tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39485907330231284362024-02-19T01:24:40.526-08:00Hunting Sitting DucksOn the lookout for hypocrisyMark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-71102447328701595932010-02-21T16:10:00.001-08:002010-02-21T16:14:45.059-08:00In-coming e-mail is reminding us why we **** RepublicansBreathtaking Hypocrisy<br /><br />---------------------Original Message---------------------<br />From: Governor Tim Kaine, Democrats.org <br />Subject: Breathtaking hypocrisy<br /><br />Friend --<br /><br />It's a breathtaking display of public hypocrisy.<br /><br />At least 116 Republican governors, senators, and representatives have spent the past year railing against the Recovery Act, while simultaneously requesting funds to create jobs in their districts and taking credit for projects at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.<br /><br />As the independent PolitiFact put it, they're trying "have their cake... and vote against it too." They know the Recovery Act is creating jobs, but they think attacking it will bring them victory in the 2010 elections.<br /><br />Not so fast. We're preparing to meet every hypocritical attack with press conferences in states across the nation and a rapid-response program to fact check every lie. But we need your help to make it happen.<br /><br />Please donate $5 or more today to support our campaign against Recovery Act hypocrisy.<br /><br />Today is the anniversary of the President signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has saved or created at least 2 million jobs, cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, and made loans to over 42,000 small businesses. And as a former governor, I can tell you it also provided critical relief for state governments facing record budget shortfalls.<br /><br />But don't take it from me. Listen to Rep. Joe Wilson, who told the Department of Agriculture that the money he was seeking "would provide jobs and investment" for his South Carolina district. Or take it from Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty, who balanced his state budget with the same funds he's so often attacked on TV.<br /><br />Even the GOP leadership that went all out to kill the bill has gotten into the game -- Sen. Mitch McConnell has bragged about funding for a military project in Kentucky, while Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor sought funds for a high-speed rail project in Virginia to create jobs.<br /><br />President Obama has made it clear he knows that we're not out of the woods yet, and he's focused on creating jobs. Honesty with the American people is one of the obligations of leadership.<br /><br />In stark contrast, Republicans are engaged in a hypocritical campaign of attacks -- and they're proving what we've said all along: Their opposition is about politics, pure and simple.<br /><br />We're going to prove that it's not winning politics -- but we need your support to expose their hypocrisy:<br /><br />https://my.democrats.org/hypocrisy<br /><br />With your help, we'll be ready for the fight ahead.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Governor Tim KaineMark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-33604257002971374562009-03-13T18:44:00.000-07:002009-03-13T19:00:00.095-07:00the Rapture?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIntQJ-6A9h3YC-FCSbdVTcYnU-71AD7TEq9Db6skaLUj0UH7v-Pv-we0A09EODixlUPlDTc1FFGawNpCRTAsEFcaERmz0Bm2TlsSBxjgCAi9elNwWtLBBRTN4Mha-0PZjpCEZrfnd-LGO/s1600-h/090313+-+chinese+rapture.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIntQJ-6A9h3YC-FCSbdVTcYnU-71AD7TEq9Db6skaLUj0UH7v-Pv-we0A09EODixlUPlDTc1FFGawNpCRTAsEFcaERmz0Bm2TlsSBxjgCAi9elNwWtLBBRTN4Mha-0PZjpCEZrfnd-LGO/s320/090313+-+chinese+rapture.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312853629110871634" /></a><br /><br /><br />American fundamentalist so-