that honored Hispanic graduates. While there, she publicly announced her resignation as U.S. Treasurer, paving the way for her 2004 assault on Barbara Boxer's Senate seat:

"After long and thoughtful consideration, my family and I have decided to go back home to California," Marin said in her resignation letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow. Marin, who was traveling, was not available to discuss her plans, but several Republicans said they saw her resignation as a step toward a Senate campaign in 2004. "She is actively, actively out there trying to put a campaign together," said Allan Hoffenblum, a California Republican consultant.

This is good news. Here's hoping she can run a better campaign than Bill Simon.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:03 AM | Comments (0) |

May 22, 2003

Safe Santorum

Looks like Santorum may have survived the fire storm created by his remarks about constitutional privacy and gay sex:

Santorum received the same 55 percent approval rating among Pennsylvania voters this month that he had in April, before his controversial remarks made the national news, according to the statewide survey by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute... "The folks back home in Pennsylvania are largely unconcerned about Senator Santorum's remarks about homosexual activity," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Connecticut-based institute.... Asked in the poll whether they personally believe homosexual behavior is morally acceptable or morally wrong, 58 percent of respondents said it is wrong and 27 percent said it is acceptable. Fourteen percent were undecided.

A couple of observations to notice. First, Santorum handled this situation beautifully. Instead of getting all uppity about the press trying to make his comments more than they were, Santorum was relatively quite about the controversy. We didn't see him on the news shows arguing his point. He didn't attempt to inveigle [That sure looks like bloviation to me -- Bry] his opponents. This allowed the controversy to blow-over fairly quickly.

Second, we see that people are largely unconcerned with the issue of homosexuality. Don't look for this issue to become a concern in the voting community anytime soon.

Third, even on the left leaning East Coast, a majority of people, 58%, believe that homosexuality is morally wrong. Less than a third think it is acceptable. Yet the advancement of the homosexual agenda gets a huge amount of time in our state legislatures and attention in the press -- especially here in California.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:48 AM | Comments (0) |

Grab-Bag Blogging

Posting is light today for no other reason than I am not finding a whole lot that is worth comment. There are some items worthy of note, however:

Things are getting brutal in Indonesia.

Annika finishes one hole back but still has a chance to make the cut tomorrow.

Abu Mazen met with Hamas today, and a face-to-face with President Bush is in the works.

The U.N. lifted sanctions against Iraq. The final text was chock-full of compromises that ensure France and Russia have access to some of the pie.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) |

Body Count Watch

CNN says there are 800 dead. I'm willing to bet the number isn't as high. Keep watch as the estimates go higher throughout the day and then drop in the next week or so.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:27 AM | Comments (0) |

Saudi Steps in the Right Direction?

Crown Prince Abdullah now wants to change the face of Islam in Saudi Arabia:

Saudi Arabia has set up a special committee of experts to promote a moderate image of Islam, Crown Prince Abdullah announced yesterday. The move seeks to uproot extremism from the country... In his address, King Fahd said the government would go ahead with its reform programs, broaden the scope of popular participation and widen the scope for working women.

This looks like good news on the surface. But once again, the Prince is talking out of both sides of his mouth. With one breath, he says he wants to prevent extremism in his country, and in the next breath he shifts blame and concern outside his own borders:

“What we have in Saudi Arabia also exists in abundance in all other Arab countries in the form of sleeping cells,” he said. “Some of them have risen and some others are yet to rise. So we are very worried about these countries,” he said.

Further, he sounds like an extremist himself:

“Islam is a complete political, social and economic system,” the crown prince said and urged Muslims to act in accordance with the true spirit of their religion

The extremists share the Prince's conviction that Islam is "a complete political, social and economic system", and that is why they are trying to impose it on the world at large. To them, they are acting in "accordance with the true spirit of their religion." -- i.e. establishing sharia law.

If Prince Abdullah really wants to enact real reform, he should think about getting rid of his religious police, who are complaining about having an unjustly bad reputation:

Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah Al-Ghaith, president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has admitted that his officials may have made mistakes. At the same time, however, he said his organization had been the victim of false allegations.... However, he pointed out that many accusations against the commission were untrue. He denied reports that the commission officials had beaten up individuals.... Referring to the flogging of young men arrested for flirting with girls, Al-Ghaith said such punishments were carried out with the permission of the governorates and authorities. “Our officials don’t carry sticks to beat people. What we do is that we hand over people involved in immoral and illegal activities to the police. There are a lot of exaggerated reports about our organization in the press and on the Internet,” he said.

So, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice doesn't actually beat the people it catches "flirting", but only hands them over to local authorities who in turn do the beatings. I see al-Ghaith's point. This definitely absolves the Commission of all responsibility. I am also convinced the Commission has no hand in "suggesting" the kind of punishment these offenders receive.

Let's be frank. This organization is the one that would rather let young ladies be roasted to death in a fire than to let them exit a burning building without wearing correct Islamic dress; that believes teasing girls is a flogging offense; that raids people's homes without a search warrant and without cause.

Fortunately, Prince Abdullah isn't the only voice in Saudi Arabia. Interior Minister Prince Naif has been vocal against extremism, both against Saudi's own Commission and, more recently, against Saudi protection of extremist Islamist groups:

"All our problems come from the Muslim Brotherhood. We have given too much support to this group... The Muslim Brotherhood has destroyed the Arab world," he said. "Whenever they got into difficulty or found their freedom restricted in their own countries, Brotherhood activists found refuge in the Kingdom which protected their lives...But they later turned against the Kingdom."

The good news is both Abdullah and Naif are beginning to see the dangers that are inherent in extreme Islamic belief. It doesn't look as if either of the Princes fully comprehend the full scale of the problem, but at least they are moving in the right direction.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:15 AM | Comments (0) |

May 21, 2003

Prepping For a Promotion?

These guys are preparing for jobs in the California State legislature:

San Jose City Council members voted Tuesday -- twice -- to boost their taxpayer-funded car allowance by 71 percent in the midst of the city's worst budget crisis in at least two decades... But the car-stipend increase will raise the compensation of the mayor and council members by $3,000 a year, costing the city $33,000 annually at a time when officials are scraping for every penny to offset a staggering $80 million deficit.

With spending habits like that, they're well qualified for statewide office.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:20 AM | Comments (0) |

The Arab League Attempts a MEMRI-ectomy

The Middle East Media Research Institute recently released a report on the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up, a think-tank organization for the Arab League:

The Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up has hosted events and produced studies on a variety of issues. The Zayed Centre has dealt with the September 11th attacks, arguing that they were perpetrated by Americans and Israelis. It has discussed "[The] Factual Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and has hosted Holocaust deniers. Dr. Umayma Al-Jalahma, known for her article explaining how Jews use the blood of non-Jews for pastries for the Jewish holiday of Purim, was a recent lecturer at the Centre. A report today suggested that the SARS virus could be a product of "an American war against the world."...

Apparently, the Arab League didn't much like the report:

Following the release of MEMRI's report, the Zayed Centre issued a press release which included fabricated quotes, falsely attributed to MEMRI, claiming that MEMRI referred to it as "the stray black stone in the Islamic galaxy." Another fabrication was that the MEMRI report called lecturers at the Zayed Centre "donkeys and idiots." No such quote exists in MEMRI's report.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:50 AM | Comments (0) |

Kill The Americans and Jews!

al-Jazeera is once again broadcasting al-Qa'aida's propaganda and calling it news:

"The crusaders and the Jews only understand the language of the murder, bloodshed and of the burning towers (World Trade Center attacks)... carry arms against your enemies, the Americans, the Jews," senior Al-Qaeda official Ayman al-Zawahri said in the recording.

Update: The Beeb has a transcript of the tape:

The armies also advance from Kuwait. We have Qatar where the command of the campaign has taken up its headquarters. We also have Bahrain, which hosts the command of the Fifth Fleet. We have Egypt where war vessels pass through its canal. And we have Yemen that supplies the crusader vessels from its ports. And we have Jordan where the crusader forces are stationed and where Patriot missile batteries have been deployed to protect Israel... O Muslims, take matters firmly against the embassies of America, England, Australia, and Norway and their interests, companies, and employees.

Looks like they've provided a target list: official buildings and commercial interests of America, England, Australia, and Norway in the countries of Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, and Jordan. They've already bombed Saudi Arabia and Morocco. How many Arab countries remain? These fools are going to turn off their last bastion of support if they start blowing up everything in the Middle East.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) |

And Then There Were Eight?

Is Democrat Presidential candidate Carol Moseley-Braun already about to hit mat? The Prowler thinks so:

"She isn't raising any money, she doesn't seem to have any kind of support staff in Iowa or New Hampshire," says a DNC staffer. "It's not clear what she's doing." Since joining the presidential race in mid-February, Moseley Braun has raised less than $80,000, and only recently has she opened office space in Chicago. Braun has also been criticized by Democratic strategists for her poor performance on the stump. "She has no policies, she has no ideas, and when she does talk there doesn't seem to be much going on upstairs," says a DNC staffer. "If it weren't for the fact that she's barely raised anything, you'd think she was in this just for the money."

Posted by bubba138 at 08:34 AM | Comments (0) |

Boxed In

I meant to link to this yesterday, but here it is now. The race for Boxer's Senate seat is still in the air, especially with Ose retiring:

the path is cleared for U.S. treasurer Rosario Marin. A moderate Republican, with extensive ties to the Mexican-American community in California, Marin was considered a top tier choice by the White House... As it stands for Boxer, she has made the decision to very publicly disagree with her senior senator from the state, Dianne Feinstein. Boxer is said by some of her staffers to be frustrated that she is still considered a lightweight, both politically and intellectually, by the national and California press.

Maybe the reason she's considered a lightweight has nothing to do with the press and DiFi's group and has more to do with the fact that she is a lightweight.The problem is that the California Repubs have yet to float a name that is heavier than Boxer's. Only time will tell if Marin is be the one. For now, however, she's being very tight lipped:

Marin has not publicly stated an interest in running for Boxer's seat, but she has been making the necessary political connections as if she were... Marin could not be reached for comment. "She is not going to comment on anything political in any state," said Treasury spokeswoman Betsy Hollahand.

Marin may not be saying anything, but she is making moves that seem to indicate she's considering a bid for the seat:

A Bush administration official, U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin of Huntington Park, is considering a run for Boxer's Senate seat. Marin met this week with Bush's top political advisor, Karl Rove, to discuss the race, but secured no commitment of support, Republicans said.

No commitment from the White House yet, but I don't think that will be a problem for long. Marin is currently the highest ranking Latina in the Bush administration. GW could do worse than to endorse someone like this:

She remembers when her parents first brought her to the U.S. from Mexico. She was fourteen years old, didn’t speak any English and did not want to miss her quinceañera (that’s a young lady’s coming of age party). Later on, immediately after graduating from high school with honors, she had to find a job to help her family. She attended East Los Angeles Community College for four years to get her two-year degree and three more years at Cal State University of Los Angeles to finish her Bachelors at night. Simultaneously she was moving up the ranks of City National Bank where she had started as the assistant to the receptionist. Six years later she was about to be named Assistant Vice President. God, however, had other plans for her.

She is out spoken on Hispanic issues (here, too), she's an advocate for those with disabilities (her son has Down Syndrome), she's a Cal State L.A. grad and her home is Los Angeles (the largest voting base in the state). She's had political experience as mayor of Huntington Park. If she runs, this woman's candidacy will have legs.

More: Ontario's Daily Bulletin had this on Marin way back in February:

The name of Sen. Barbara Boxer's opponent in her re-election bid this year could be as close as a ten- or twenty-dollar bill, and not just because the eventual GOP candidate must raise millions of dollars to unseat her. It is because U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, whose signature appears on the nation's currency, is being mentioned as a dark horse candidate by some party faithful. And Marin's address on Friday to California Republican Party delegates did nothing to discourage them, containing all the elements of a stump speech except a declaration of her candidacy. Marin opened by blasting Senate Democrats and Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., for threatening to kill with a filibuster Miguel Estrada's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals Washington, D.C., Circuit, considered the second highest bench in the country. "Some Democrats claim Miguel Estrada is not Latino enough," said Marin, the highest-ranking Latina in President Bush's administration. "Give me a break."

Looks like she's got moxie, too. Cool.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:18 AM | Comments (0) |

May 20, 2003

The Road Map and the U.N.

It doesn't happen very often, but the U.N. is right:

"Israel has to move forward with confidence-building measures in order to bolster the legitimacy and popular support of Abu Mazen in his anti-terror program," said Roed-Larsen, calling for a pull-back of Israeli troops and the free passage of Palestinian workers into Israel.

Sharon and bunch must give Abu Mazen as much support as they can in order to achieve peace. Other than meeting with Mazen, Sharon hasn't inspired much hope.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:20 PM | Comments (0) |

More Good News From Israel/Palestine

Glenn links to this article in the Guardian.

There's a fresh wind blowing in Palestine. This taste of new thinking is in line with what we've been seeing throughout the Arab world.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) |

Fistfull of Dollars - Part II

CNN now has the story. You read about it last week. Jayson speaks:

Blair said: "There are many assumptions being made, that because I'm black, Gerald Boyd was my mentor, and because my closest friend, Zuza Glowacka, is Polish, I was trying to gain favor with Howell Raines. People will be surprised when the whole story comes out."

Will we? What ever he writes, it cannot be good for the Times.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) |

Who's the Next Supreme Court Judge?

Time has an idea:

Among the many names floated for the post, no candidate has the President's trust like Gonzales. But the irony is that Bush may have a harder time selling his first choice to his allies than to his antagonists...For conservative Republicans, however, Gonzales is not even on the top10 list. They crave a Justice who is strict and outspoken on core conservative issues, namely abortion and affirmative action, and for them Gonzales is too much of a cipher, perhaps too moderate.

I like the choice, but I'm not so sure the Repubs will put up more of a fight than the Dems. The Dems have shown their resolve against any Bush appointment several times, most notably with Miguel Estrada. More important than any other issue in the judiciary, the Democrats fear Bush appointing any minority -- especially an Hispanic -- to a high level position. Doing so shows the Repubs are being inclusive, which threatens to pull from one of the Democrat's largest and most powerful bases.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:44 AM | Comments (0) |

Saudis Catch Three More

Three more al-Qa'aida operatives have been captured by Saudi officials. One is even talking.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Bush is Serious About the "Road Map"

Bush is showing he is serious about the road map to peace in what he does as well as in what he says. First, his phone call to Abu Mazen gives legitimacy to the fledgling Palestinian government:

Bush, who said on Monday after the most recent attack that "the road map still stands," told Abbas that there remained an "absolute need" for all parties-Israel and the Palestinians-to implement the peace plan, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said...Fleischer also said Bush was "pleased" with the conversation, which lasted about 15 minutes, and was looking forward to a meeting with Abbas, who also goes by the name Abu Mazen.

Abu Mazen wasn't the only person Bush called:

President Bush urged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tuesday to stay committed to the peace process in spite of suicide bombings and said he believed Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was a committed reformer..."The president talked (to Sharon) about the importance of remaining committed to the peace process in the Middle East, to working forward on the road map," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters...Earlier Tuesday Bush spoke for the first time with Abbas.

That this conversation with Sharon had results can be seen in the recent pull-back of IDF troops from the Gaza strip:

Despite a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, Israel relaxed its military grip Tuesday in an area of the Gaza Strip where the first steps could be taken to fulfil a U.S.-backed peace plan.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:32 AM | Comments (0) |

And a Babe Shall Lead Them

Here's a record of the world's youngest air-traffic controller.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:30 AM | Comments (0) |

"Islam" Means "Peace"

Cartoonist M. Kahil illustrates what peace is to a Muslim.

Is he saying there will only be peace when Islam reigns?

And then we have Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed, who is working to confront the world's "smear campaign" against Islam. Fortunately, he is lloking inside as well as outside:

Al-Turki said that deviant views, extremist religious thoughts and behavior and terrorist attitude were some of the main problems facing the Muslim nation. “We have to treat all these diseases and exterminate them from our society,” the MWL chief said and offered his organization’s cooperation and expertise to achieve these goals.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) |

Gray Lady and the Government

The FCC is looking for its own Jayson Blair.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) |

Germany Too?

Germany is also closing down operations in Saudi Arabia.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) |

Arafat Under Pressure

NPR reports today on the growing calls for the expulsion of Arafat. This is a "must listen" report.

And Reuters has this:

"We are convinced that first and foremost Arafat is the factor preventing this process from taking off," Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Monday after a woman suicide bomber killed three people in the Israeli town of Afula on Monday...The Islamic Jihad group and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Arafat's Fatah faction, both claimed responsibility for the attack outside Afula's main shopping mall -- the fifth suicide bombing in three days.

One thing is clear, with the "Road Map to Peace" in process, each terrorist attack is a strike against Arafat.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) |

HiFi DiFi

California Republic Blog chimes in on the DiFi for governor:

Republican leaders and potential funders might want to think twice about helping to qualify the recall if it would mean dumping one Democrat only to elect a stronger one. Not only that, if Feinstein became governor, she could appoint her successor in the Senate, potentially locking up that seat for a younger Democrat for years to come.

Good point. This recall could turn out to be the absolute worst thing for California -- in more ways than one.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) |

California Budget

Here's more support that our budget crisis hasn't been fixed, but only forestalled.

The governor and legislature have balanced this year's budget but they have only put off the problems that caused the shortfall in the first place. Spending remains at a notoriously high level. This needs to be addressed, and now. Of course, to our lovely politicians, band-aids are more important than long term fixes. And then there's this:

California Controller Steve Westly warned Monday that state government is likely to shut down if lawmakers take as long as they did last year to agree on a budget

Steve Westley says that if we stall passage of this budget there's a chance no-one will give California money to borrow. And without borrowing money, we cannot balance the budget.

As much as we Californians like to complain about the current crisis, we need to realize that this is our own fault. We have placed these people in office -- repeatedly in many cases -- and in almost every case we pass propositions that authorize new spending such as last November's Props 46, 47, and 49. The 2002 vote wasn't unique, either. Almost every election cycle Californians pass an education or transportation measure that increases state spending.

Until we, as voters, become fiscally responsible, we cannot expect an end to our budget crisis. It will be perennial -- and an example to the rest of the nation on how not to do things.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:29 AM | Comments (0) |

May 19, 2003

A Member of the Oppressed

Finally! I just found out I belong to an oppressed group.

I'm writing up a petition to scramble the alphabet every four years. That'll fix it.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:46 PM | Comments (0) |

One Very Scary Thought

Daniel Weintraub thinks Gray has an unbeatable strategy for avoiding the recall: Run Diane Feinstein for Governor if the recall qualifies.

It's brilliant. It is also very scary. Especially if the Repubs let Bill Simon run again. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot!

Posted by bubba138 at 03:16 PM | Comments (0) |

Health Care: A State's Rights Issue?

I have said before that Health Care is a dying issue in national politics because no one candidate really cares about it after the elections are over. Bill and company had eight years to tackle the problem and nothing was done. Bush has had three, and we still see nothing.

But the health care issue could become a huge one for state politics. The Supreme Court recently upheld Maine's reform on prescription drugs:

Nationwide, drug prices have been rising by double-digit percentages every year. A dozen or more states have been poised to follow Maine's lead with similar programs, and more than two dozen backed Maine on the Supreme Court case. Maine Rx, as the program is known, was approved by the Legislature in 2000. It would use the state's buying power under the federal Medicaid program to negotiate bulk discounts from drug companies. The state says the program is intended to help the working poor, retirees and others who do not receive health coverage or drug benefits through their jobs. If prices didn't drop in three years, the state could impose price controls.

I think we'll be seeing more of this in the near future. As each state imposes its own price controls on drug companies, the corporations will be compelled to push for a federal "umbrella" program, if for no other reason than so they do not have to deal with fifty different plans. Then, national health care will become a hot-button issue again; but this time it will have feet.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) |

What's That Sound?

Gears are grinding in the Middle East as they try to shift paradigms without a clutch:

Disbelief and fear marked the local reaction to the terrorist attack in Riyadh last week. Many are now waking up to the fact that the terrorists are Saudis, and a process of soul-searching is beginning, particularly among younger Saudis. Bandar, a 20-year-old student of medicine, told Arab News he was dismayed to see terrorism growing in the Kingdom. He said the media had to take some of the responsibility as it spread anti-American sentiments. “They view US as the evil, they blame it for all our problems,” he said. “When they show images of the victims in Palestine, they always blame the US. As a result, many people hate America and want Americans out of the country,” Bandar said.

The media of the Middle East is taking heat these days. First, for predicting a U.S. defeat in Iraq -- never even hinting there was a possibility that Saddam was as despicable as he was -- and now for shoving slanted propaganda down the throats of their youth.

Lies cannot go unchecked in a free society because there are hundreds digging for the truth. The freer the Arabs become in speech and press, the weaker Islamists will become.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:45 PM | Comments (0) |

Failed Terrorists?

From Arab News:

Interior Minister Prince Naif announced yesterday that five of the nine terrorists who carried out suicide bombings in Riyadh last week, killing 25 and injuring nearly 200, had been identified.

Hmmm... not only did they get caught, but these terrorists who carried out "suicide bombings" are still alive. Can't they get anything right?

I would have preferred they did the same job as two out of three of the bombers in Israel this last weekend. You have just gotta love the ones who blow themselves and no one else up:

Another bomber blew himself up in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, though no casualties were reported in that incident...Three IDF soldiers were lightly injured when a Palestinian man on a bicycle detonated explosives next to a military jeep near Kfar Darom, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday. The bomber was killed in the blast.

Natural selection at work: two more out of the gene-pool. Unfortunately, there were three other suicide bombers in Israel that did get victims. Abu Mazen's government wasted no time condemning the attacks:

The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombing. "We reject this (suicide attacks) because they harm us politically and morally and don't represent the Palestinian position," said PA Labor Minister Ghassan Khatib.

Arafat would have hmmed and hawed for days before making a statement like that. Fortunately, Yassir continues to be on his way out.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:28 PM | Comments (0) |

World's Smallest Violin

Taranto over at the Best of the Web today isn't feeling sorry for Jayson Blair:

Jayson Blair has now surfaced, giving an interview to Newsweek's Seth Mnookin. Says Blair: "I can't say anything other than the fact that I feel a range of emotions including guilt, shame, sadness, betrayal, freedom and appreciation for those who have stood by me, been tough on me, and have taken the time to understand that there is a deeper story and not to believe everything they read in the newspapers." Of course, if you could believe everything you read in the newspapers, Jayson Blair wouldn't have gotten in trouble in the first place.

Ouch.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:23 PM | Comments (0) |

Beefy

We need a new awards show like we need a hole in the head. Still, this would make a beefy program: ESPN presents the Jerkies!

Posted by bubba138 at 02:14 PM | Comments (0) |

To Err is Human; To Forgive is Beyon Our Capacity

I say let him back in. After all, how many chances did Strawberry get? But there are always two sides to the story. John Dowd makes a compelling point: "In my judgment, I don't think there are any circumstances that justify his return to the game... If you let Rose back in, then the message to anyone who gambles and gambles on the game is that if you throw enough of a public relations tantrum and admit that you did it, then you ought to be back in the game."

Still, the thought of Charlie Hustle's impressive career never being memorialized in the Baseball Hall of Fame seems, well, wrong.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:56 PM | Comments (0) |

al-Qa'aida Gets the Blame

CNN reports that the suspects of the latest round of terrorist attacks have confirmed links to al-Qa'aida. I thought we already knew they were involved.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0) |

Deadline

I am up against a deadline for the next two days or so, so posting will be light.

In the mean-time, check out what the Dem candidates are saying:
Bob Graham and friends are making political hay from the terrorist attacks:

In a busy weekend of politicking, Graham and his rivals accused Bush of mismanaging postwar Iraq, pinching pennies in homeland defense, missing warning signs of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and letting al-Qaida terrorists slip from his grasp.

Dick Gephardt is focusing on health care:

"I'm trying to represent people like my parents," he said. "I'm trying to be a voice for the hardworking Americans that get the job done. I think it's time we had a president to be here for the real people, and that's the type of president I will be."

Carol Mosley-Braun is rappin' her way to the White House:

Carol Moseley Braun, the former Illinois senator, rhymed her best shot of the day, saying Bush is into "helping the greedy and fighting the needy." She had me until she said Americans should vote for her "because I'm a woman, and women do things differently."

...and John Edwards wants everyone to know he comes from a blue-collar background:

Pandering to labor? Heck, yeah. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said four times Saturday that his daddy worked in a cotton mill. He was asked about health care and said, "I have a whole set of ideas." He didn't mention any.

Lieberman and Dean are both for tax cuts. Just not Bush's:

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut is among those Democrats who wouldn't get rid of the tax cuts altogether. He supports freezing income tax rate cuts for the top two tax brackets, but would keep others in place. "Sen. Lieberman isn't opposed to tax cuts," said spokesman Jano Cabrera. "He just wants tax cuts that actually work, that aren't solely for the wealthy." Cabrera said Lieberman would use some of the savings from freezing the top rate cuts to "help insure the long-term security of Social Security and Medicare, and invest in education and health care." Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said he also would keep some of the tax cuts in place but would propose repealing at least cuts to the top rate enacted in 2001. He would use that money to pay for a plan to offer the nation's uninsured access to health insurance.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) |

May 16, 2003

Bloviation Award

I was fighting somnolence all day today, so this almost got by me:

I predicted in several posts that they would try to lull us back into somnolence while continuing to pursue these hostile policies

But then again, I'd expect more bloviation from a guy named Porphyrogenitus. (Can anyone pronounce that?)

Bonus: Porphyrogenitus also gives us a word for the day.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Who Are the Nine?

As mentioned in a post yesterday, two thirds of Americans cannot name a single Democrat candidate for president, let alone what they stand for. If you are wondering what these guys are about, check out 4President.org. This site has links to all the candidate's sites, some of which are better than others.

I am thinking about doing a blogger's review of the candidate's sites. It will be interesting to see how they shake out relative to the election results. Stay tuned...

(PS: Carol Mosley-Braun was not available for the above photo shoot)

Posted by bubba138 at 03:39 PM | Comments (0) |

Dean Fires Back

Dean didn't like being mentioned negatively in the DLC's position paper, "The Real Soul of the Democratic Party." So what does he do? He encourages his supporters to send a "personal message" to the DLC. How are they supposed to do it? By being a part of this form letter. If Dean is concerned about being accused of elitism, maybe he shouldn't call a form letter a personal message.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:43 PM | Comments (0) |

The Real Soul of the Democratic Party

There is a war brewing between the centrists and the left-wing of the Democratic party. Yesterday, Al From and Bruce Reed launched a salvo that is a must read. They detail five myths about the Democratic party:

Myth #1: Real Democrats Always Turn Left ...But the great myth of the current cycle is the misguided notion that the hopes and dreams of activists represent the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Real Democrats are real people, not activist elites...

This may be a myth but it is true that left-turning Democrats get the press. As long as voters watch the Democrats taking people like Sharpton, Mosley-Braun, and Kucinich seriously, they will view the whole party as activist elite.

Myth #2: Candidates on the Left Have the Inside Track Wrong. The last time the most liberal candidate won the Democratic nomination was George McGovern in 1972. Diehard liberals have been losing ever since... Myth #3: The Primary Calendar Is Stacked Against New Democrats ...No matter what happens in Iowa, the first make-or-break test will come in New Hampshire. Here's a shocker that every presidential candidate needs to understand: There's a good chance that more independents will vote in the 2004 New Hampshire Democratic primary than Democrats... Myth #4: Democrats Are a Mushy Bunch of Wimps with Nothing to Say OK, so maybe that's not entirely a myth. But it is a myth to suggest that Democrats will make that feeble reputation go away by boldly telling activists exactly what they want to hear...

The appearance of weakness is a central problem that the Democrats need to attend. Lieberman is doing well in this area. Dean and Kucinich are not. But the real question is, "What do clear thinking, mainstream Democrats have to say?" So far that message has been muddy at best.

Myth #5: Democrats Can't Win in 2004 ...Incumbents are always difficult to beat, but this President -- like his father -- will be more vulnerable than we can imagine today. A year from now, the Presidential race will look a lot different. The President's numbers, inflated by his success in Iraq, will return to pre-war levels. The Democrats will look stronger...

True. Very true. GW needs to get the economy issue under control. If people are comfortable with their cash flow in August of 2004, GW is president walking away. If not, we will have a race.

Read the whole thing. Go. Now.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:10 PM | Comments (0) |

Early Edition?

This MSNBC article was posted the day before it was written. I wish they would do this in the finance section.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:53 PM | Comments (0) |

Strip Clubs Are In The News

In San Diego, Federal prosecutors have taken their investigation of several city council members and their affiliation with a strip-club owner to a Grand Jury.Two of the council member have received cash from Galardi related contacts:

Councilman Charles Lewis: Received $4,500 from Las Vegas contributors in the first half of 2001, when he was a 4th District candidate in the March 2002 primary. At least $2,000 came from contributors associated with La Fuente Inc., of which Galardi is president. Councilman Ralph Inzunza: Received $4,500 in contributions in the first half of 2001 from Las Vegas-area donors, at least a third of which came from people associated with Galardi. Inzunza won his 8th District seat in a February 2001 special election. He ran for re-election and won in the March 2002 primary.

And this report details a high school field trip to a strip club:

The seniors at tiny Sprague High School came to Seattle last week to see the sights: the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and the exotic dancers of Deja Vu Showgirls... six boys and three girls went to the strip club. Some even went back for seconds on the same day. All the students were at least 18, so the detour was OK in the eyes of the law, but not in the eyes of Principal Pat Whipple.

Needless to say, the parents aren't very happy about it.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:05 PM | Comments (0) |

Will The Real David Nelson Please Stand Up

Democrat Dave Nelson Professor Dave Nelson Oceanographer Dave Nelson Guitarist Dave Nelson Child actor Dave Nelson What do these guys have in common? The name, yes, but also, they have a tough time in airports.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:56 AM | Comments (0) |

Democracy In Iraq

Noble Pundit has some words about why democracy is a bad idea for Iraq. I agree.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) |

The Campaign Begins

Hillary Clinton begins her presidential campaign with a Barbara Walters interview on ABC (airing on June 8th at 7pm eastern time).

Rachel Lucas has a preview:

Babwa: Right, then. I'd like to ask you about your plans to run for president. Will you run? Hildebeast: I have no comment. I don't know what you're talking about. I am the junior senator from New York and that is my job. I have no presidential aspirations. People ask me, "Is Hillary running for president in 2008?" and I shake my head and respond, "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

Posted by bubba138 at 11:35 AM | Comments (0) |

Fistfull of Dollars For Falsehoods

America must be the only place one can be such a goat as Jayson Blair and still make a profit from it:

The disgraced New York Times reporter has hired an agent to scope out book and TV deals that could net him a mid-six-figure paycheck - way more then he ever would have seen working for the paper.

What else should we expect when we let guys like Geraldo set the standard in journalism?

Posted by bubba138 at 11:27 AM | Comments (0) |

Anonymous

Check out what Matthew Hoy has to say about "anonymous sources:"

One of the biggest problems newspapers have today is their use of anonymous sources. The latest misuse of what was once a method of last resort to get a story out was demonstrated by The New York TImes' Jayson Blair. Blair's (in)famous sniper story alleged that the feds had stopped the questioning of John Lee Malvo just as he was about to spill his guts. The source of the allegations? FIVE anonymous sources. It's become so common to use anonymous sources -- especially the closer you get to Washington, D.C. -- that no editor ever asked Blair exactly who these sources were.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) |

May 15, 2003

Pelosi's Pick

Richard Gephardt, one of the nine

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi knows the name of at least one of the Democrat presidential candidates: "Proudly, I stand here to endorse Richard Gephardt for president of the United States," the California Democrat, joined by about 30 other congressional representatives, announced. I guess that puts her up on two thirds of the population:

But the real problem for the Democratic presidential candidate at this stage of the game is not the backing from official sources, but recognition by the general public. A new New York Times poll shows that 66 percent of Americans can't name one Democratic presidential candidate. That number is 64 percent among self-identified Democrats.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) |

Family Values

Who says there is an erosion of family values in America? Heck, even Dennis Rodman is making an honest woman of his kid's mother:

Rodman and Moyer have two children together but live in separate homes. They don't plan to change that either. Rodman says, "I like it like that. She and the kids come over on weekends."

I'm convinced his kids have no doubt their father loves them. Deeply. Unreservedly. On Saturdays and Sundays, at least.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:23 AM | Comments (0) |

Sex in the City Council

Well, not quite sex, but I thought that was a snappy title. Anyway, we've learned the San Diego city council member's offices were raided simultaneously with several strip-clubs, locally and in Las Vegas:

Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the search was based on conversations intercepted through surveillance, wiretaps and listening devices in the three City Council offices. They are investigating whether strip-club owner Michael Galardi was seeking favorable treatment from council members regarding restrictions on adult-entertainment clubs. Authorities coordinated simultaneous hours-long searches of Cheetahs, a strip club in Kearny Mesa, and two sister clubs in Las Vegas, all owned by Galardi. Galardi and his father, Jack Galardi, have an adult-entertainment empire that includes more than a dozen clubs in seven states. Michael Galardi was stopped yesterday while driving his car in front of The Godfather restaurant on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, where FBI agents served a warrant to search him and his vehicle, a law enforcement source said. There were no arrests.

At least the money going across state lines explains the Feds involvement.

In 2001 Galardi sued Las Vegas over the denial of a liquor license.

Update: More details from the Las Vegas Review-Journal::

Former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone is among the targets of the investigation, in part for his work on behalf of the Galardis after being voted off the commission in 2000, according to federal law enforcement officials involved in the case and Clark County government officials. "He is a focus," said a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

San Diego city council members aren't the only politicos getting examined:

The source said the FBI sought records relating to Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald; former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny and her husband, John; former County Commissioner Dario Herrera and his wife, Emily; County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and her husband, Robert; and several officials in the county's building inspections division.

Here's why our guys are under the microscope:

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in August 2001 that Malone had helped Mike Galardi try to obtain city permits for a topless club in San Diego. Mike Galardi contributed at least $2,000 to Lewis and $1,500 to Inzunza in the politicians' most recent campaigns, the newspaper reported. Lewis told the Union-Tribune that Malone was the contact between his campaign and Mike Galardi.

It looks like Malone is the guy the feds are after.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:58 AM | Comments (0) |

Budget Woes

California is having a huge budget crisis. Here's why we won't get out of it:

And like those debtors, Davis' budget announcement Wednesday contained no plan to solve the long-term structural problems that got California into this mess. The governor is breaking a promise from January by delaying reforms until summer at the earliest... Strikingly, the Davis administration already anticipates a $7.9 billion budget deficit in 2004 -- even after the current $38.2 billion problem is taken care of.

Gray Davis' solution to the crisis is to:

• Increase Taxes
• Borrow Against the Future
• Increase Spending

One of the first two would do the trick. Both of the first two would be over-adequate. But the third undoes the first two. As Daniel Weintraub points out:

In lay terms, that means California's government is spending more than it's taking in, and remains on a path to do so again in the near future.

It hasn't occurred to our Democratically dominated legislature that the solution is to decrease spending. Budget growth in California has far surpassed the growth of the economy, yet they keep on spending.
I know several people who work for state and county funded publicly contracted programs and the story at the end of each fiscal year is the same: they haven't spent their budget yet so they have to go on a spending spree in the last couple of weeks of the year or their budget will be cut the next year. It never occurs to the leadership that if you can get the job done for 80% of what it was budgeted that you should do so.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:55 AM | Comments (0) |

May 14, 2003

FBI Raid in San DiegoThe

FBI Raid in San Diego

The FBI raided the offices of three San Diego City Council members today. It is being speculated that Ralph Inzunza, District 8, Michael Zucchet, District 2, and Charles Lewis, District 4 are being investigated for campaign finance violations. Is local campaign finance really important enough for the FBI to get involved? There has to be something more to this. Stay tuned...

Update: I have been trying to find a list of campaign contributions to these guys but so far no luck. Finding out who contributed to their campaigns should not be this difficult.

Update: The Union-Trib filed this article a couple of weeks ago:

San Diego City Councilman Ralph Inzunza was given a $290 glider chair from real estate agent Pepper Coffey in July 2002, three months before she was appointed at his recommendation to the Citizens' Task Force on Chargers Issues... Inzunza accepted $1,981 in gifts, including $850 in flowers and a religious statue to celebrate the birth of his baby, from his council colleagues, two developers and Gov. Gray Davis' campaign treasurer. His gifts included $237 in lunches, $342 in football tickets, $202 in golf fees and $70 in theater tickets... Councilmen Charles Lewis and Michael Zucchet, who were elected in November, had no gifts to report when they filed their statements in December.

And this article says:

Local 145 [Fire Fighter's union]and other labor groups spent a combined $64,000 on behalf of [ex-fire fighter] Michael Zucchet's campaign for the 2nd District seat in the March primary. Zucchet, Local 145's legislative director, is running against Kevin Faulconer, a public relations executive on leave from his job.

Correction: Inzunza didn't recommend Pepper Coffey, after all.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:53 PM | Comments (0) |

The Boston Globe Imitates Slings & Arrows

After all, Al Qaeda cannot bring down America, but it is a threat to the Saudi monarchy. -- Assault in Saudi Arabia, May 14th

Therefore, the method to achieve our goal is to replace oppressive monarchies with democratic, representative governments. Saudi Arabia must be on the list of governments to be replaced...But, if we let al-Qa'aida do the dirty work, and then take them out, it is a different story altogether. We get a democracy in Saudi and more of al-Qa'aida is exposed and destroyed. -- Slings & Arrows, May 13th

Posted by bubba138 at 02:36 PM | Comments (0) |

Ugh.

The Boston Globe thinks we should thank Clinton for a speedy victory in Iraq:

WHILE IT is understandable that President George W. Bush and his secretary of defense are receiving plaudits for the relatively swift military victory in Iraq, the fact of the matter is that most of the credit for the successful military operation should go to the Clinton administration.

Puh-leeze

Posted by bubba138 at 02:11 PM | Comments (0) |

Guns Don't Kill People...

...well you know the rest. And the courts agree (at least for now):

Handing a defeat to the NAACP, a federal jury Wednesday cleared 45 gun manufacturers and distributors of allegations their marketing practices have stoked violence in black and Hispanic neighborhoods...The plaintiffs built much of their case on previously sealed data - provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under court order - detailing sales histories of weapons recovered at crime scenes in New York state from 1996 to 2000. An expert witness testified that an analysis found 11 percent of handguns sold in 1996 were used in rapes, robberies, assaults and murders by 2000.

Update: Glenn scooped me by sixty seconds.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:49 PM | Comments (0) |

SARS in China

In an effort to make up for the less-than-complete disclosure of the full scope of the SARS problem, China is cracking down on people who talk about SARS over the internet. Go figure:

Nationwide, police have detained 105 people in 17 provinces and major cities on charges of spreading rumors, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. In Beijing, Xinhua said, a man surnamed Huang was detained May 3 after posting a comment online saying that 400 people had died of SARS in a city the agency didn't identify. "The rumor caused a very bad social influence," Xinhua said.

Jail time is certainly justified for those who cause a very bad social influence. Isn't it?

Posted by bubba138 at 01:37 PM | Comments (0) |

al-Qa'aida and Hell

You may or may not remember the cartoon that surfaced days after 9/11 that showed two Muslim terrorists in a demon's hand surrounded by hell fire. The cartoon drew fire from protesters that exclaimed with anguish that any who would draw, or even print such a cartoon reeked of racism and jingoism. (Coverage of the controversy can be found here, here, here, and here.)

Today, in reference to the attacks in Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah had this to say:

Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler, went on national television in the evening to describe those behind the attacks as ``criminal butchers, devoid of any Islamic or human values'' and ``beasts, seeking only to shed blood.'' He quoted verses from the Quran against murder, adding, ``There is no other interpretation: These killers are cursed here on Earth, and in the hereafter their fate is hellfire.''

I wonder, how many of those who were offended by the cartoon will come out and protest the Prince's insensitive words? Would we experience the same deafening silence if someone like, say, Jerry Falwell or Franklin Graham made the same comments? I think not.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:08 PM | Comments (0) |

Parliament Slams Anti-Semitism

A headline from London's Times? No. The Guardian? Nope. Believe it or not, it came from al-Ahram reporting on Egypt's People's Assembly's discussions about "innovative religious discourse in the Islamic world."

the report calls for religious teachings to promote ideas of tolerance, rationality, openness, enlightenment, freedom and respect for human rights... According to Mohamed Ali Mahgoub, chairman of parliament's Religious, Social and Waqf (Religious Endowments) Affairs Committee..."it is quite unreasonable for Islam, which is being called a religion of terrorism and violence in the West, to stay clear of an enlightened discourse calling for tolerance and renouncing extremism and dogmatism."

The spectre of anti-semitism was raised in the discussions, and surprisingly shut down:

Abu Zeid's comment immediately angered Mohamed Mursi, a prominent deputy from the banned Muslim Brotherhood. "As long as we are discussing a report about Islam in Egypt," Mursi said, "I insist that there is no Jewish discourse in Egypt." At this point, several MPs began arguing with Mursi, and parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour himself stepped in to blame Mursi for ignoring "the fact that several Jews live in Egypt and most of them go to Jewish synagogues". Sorour said, "Mursi's words contain an element of extremism which he must renounce." An angry Mursi told the speaker that he had "an obligation to support my argument instead of describing me as an extremist." Sorour, however, continued in the same vein, describing as highly regrettable the fact that "Mursi's extremist words were voiced in the Egyptian parliament while it is discussing a report about the necessity of an innovative religious discourse in Egypt and the Islamic world. I will never provide anyone with the opportunity to accuse the Egyptian parliament of extremism or anti- Semitism," Sorour said.

It is good to see this kind of discourse occurring in the Muslim world.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) |

Imperialist Pigs

Is Noam Chomsky playing a part in nation building?

He's a part of the interestingly named "International Committee for Transition to Democracy in Iran." What red-blooded American wouldn't be for that? Of course, with Chomsky as a major player, one has to question what exactly the committee means by the word Democracy.

Then again, it is just a committee. So we shouldn't expect that they will actually do anything. Reading the press comunique, we find out why Noam is involved:

Given the dangerous international situation and with the avowed intention of the Bush Administration to reshape Western Asia geo-politically, with the intention of controlling the vast resources of the regions as well as those of Central Asia, it is imperative to do everything possible in order to avoid a further extension of the disastrous conflicts in the region.

Ahhh...now I see. We need democracy in Iran to stop the tyrant Bush. And in order to make sure he and his crew don't "reshape Western Asia geo-politically", Noam and cohorts are setting out to reshape Western Asia geo-politically. You have got to love this stuff.

But what are the goals of this organization?

Help establish unconditionally all fundamental liberties; Ensure the freedom of the media and journalists; Help free all political prisoners, irrespective of their political or religious creeds; Contribute to putting an end to the arbitrary rule of illegal courts that have acted contrary to the principles of Human Rights; Help to bring about conditions in which those responsible for the imprisonment, kidnapping, and murder of Iranian opponents, dissidents, and intellectuals will be brought to trial under the newly established international laws judging crimes against humanity; And finally, to contribute to the conditions in which a referendum could be held under the auspices of international observers, so that the people of that country could express their will for a democratic future, exercising full sovereignty over their economic resources and putting them at the service of their development and prosperity, in such a way that they could contribute to the creation of peaceful conditions and justice in Western Asia as in the rest of the world.

Each of these are goals the Bushies are all for. I thought I'd never see the day when Noam was used as a tool of the Bush administration, but today is that day. Ahhh...the sweet taste of victory.
(Hat tip: The Eyeranian -- oh, and Pucker Up!)

Update: InstaPundit says the Mullah is icky. I say he's right.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:31 AM | Comments (0) |

What Arabs Think About the Saudi Attacks

Reuters would have us believe that all Arabs are blaming the U.S. for the attacks in Saudi Arabia:

"Even though they were criminal, suicidal acts, the explosions that took place in Riyadh show that American policy reaps what it sows," commentator Hazem Abdel Rahman wrote in Egypt's semi-official daily al-Ahram on Wednesday.

The article has quote after quote condemning the U.S. policies. To say it was a slanted article would be like saying the attacks caused a wee-bit of damage. Yes, there is a token effort at the end of the article to show a differing mindset:

"Extremists, like al Qaeda, are trying to sully the image of the Arabs. They don't want the road map to succeed or for there to be peace in the region," said Adel Shafiq Farig, a 47-year-old Egyptian lawyer.

But this last, and least, effort is greatly overshadowed by the article's blatant anti-U.S. tone. What are the other Arab media saying? One opinion in the Lebanese Daily Star called the attacks cowardly, and completely rejected not only their methods but their cause:

...Whichever group massacred all those innocents in Riyadh is no friend of Arabs and Muslims. The people who died were, though: The overwhelming majority of them were Westerners who wanted to live and work among Arabs, people who would have gone home with anecdotes of hospitality and grassroots “dialogue,” steadily chipping away at the stereotypes that make so many of their compatriots see the Middle East as a wellspring of fanaticism. Instead they will return to their loved ones in coffins, and each mangled body will undermine much of the goodwill that thoughtful people and organizations strive to build every day of every year... If the usual pattern holds, someone will eventually issue a tacit claim of responsibility for the outrage in Riyadh ­ and they will almost certainly sully Islam by falsely invoking the Koran. Before they do, it would be nice to hear a few pre-emptive pronouncements from leading Muslim scholars to the effect that while no one can stop a common criminal from debasing himself and his religion, depravity should find no support among decent people of any faith.

Yesterday, I said that these attacks would serve to set the Arab world against al-Qa'aida. Looks like some in Lebanon are already convinced.

In Bahrain, both the Prime Minister and it's Minister of Information totally condemned the attacks without reference to the U.S. or Israel.

And the Saudis are -- understandably -- especially upset (also from Reuters):

Many Saudis are angry at the United States for the war on Iraq, but many also said innocent expatriates living in their country did not deserve this. "What does this have to do with Islam? These criminals are harming us Muslims more than anybody else," said Nala al-Dhaher, a Saudi woman who lost her brother and friends in the attacks.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) |

Arab Democracy

This Jordanian is glad the war is over in Iraq. Why? So Jordanians can concentrate on getting back to the business of democracy:

Today, almost a month since the fall of Baghdad, Jordanians are beginning to discover new interest in the elections. The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s biggest organized political group with its own party, decided to rescind an earlier decision to boycott the elections—they pulled out of the 1997 poll. That decision brought life back to the local political scene. With the Islamic Action Front (IAF) contesting the June elections, opposition parties, mostly left wing, decided to follow suit. Slowly Jordanian tribes and clans began meeting to name their candidates for the 110-seat Lower House. It now looks like the June elections will resuscitate what was once a thriving democratic process.

Democracy is important in the Arab mind. They do understand the benefit of the people choosing their own government. They also understand that practicing democracy puts them in the spotlight. And that's a good thing:

One thing that the world will be watching is voter behavior on elections day. With candidates from all walks of life and shades of color running it would be interesting to see what kind of deputies Jordanian voters will choose. With Iraq, Palestine and a plethora of other issues on their mind Jordanians are being asked to vote with their minds not their hearts. Tough choice, but still it is good to know that democracy will win the day. -- [Emphasis mine]

Posted by bubba138 at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) |

May 13, 2003

Separated At Birth

Argentina's Presidential Front Runner, Nestor Kirchner	Young Frankenstein's Igor

Posted by bubba138 at 09:55 PM | Comments (0) |

Bonus!

Not only did the god among bloggers link to Slings & Arrows today, but Right Wing News gave a nod by making it the "Website of the Day." Thanks John!
By the way, as long as you are there, check out this post about the Florida school system. Not long ago California teachers were advised to mark no more than four incorrect words on spelling tests for fear of damaging the student's vulnerable self image. It wasn't very long before that was reversed. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking hasn't gone away, it's just moved to Florida.
Hmmm...maybe they are trying to develop a few more uneducated voters so the ones in 2000 don't look so bad?

Posted by bubba138 at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) |

Alterman Imitates Saddam

Democrats in Texas have turned and run from a legislative session they cannot win. In an unsurprising turn, Alterman lauds that as a victory:

Check out the details. Democrats with spirit, brains and moxie. Who’d a thunk it?

Mohammed al-Sahaf stayed in Texas, however:

"There are no Republicans here.", said the former Iraqi spokesman. "They are commiting political suicide on the gates of the State Capitol."

Posted by bubba138 at 02:48 PM | Comments (0) |

Made For Each Other

This guy and this guy should get together. Quick.
(Hat tip: Max Jacobs)

Posted by bubba138 at 02:37 PM | Comments (0) |

Yechh

This is just wrong.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:17 PM | Comments (0) |

Taranto Imitates Reynolds

At 4:31pm Pacific Time the Opinion Journal's Best of the Web hit the Ethernet. Near the top of the piece:

An opinion piece on London's Guardian claims that Osama bin Laden is winning his war against the Saudi royal family. "It is now impossible for the regime to recover legitimacy," writes the author, Saad al-Fagih, despite the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi sand. He seems to think the House of Saud is on the verge of falling.

So, who is this Saad al-Fagih? The Guardian describes him as "a leading exiled Saudi dissident and director of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia." But a March 2000 BBC report gives a lot more detail:

Osama Bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, has connections to a leading Saudi dissident based in London, BBC Radio's Five Live Report has revealed. The programme provides evidence that Saad Al-Fagih, a key figure in the London-based campaign opposed to the Saudi regime, bought a satellite phone that was later used by Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.

On 30 July 1998 one of the suicide bombers who blew up the US embassy in Nairobi telephoned the satellite phone number: 00 873 682 505 331. . . .The satellite phone was the very same one that had been bought by Saad Al-Fagih in November 1996.

InstaPundit had him scooped, however, making the connection at ten in the morning.

Hmmm...plagiarism or great minds?

Posted by bubba138 at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) |

Screen On

Absolutely essential commentary on the various Star Trek shows.

And Seth Finklestein gives an update on Klingon Language Interpreters.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:53 PM | Comments (0) |

GW in 2004

Sully points to this poll (here's the press release) that shows Bush's post war popularity dropping among independent voters.

Not that this wasn't expected. I commented on this last month:

Right from the start, let's dismiss any loopy ideas that Bush can coast into a second term on his current popularity. War-time poll numbers are devious, and inclined to slump quickly. Further, those that do not like Bush, really don't like him. Alot.They don't like him the same way many Repubs didn't like Clinton. And more so, the fervor of Democrat dislike after four years of Bush is equal to the dislike of Repubs after eight years of Clinton. This dislike carries with it power.

As to the new poll, I have a couple of observations. First, although independent votes for Bush are dropping, they are also dropping for "someone else" -- going from 28% to 25%. In other words, independents are not yet choosing. Instead they are placing themselves in the "wait and see" camp. Still, with 47% overall definitely voting for Bush, I wouldn't start throwing in the towel yet. GW got elected on 47.87% of the vote last time (Gore got 48.38%).

Also, if one scrolls down to almost the bottom of the poll, one finds that 40% of the respondents are jobless. Is this an accurate representation of the voting populace? It just may be, but if it isn't, it would tend to discount the validity of the study.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Gray Days Ahead

Fox news says the recall effort against Gov. Gray Davis is getting significant support. To be sure, if anyone is ripe for a recall effort, Gray Davis -- with a measly 27% 24% approval rate -- is.

When the recall effort began several months ago, I was fully behind it. But, as often happens, time and measured thought has changed my attitude. I haven't quite been able to sum up my change of mind, but thanks to Carol Liebau, I don't have to. She's done a wonderful job at detailing why such a delicious thought is actually a bad idea:

Recall is a drastic remedy – and it should be reserved for those instances where voters are mistaken about a basic assumption upon which they have based their support for a politician...But there are no such circumstances here. When the voters of California returned Gray Davis to office last November, they knew all about him, and didn’t really like him even then

Gray needs to stay for three reasons. First, by staying on, he will be forced to take care of the problems he's created, instead of passing them on to someone else.

Second, if there was a recall, and Gray lost his position, the next guy/gal would have only two years to clean up the mess before facing another election. Of course, campaigning would take said person's eyes off the task, so even less attention would go toward fixing our state's horrendous problems.

Finally, Californians need to learn there are consequences for their actions. Democrats elected a partisan government, based upon nothing but party affiliation. They knew Gray was crooked and incompetent. But better to have a crooked Democrat than any Republican. Republicans couldn't -- or wouldn't -- unify. Once Bill Simon had gained the nomination, all Republicans -- including Rove's bunch -- should have rallied around the banner, but they did not. Now, we Californians have to pay for that.

Update: Of course Gray isn't making it easier for himself. His solution for the budget isn't a practical one, but political:

Together, some observers said they believed that Davis' moves come in response to the Capitol's shifting politics, especially the threat of a recall campaign against him.
"He's scared," said Wayne Johnson, president of the 330,000-member California Teachers Assn. and a frequent critic of the governor. "He sees this recall movement as having some potential, and he needs education and labor."
Johnson said Davis has begun meeting with the union's officers every other week in his Capitol office to talk about the budget and other issues. Such meetings, Johnson said, used to occur about twice a year.

"Now when he's in trouble, he's moving back to talking with his core constituencies again and doing something [for] them," Johnson said. "It's so obvious that it's almost insulting."

Update: Here's more on Gray's proposals. And the California Insider makes a pointed observation:

The car tax hike will attract howls from Republicans but secret relief, because the fee will rise without a vote of the Legislature.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:15 PM | Comments (0) |

More Road Map

Graham Usher thinks the Road Map to peace is doomed to the same fate as the Oslo accords:

It looks and sounds like a new era. It isn't. Since the roadmap was published on 30 April the Israeli army has killed 20 Palestinians (and, perhaps, a British journalist) in the occupied territories, including 13 in a single raid on Gaza City on 1 May. On 5 May an Israeli was killed and two others wounded in an ambush in the West Bank, claimed by Fatah's "unofficial" military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

Unfortunately, Sharon doesn't seem to be making much of an effort to prove Graham wrong:

Sharon, a longtime patron of settlers on land Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war, told the Jerusalem Post newspaper that all Israeli governments had pursued settlements in some form in the past, even during periods of peace diplomacy. "In my mind this is not an issue on the horizon right now."

It is still very early in the process and there is hope:

Sharon said he had no basic objections to a state for Palestinians. "I don't think we can continue to control another people... How long is it possible to sit in all those cities?"

Posted by bubba138 at 11:57 AM | Comments (0) |

A Quick Thought

One of the main concerns of the anti-war left was that our action in Iraq would serve to change the whole political map in the Middle East. Well, that is certainly happening.

But is that a bad thing?

Posted by bubba138 at 11:49 AM | Comments (0) |

Who's Responsible?

Looks like it was al-Qa'aida. Now that's a surprise.

But there's more. Apparently other Muslim countries are at risk. And notice who is giving the orders:

"Beside targeting the heart of America, among the strategic priorities now is to target and execute operations in the Gulf countries and allies of the United States, particularly Egypt and Jordan," Al-Ablaj wrote in the e-mail...Osama bin Laden has issued strong directives to launch a guerrilla war in all forms, on a long term, in the nations of the Gulf ... We are ready to carry out many, very large operations," al-Ablaj wrote in Sunday's message.

This will serve to turn the Arab world against al-Qa'aida.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:36 AM | Comments (0) |

Welcome...

InstaPundit readers. Thanks for the ref, Glenn.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) |

Posted by bubba138 at 09:07 AM | Comments (0) |

The Fall of the House of Saud?

Saad al-Fagih writes in the Guardian that Osama has been right all along.

It is easy to discount Saad, after all he is -- as Glenn Reynolds points out -- a terrorist sympathizer. But what if he is right? What if Muslims and Arabs really do see the U.S. withdrawal as an al-Qa'aida victory? What if these recent attacks are an example of renewed confidence among the bin Ladenites?

Quite simply, the U.S. pull out may be the absolute worst thing for the House of Saud. We know Osama's crew are neither prepared nor willing to take on any real threat head-on. They knew as long as the U.S. had troops on Saudi ground they could not sustain a conflict there. Now that we are leaving, here they come.

Maybe Osama was right. But then again, perhaps Bush and crew was right as well. They know al-Qa'aida only attacks the weak. They know without U.S. presence the House of Saud is weak. The weaker the Saudis are, the more active al-Qa'aida will be. The more active al-Qa'aida is, the more intelligence we will gather. The more intelligence we gather, the more we stamp them out.

The goal in the Middle East is to eliminate hateful terrorist ideology. This ideology has thrived because the masses -- for the most part -- have been oppressed and violence is the quickest and best way to improve one's station in society. Those who were and are the oppressors, such Saddam and Saudi royalty, have done a brilliant job of deflecting the reason for their oppression to Israel and the U.S, effectively making us scape-goats. Therefore, the method to achieve our goal is to replace oppressive monarchies with democratic, representative governments. Saudi Arabia must be on the list of governments to be replaced.

That being the case, this could be the chance to kill two birds with one stone. Instapundit (again) and others have repeatedly demonstrated that the Saudis are not our friends. Publicly, however, we are about as close as buddies can be. So taking them out in the way we did Saddam would not wash diplomatically and would make us look bad in the world's eyes. [Like that can get worse? -- Bry]. But, if we let al-Qa'aida do the dirty work, and then take them out, it is a different story altogether. We get a democracy in Saudi and more of al-Qa'aida is exposed and destroyed.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) |

Attacks of Cowardice

Some time ago, Bill Maher accused the U.S. of being cowards because we never placed our lives at risk the way the terrorists of 9/11 did:

"We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," he said. "That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

That may have been so under the previous administration -- you know, the one that pulled out of Somalia after getting our nose bloodied -- but we cannot be accused of cowardice in the last two conflicts. Our men and women have been on the ground directly facing the full, violent force of the opposition.

The terrorist enemy, however, has yet to place their violent might in harms way. In the latest attacks we cannot help but notice they were once again perpetrated against unarmed civilians laying defenselessly asleep in their homes. The attack was centered on a compound that housed western foreigners, at a time when the U.S. is pulling its troops off of Saudi land.

Has anyone else noticed the irony of this? Osama has often expressed his rage over U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia. The very fact that such infidels stationed military might on Holy Islamic soil gave him justification for his violence. The Fisks of the world would have us believe that the violence is our fault. If we would only get out of that part of the world, the violence would end. Yet, as we leave -- and thereby remove their reason for violence -- the violence escalates.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:44 AM | Comments (0) |

What's Really Important...

about the terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia is that we can use them as a scape-goat for anything we want. For instance, oil prices are going up because of them.

Oil prices rose 2 per cent today as concerns about further tensions in the Middle East and their impact on supplies emerged from the wreckage of the bomb blasts in Saudi Arabia.

Of course this happened before the war in Iraq as well:

Fears that the war would spark turmoil in the Middle East, which supplies two-fifths of globally-traded crude, have appeared to be exaggerated but could yet resurface.

The fears were exaggerated then, they are exaggerated now. These bombings are only an excuse for the oil-rich companies to make some more cash.

But wait, these bombings are the bad news gift that keeps on giving. It appears they are responsible for a slump in the stock markets as well:

European stock markets were mostly lower in early trading as deadly suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and the surging euro eclipsed gains on US markets overnight..."I think the post-Iraq honeymoon is over essentially," he said, adding that United States was also getting "bogged down" in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

First, what honeymoon? We've barely begun in Iraq. Second, I sure hope we get "bogged down" in the Arab Israeli conflict the way we've been "bogged down" in our military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This idea of being "bogged down" in Israel is laughable since the U.S. hasn't even been paying attention to the Palestinian-Israel situation until the last couple of weeks. Even so, positive progress is being made. Arafat is fading, democracy is being developed, and -- though you may have to strain your eyes -- peace is foreseeable.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:23 AM | Comments (0) |

May 12, 2003

Democrat Dilemma

The San Francisco Chronicle says the Democrats are vexed and perplexed at GW's popularity.

The challenge with the Dems right now is that what they are identifying as solutions are actually the problems. Here's an example:

Some, like activist actor Peter Coyote, have urged Democrats to get vocal -- and angry -- about differentiating their politics from White House policies. "Take back the Democratic Party!" Coyote yelled at a recent San Francisco campaign event in support of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Getting vocal hasn't been a problem for California Democrats. As a matter of fact, the more they get vocal, the more loopy the rest of the country views them. But wait, just like the Ginsu knife commercial, there's more. One "key San Francisco Insider" has this to say:

I hear people say it all the time: 'It doesn't matter who. We've got to find someone who can beat Bush.'

Herein lies the root of the problem. If the only unifying force in the Democrat party is to remove Bush, the cause is already lost. Removal of Clinton was the only thing for the Repubs in 1996 -- see how well that worked? The Democrats need to learn the lesson that the Repubs have learned, they exist to represent the people, to help them realize the fulfillment of their inalienable rights, and most importantly, to cast a vision for the future.

Right now the Dem's vision for the future goes no further than November 2004. That just won't cut it.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:11 PM | Comments (0) |

Mabybe We Can, Uhh....Meet?

Abu Mazen and Sharon are scheduled to meet on Friday. Arafat is on his way out, even though Egypt still wants him in power:

Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said at a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. "We continue to recognize him as the leader of the Palestinian people," Maher said.

Isn't it interesting how Egypt only recognizes an Egyptian as the "leader of the Palestinian people"? But that's only stumbling block number one. Sharon is still not expressing support for the plan:

Powell said, "The Israelis did not use the word 'accept' and acknowledged that Sharon had not formally embraced the "road map," as Abbas did in Jericho.

These are challenges, to be sure. But at least the sides are talking. And the more Arafat bows out the better the prospects of a lasting peace. Especially as the Palestinians seek a democratic government [What? I thought the experts said that Arabs aren't culturally capable of democracy! -- Bry]:

On a positive front, Powell said he had received from the Palestinians on Sunday the first draft of a proposed constitution. That is a step toward establishing the democracy that Bush is asking for the Palestinian Authority.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0) |

Name that Dude

Maryanna is getting rich on people's names. For a minimal $40 you can get a full name profile to tell you what kind of a person you are. Heck, you can even participate in "Name Therapy":

Suppose your friend Jeff is feeling burned out from relentless nervous energy and an endless stream of unfinished projects, all which play havoc with his health. Name therapy might reveal that the spelling "Jefferey" strikes just the positive chord your friend needs to banish this stressful behavior from his life.

What really angers me about a scam like this is that I didn't think of it first. DOH!

Posted by bubba138 at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) |

We Are the Champions

We don't get much of in the way of hockey in San Diego, but what we do get is good!

Posted by bubba138 at 09:10 AM | Comments (0) |

Affirmative Action

Well, it is nice to see the classic press has caught up on the Blair story. The majors are commenting today on issues the blogosphere had fully hashed out last week. Chris Muir has got the Affirmative Action slant pinned, though. (Or is that penned?)

Posted by bubba138 at 07:49 AM | Comments (0) |

Out of Touch

I have spent every waking moment the last three days on the Billy Graham San Diego Mission, so I am totally out of touch. I have no idea what is even in the news today. I'll be catching up later this afternoon and posting at the regular scheduled pace then.

In the mean-time you can listen to NPR's reporting on the Mission. The clips are from Thursday night, when 3,200 made decisions for Christ. The record for attendance was broken at Qualcomm on Saturday night's youth event, Velocity. All told, over 15,000 came to Christ over the four day span. In a word, AWESOME.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:13 AM | Comments (0) |

May 09, 2003

My Next House

I found a humble cottage I might like to move into.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:37 PM | Comments (0) |

The Point Everyone Wants to Ignore

From The Best of the Web:

"Leading evangelical Christians for the first time have publicly condemned assaults on Islam by the Rev. Franklin Graham and other fellow religious conservatives and pledged to heal rifts with Muslims that threaten missionary work overseas," the Associated Press reports:

The evangelicals said that the derisive comments endangered Christians working in the Muslim world, strained already tense interfaith relations and fed the perception in the Mideast and beyond that the war on terrorism is a Christian crusade against Islam. . . .

Clive Calver, president of World Relief, the humanitarian aid arm of the evangelical association, said all the statements have "placed lives and livelihoods at risk" overseas, where missionaries have become targets of Muslim extremists.

Islam is a religion of peace, and if you dare suggest otherwise, Muslims will kill some of your corelgionists to make the point.

No one has argued the points Franklin Graham and company have made about Islam and Mohammed. They have only called them bigots and hate mongers.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:05 PM | Comments (0) |

May 08, 2003

al-Qa'aida Ready for Round II

There is a new leadership structure in al Qa'aida and they are planning for a new round of large scale U.S. attacks, according to this article. They have even got a new spokesperson, Thabet bin Qais, who says:

"An attack against America is inevitable...Future missions have been entrusted to the new team, which is well protected against the US intelligence services. The old leadership does not know the names of any of its members."

Could that be because we have killed or captured most of the "old leadership?"

Posted by bubba138 at 02:45 PM | Comments (0) |

Peace Is Happening Everywhere

The new Government In Israel keeps moving along nicely. Abu Mazen has given expanded powers to reformer Mohammed Dahlan Yasir Arafat fired him for speaking out against corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Now Dahlan has authority over the whole of the Palestinian Authority. What is Dahlan's main purpose?

The decision makes Dahlan de facto interior minister with greater control over Palestinian security services intended to rein in militant groups under a U.S.-led 'road map' to Middle East peace, Palestinian officials said.

Greater control of Palestinian terrorists by Palestinians themselves will go a long way to move this process to a peaceful resolution.

Interesting note: Reuters still found it necessary to book-end this article with accounts of the Israeli Army killing Palestinians. These accounts have no direct connection with the subject of the article. Why then are they in there?

Update: The peace isn't only getting closer in Palestine. This article says that Israel's PM, Ariel Sharon is ready to re-open peace talks with Syria -- no strings attached, even.

Even Syria's getting more dovish. They are turning over to Lebanon a terrorist who is responsible for bombing Western based restaurants. One item of interest:
There was no word on when the man was arrested.
That sure implies that Syria may have had this guy for quite some time. Is it possible they were motivated to turn him over due to the changing Middle East political climate? It's amazing what having a free country next door can do.

There's More! Several Palestinian terrorist groups are closing their Syrian offices. It looks like it is for real this time.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Sex Abuse in the Minstry Hits the Aussies

First the Catholics, now the Anglicans are being held accountable for not adequately dealing with sexually deviant clergy.

This is what happens when holiness is no longer emphasized in the church. Who get's the black eye here? Not the priests. Jesus takes the hit. Now people who are hostile to religion in general and Christianity in particular have more of a reason not to explore His love, grace and mercy.

But wait...I wrote the above before reading more about this case and I may have been too quick to judge. This situation looks more like a political lynching than a search for justice. People are calling for Governor-General Peter Hollingworth's gevernment job, even though his mistake wasn't made before he was serving in government.

There's more...of course. Now Holingsworth himself is being accused of rape. He is denying the claim. I hope his version of the truth is better than the British GG -- George Galloway.

Update: It is happening in Italy, too.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) |

Safety Warnings

From The Age:

The stress of keeping up mortgage payments makes people sick, and mortgages should come with a public health warning, the British Medical Journal says, reporting that payment worry made people drink and smoke more, and have more car crashes.

Puh-leeze.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Is NASA Full of Glory Hogs or Penny Pinchers?

Amatai thinks so:

The Air Force, like NASA, initially resisted the use of unmanned flights, the introduction of missiles, and then the use of drones because - among other reasons - they needed no pilots, and offered no glory...

Two major explanations are commonly given for NASA's persistence in devoting so much of its $ 15 billion annual budget to manned programs and so little to unmanned ones. The first is that because manned vehicles cost much more than unmanned ones, they're strongly favored by the space industry...The second explanation is the spiritual importance of manned flights to the nation.

So it is too expensive or not glorious enough to use unmanned space flight. It reminds me of Braveheart:

"Arrows cost money. Send the Irish. They cost nothing."

More From The Same: Also make sure to read this excellent Amatai post about immigrant rights in an era of terrorism. This point is especially salient:

One reason the events of 9/11 were able to occur was because our security was neglected. [as a result of overcorrection from the Church Commission] The USA Patriot Act and several other post-9/11 measures are designed to correct the overcorrections of the 1970s. We may well have overshot the mark again. Detaining American citizens as material witnesses for a long period, for instance, without bringing any charges against them should not be allowed. -- (Emphasis mine)

Posted by bubba138 at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) |

New York Times Does Evangelical Christianity

Check out Matthew's take.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) |

Where is Saddam?

Micheal Leeden seems to know:

By now, the Iranian/Syrian strategy should be clear to the world, even to those diplomats and policymakers who had considered Syria an ally in the war against terrorism, and had dreamed of coming to some sort of working arrangement with the Iranians. In the war just ended, we saw thousands of terrorists pour into Iraq from Iran and Syria. The Shia demonstrations were clearly organized from Tehran, and top Iraqi officials found havens in both countries. Indeed, as Baghdad fell, busloads of Iraqi leaders raced into Iran, boarded a civilian aircraft, and flew off to Sudan, even as Saddam Hussein himself headed for Damascus.

But the Eyeranian isn't buying Leeden's arguments. Actually, he isn't buying Leeden, the person.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:12 AM | Comments (0) |

Kitty Karpets and Rover Rugs

This is just wrong!

Posted by bubba138 at 08:53 AM | Comments (0) |

Tony Blair is the Man

Whadda ya know, he wins again. This guy is invincible. Even Chirac is kissing his patooty:

There has been some personal thawing, marked notably by Jacques Chirac's lavish gift of six bottles of expensive claret for Tony Blair's 50th birthday.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) |

The Sacking of Curious George

George Galloway, the British MP who was taking PR money from Saddam's regime, has been suspended from the Labour party. Here's why:

Labour said it acted following complaints it received about a broadcast made by Mr Galloway on Abu Dhabi television when he called on Arabs to rise up against the British and coalition forces entering Iraq...In his interview with Abu Dhabi TV on 28 March, Mr Galloway said: "Iraq is fighting for all the Arabs. Where are the Arab armies? Even if it is not realistic to ask a non-Iraqi army to come to defend Iraq, we see Arab regimes pumping oil for the countries who are attacking it.

It is about time the party got rid of this guy. Well, he's not exactly gone, just suspended pending investigation. But...

...it was clear the process could be allowed to drag on so long that Mr Galloway’s career would be permanently damaged.

Mr. Galloway, of course, sees this as an affront to his basic human right to free speech:

"It has really come to something when you can be effectively silenced in the United Kingdom parliament for words you have spoken, for ideas you have. It makes a bit of a mockery that we went to war with Iraq in the name of free speech."

Contrary to what George believes, this can in no way be interpreted as a violation of free speech. George has no less ability to voice his opinions now than he did before. No one has placed him in jail. No one has taken his property. He retains his position as an MP. His income -- until the next election, at least -- has not been affected. (Unless you count the loss of revenue from Saddam himself. Then again, maybe he's still getting paid. Saddam and family has the funds to keep him on the payroll.) In other words, nothing has been done by the government to abridge his freedom of speech.

Further, the Labour party has every bit the right to free speech as Galloway has. They have chosen to exercise that right by disassociating themselves with George. The hypocrisy of George's position, and that of countless other liberals like Robbins and Sarandon, is glaring. Their position is that free speech is for all that agree with them, but for none that do not.

Our actions and our words have consequences. What we say and how we say it affects other people positively or negatively.

Some things are better off not said at all. Not because they may offend, but because the thought behind the words is morally unsound. No one of any substance screamed about free speech when Trent Lott went through the fire storm reacting to his statement about Strom Thurmond's presidential bid. What he said was morally wrong. He was held responsible for his words.

Other things should be said with caution; things debatable yet within the moral pale. But the speaker must acknowledge that there will be those that disagree with him or her. That disagreement may even evoke a response, verbally or by action. In Tim Robbins case, those running the Baseball Hall of Fame no longer wanted to associate with Tim. That is their right. Just as it is Tim's right to speak the bile he speaks. In Galloway's case, his party no longer wants anything to do with him. No freedoms have been restricted. Everyone's freedom has been exercised. But...there are consequences.

Dealing with the consequences we see the underlying foundation of the person. In Tim Robins' and George Galloway's cases, we see a complete inability to accept individual responsibility for themselves. They want to spout their ideas, no matter how amiable or offensive, no matter how right or wrong, without consequences. There is only one type of society that guarantees that kind of "free speech" -- a totalitarian one. Of course, then, it only applies if you are the top dog.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:27 AM | Comments (0) |

May 07, 2003

Racial Inclusiveness?

Long known for its racial inclusiveness, the Democrats would never have division along racial lines, would they?

Hispanic voters, a cornerstone of California’s Democratic coalition, are increasingly challenging liberal Jewish incumbents to turn over the reins and make way for a new generation of leaders.

Of course, this must be the fault of the Republicans:

“I can see Republicans using the accident, as it were, of many Jewish congresspeople to create a wedge issue against the Democrats,” said Rep. Bob Filner, whose newly drawn 51st District includes 340,000 Latinos, 53 percent of the electorate. “That is,” the Jewish Democrat continued, “to try to get Hispanic support by claiming there’s a Jewish conspiracy or something against them.”

I said a couple of days ago that the inclusiveness of the Democrats may be hurting them. I never imagined it would be in the area of race, however. Democrats are blind to race, aren't they?

Posted by bubba138 at 06:44 PM | Comments (0) |

Sina Update

The Eyeranian has the latest on the imprisonment of Iranian blogger Sina Motallebi.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:34 PM | Comments (0) |

Let's Compare

For those who cannot resist the temptation to compare the re-election prospects of Bush-Uno and Bush-Dos, consider this:

The current President Bush's position is almost the polar opposite of his father's. He possesses a united party, no challenger and fervent, almost unanimous, Republican support. He is fighting his heart out for tax cuts and a growing economy. He doesn't have a regional, unthreatening war behind him, but is in the middle of a dangerous and ongoing war that the public supremely trusts him to execute. He is supported by the best political operative in the business, and he has sustained higher job approval numbers, longer, than any modern president.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) |

Welcome Back...

Salam Pax. Go read what's been up in Baghdad.

Choice Items: To those complaining about how long it is taking the U.S. to rebuild Iraq, Salam says this:

Besides asking for outrageous fares (you can’t blame them gas prices have gone up 10 times, if you can get it) but they start grumbling and mumbling and at a point they would say something like “well it wasn’t like the mess it is now when we had saddam”. This is usually my cue for going into rage-mode. We Iraqis seem to have very short memories, or we simply block the bad times out. I ask them how long it took for us to get the electricity back again after he last war? 2 years until things got to what they are now, after 2 months of war. I ask them how was the water? Bad. Gas for car? None existent. Work? Lots of sitting in street tea shops. And how did everything get back? Hussain Kamel used to literally beat and whip people to do the impossible task of rebuilding. Then the question that would shut them up, so, dear Mr. Taxi driver would you like to have your saddam back? Aren’t we just really glad that we can now at least have hope for a new Iraq? Or are we Iraqis just a bunch of impatient fools who do nothing better than grumble and whine? Patience, you have waited for 35 years for days like these so get to working instead of whining. End of conversation.

Still, the road hasn't been easy:

But,

War. No matter what the outcome is. These things leave a trail of destruction behind them. There were days when the Red Crescent was begging for volunteers to help in taking the bodies of dead people off the city street and bury them properly. The hospital grounds have been turned to burial grounds when the electricity went out and there was no way the bodies can be kept until someone comes and identifies.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:43 AM | Comments (0) |

Britian: A Hotspot of Terrorist Activity?

First the British homicide-bombers in Israel, and now a British citizen has been arrested for illegal arms while entering India:

He said he got British citizenship several years ago and started his journey for home from London yesterday. He went to London only one and a half months back, leaving a firearm there...An official of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) told The Independent that they suspect Abu Bakkar to be a member of an organised gang of international arms traffickers. He might be involved in terrorist activities in and outside the country, he added.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:32 AM | Comments (0) |

Pakistani Payoff

Pakistan wants a little something, ya know, for the effort:

Pakistan said on Tuesday it hoped the United States would write off another $1.8 billion in debt to help its key ally in the war on terror fight poverty...The United States signed a formal agreement with Pakistan last month to write off $1 billion in debt.

$2.8 billion to let Osama and friends have safe haven in Pakistan? Sounds a bit steep to me.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Goings On in the House of Saud

Saudi Arabia has partnered with Qatar to establish a human rights organization. Meanwhile, beheadings are still in vogue in Riyadh.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) |

Are We Becoming Wimps?

Maybe we should take some risks.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:35 AM | Comments (0) |

Now He's Hitting the Top 40 Charts

(From Instapundit) Mohammed al-Sahaf is hitting the discos with a new dance track in Britain.

I hope this gets some play in the next winter Olympics. I'll go nuts if someone does a triple lutz to al-Sahaf saying, ""I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad"

BTW: Glenn thinks he uses "indeed" a lot? I think he's got a trademark on the word "heh" (Is that really a word?)

Posted by bubba138 at 08:19 AM | Comments (0) |

Billy Graham Arrives

Billy is in town now, and is getting ready for Mission San Diego. His message? It is one of love:

Before he sat back down and was driven out of the stadium, Graham said the message he will deliver is one of God's love and hope. "He's going to put his arm around everyone that will put their faith in him and love them," he said. "I don't think he's condemning you. He's here to love you."

I love the way he is the same in season and out of season. The Mission hasn't yet begun, but Billy is already preaching his message. And the man himself?

"More than anything, he's really humble," [former Charger's kicker Rolf] Benirschke said. "It's his humility that comes through."

Rolf is the chairman of Mission San Diego. His words to the volunteers at the training last night were:

"This is not a Christian party. This is a desire of the Christian community to expose people to the love of Jesus Christ."

Amen to that, brother.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:25 AM | Comments (0) |

No Heart for the run

It turns out that Gary isn't going to run for the 2004 Democrat Presidential nomination:

"I've concluded that I do not have sufficient enthusiasm for the mechanical side of campaigning, the money, the media and the polling and so forth to go forward with a campaign,"

Obviously, Hart doesn't have his heart in the race. I think this is a shame. I was looking forward to a good race, and I don't see anything hopeful in the current mix of guys. Those with legs financially don't have the political guns to make a real challenge. Those with good politics (read Lieberman) don't have the money or moxey (face it, Joe is about as boring as you can get). Not to mention, Bush has already beat Lieberman once.

Update: Gary bows out of the race on his blog and in this Denver Post article.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) |

May 06, 2003

Billy Graham

Billy Graham's Mission is in San Diego this week, and I am heavily involved. I will try to blog on it as much as I can, but I'll be going a million miles a minute for the next seven days.

Tonight is the training for the altar counselors, tomorrow for the follow-up team. Thursday through Sunday there are five large stadium events planned. I'll be at all of them.

For now, check this section out in the Union Tribune.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) |

May 05, 2003

The Hot Horse

James Taranto says Lieberman is the horse to watch in the Democrat race:

Lieberman made the point that no Democrat can win who isn't credible on national security. This is true, and it's also self-serving: Lieberman, who has been more of an Iraq hawk and for longer than most pols in either party, meets this test better than any of his opponents. You'd think this would cause him trouble with the antiwar voters who constitute the Democratic base, but not necessarily. If, as we suggest, these people's pro-Saddam views are merely a proxy for their hatred of Bush, then Lieberman, as part of the losing ticket in 2000, can appeal to them despite favoring the liberation of Iraq. And during Saturday's debate he did just that.

I'm inclined to agree, but let's not yet count out the dark horse. He's reaching out for the nut-contingent today:

First, massive tax cuts to enrich the rich are justified as Keynesian fiscal stimulants, while neo-cons privately confide that their real purpose is to destroy a social safety net constructed between the New Deal and the Great Society for the young, the old, the poor, the jobless, and the middle class.

Privately confide to destroy the safety net? That "vast right-wing conspiracy" is alive and well, eh, Gary?

Posted by bubba138 at 02:48 PM | Comments (0) |

Saddam In the Last Hours

He may not have had time for breakfast, but he did make time for some important unfinished business:

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein killed his leading military commander on charges of treason as U.S. forces captured Baghdad.

The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily said Saddam and his younger son, Qusay, executed Gen. Seif Eddin Al Rawi on April 8. The newspaper said Al Rawi, commander of the elite Republican Guards, was accused of treason and shot in the head and back.

Notes from the trial reveal that...wait a minute, there was no trial? Now there's a surprise!

Posted by bubba138 at 01:07 PM | Comments (0) |

Got Another One

The Telegraph reports that coalition forces have captured #53 on the Iraqi most wanted list.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:39 AM | Comments (0) |

Steyn Is Right On

Dubya does his talking with his mouth closed:
The Madness of George Dubya is really an example of the madness George Dubya causes in his opponents. Let us take it as read that he is not as verbally fluid as his predecessor, who was positively brimming with fluids. On the other hand, few Democrats are, either. Senator Bob Graham was on television last Sunday, repeatedly referring to Sars as "Scars", but no snooty media types made cracks about it.

Yep.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:06 AM | Comments (0) |

Moving Along In Israel

The goings on in Israel are always of interest to me because I have had three trips planned and canceled in the last two years. Things are continuing to move along nicely:

Mr Burns, who did not meet the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, urged the Palestinians and the Israelis to seize the moment and use the roadmap as a starting-point...Washington has refused to deal with Mr Arafat, accusing him of being compromised by terror.

The key to successful negotiations? Leave the Nobel prize-winning terrorist out of them. Abu Mazen has already condemned terrorism, a feat that Arafat has only done begrudgingly and when under severe political pressure to do so.Abu is a Palestinian, not an Egyptian posing to be the hope of Palestine.

There is evidence that the "roadmap" may be working:

Israeli sources said Mr Sharon might meet Mr Abbas after Mr Powell's visit, marking what would be the highest-level contact between Israel and the Palestinians in more than two years.

If things continue to go well I may get to visit Israel before I die.

Update: Here's more from Ha'aretz:

"On the Palestinian side this means there's absolutely no substitute, no substitute, for a decisive fight against terror and violence," Burns told reporters following the Ramallah meeting.

"On the Israeli side it also means taking practical steps to ease the suffering of Palestinians living under occupation, to stop the settlement activity and to renew a sense of dignity and hope," he added.

The key point here is the balance in the U.S. position, requiring both sides to work on the peace.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:47 AM | Comments (0) |

May 04, 2003

A Day After the Democrat Presidential Debate...

and these are the articles of interest at ABCNews.com:

A Message for the President
Does Bush Understand America’s Priorities for the 2004 Election?

That, more than anything, is the central political question at the doorstep of the 2004 presidential campaign. A new ABCNEWS/Washington/Post poll finds that Bush crushes top Democratic challengers in head-to-head matchups. Yet at the same time, he looks vulnerable on the same issues that tripped up his father in 1992: economic discomfort, the empathy to recognize it, and the ability to fix it.

Up For Grabs
As Democrats Kick Off Campaign, Bush Looks Strong but Not Unbeatable

Some swagger in President Bush's step might be expected after the end of major combat operations in Iraq, but Democratic presidential candidates justifiably might expect some stumbles in his future.

But wait a minute, nothing on the debate itself? You can (if you are a subscriber) watch the debate online, but the ABC news site is conspicuously missing any account of it.

Other sources have covered the debate. Here's what the Washington Post noticed:

Instead, the Democrats turned on one another -- in some cases to bare serious differences over the war in Iraq or how to expand health care coverage; in other cases to reveal personal animosities and to begin in earnest the jockeying for position in what now promises to be an especially tough battle for the nomination.

Oh, and CNN?

Democratic presidential hopefuls squabbled Saturday night over the war in Iraq, health care, and tax cuts.

Some observations and questions:

• The Democrats are deeply divided on too many issues to present themselves as a powerful force at this time. The need to get their act together and fast.
• Is it possible the "all inclusive" ideology of the Democrat party is now hurting it?
• ABC, who is broadcasting the debates, is over-zealous to report negative Bush/Republican news and reluctant to report negative Democrat news.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:45 AM | Comments (0) |

May 03, 2003

Letter From Saddam

Josh Marshall links to this article that says Saddam has written an open letter to his beloved Iraqi people:

An Arabic newspaper says it has received a handwritten letter signed by Saddam Hussein, in which he urges the Iraqi people to resist US troops who took over Iraq and ousted his regime earlier this month

...

The full text was not immediately available.

Well, yes it is. Memri's got the goods:

"Just as Hulagu entered Baghdad, so did the criminal Bush enter Baghdad, with the help of [traitor from within] 'Alqami[3]– indeed, even more than one 'Alqami."

The possibilities here:

• There were traitors in the Iraqi hierarchy.
• Saddam -- not being known for his truthfulness -- is lying.
• Saddam is rationalizing, as is a good portion of the Islamic world.
• The Iraqi forces (knowing they were going to get their buts kicked) merely surrendered, and Saddam's views surrender as a traitorous act.

So many to choose from, so little care about choosing.

By the way, Saddam borrowed the Hulagu reference from Osama. I guess it is getting harder to come up with original material when all your advisors have either gone underground or are in enemy hands.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:42 AM | Comments (0) |

May 02, 2003

How's This For A Peace Rally?

Tens of thousands joined me at a peace rally on the Naval docks of Coronado today. (O.K. maybe not quite tens-of-thousands, but there were a boatload of people.) The featured guests at the rally were a couple-o-thousand peace-keepers from the U.S.S. Lincoln. There were some who did not show up, though. We didn't miss them.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:25 PM | Comments (0) |

Here It Comes

You never quite realize how big these ships are until you are right there next to one.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) |

Waiting...

The ship had come in but the families were still waiting for the gangways to be lowered so they could rejoin their loved ones. Amanda and Eric (and friends) made this flag for their dad, Lt. Commander Kevin

Posted by bubba138 at 12:55 PM | Comments (0) |

Welcome Back!

First kiss back.

First hug...ever!

Joe's sister came all the way out from Baltimore to welcome him home. Joe said the ship was bouncing off the walls with excitement over the last week. Did he enjoy Hawaii? "I've been there three times now, so Hawaii wasn't much. I just couldn't wait to get home." He was there when President Bush spoke yesterday, and shook his hand. "I was impressed. He didn't just land and then go to some comfy room. He stayed right there on the deck with us. We were moving planes around, doing all sorts of things. It was chaos on the deck, but he was stayed in the middle of it all. "

Posted by bubba138 at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) |

Definitely a Media Event

As you can guess there were media all over. And, of course, they got the best seats. This interviewer was from Australia. "Did you know there were Australians helping your boys in Iraq?", he asked his subject. There was a pause, but finally she said she did. Whew! That was close!

Posted by bubba138 at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Missed the President

These two were off the ship before it even docked. It was clear by the patches on their shoulders they serve on the Lincoln. How did they get to shore so soon? They flew in yesterday to become brand new U.S. citizens. On the left is seaman Alphonse (Air Support), and on the right, Brian (AIMD). Both were born in the Philippines, and moved to the U.S. as very young children. Until yesterday, they were Americans in every way but name. Today, they are full citizens.

Did they miss seeing the president yesterday?

"Of course we did", answered Brian. "But you only become a citizen once. We may get to see the president again"

What is the best thing about being a full fledged citizen?

"I get to vote", said Alphonse. He knows exactly who he's voting for in 2004, too. "Is there any doubt?", he asked. "We all love him."

Posted by bubba138 at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) |

Field Trip

Miss Reed's first grade class from Whittier, California made the trip down to welcome Aviation Machinist Andrew Mendez home.

Teachers like Miss Reed redeem my image of public schooling. Look at her kids, all dressed up in red, white, and blue vests, made from heavy construction paper. Obviously this has been a project they've been working on all week. She made this more than just a field trip, but a learning experience for all her kids.

Mr. Mendez is the brother of classmate Sarah Mendez (bottom right). He has four uncles, all Vietnam veterans. God bless his family.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) |

Oddities...

What's a peace rally without interesting characters like...

...walking fish...	...stilt walkers...

...and t-shirts with peace slogans?

Posted by bubba138 at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) |

Mission Accomplished

This banner on the USS Lincoln pretty much sums it up.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:40 AM | Comments (0) |

USS Lincoln

Just came into Coronado a couple of hours ago. I just got back from the dock, and I'll be posting photos and commentary throughout the day.

Stay Tuned!

PS: Athena said she was going down there as well, so check in with her, too.

PSS: I will eventually be posting all the pics on Ofoto, but they've been down all morning.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) |

The USS Lincoln Come Into Town

The Lincoln is coming into San Diego today. You can watch it live here.

What can be better than seeing the President speak on your ship? How about getting sworn in as citizens of the United States:

"I will support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America," he said.

Those weren't idle words to these sailors.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:20 AM | Comments (0) |

Now This is a Bit Too Extreme

CNN headline: Climber amputates his arm, hikes to safety.

Sounds like something from the Enquirer, not CNN. OUCH.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:40 AM | Comments (0) |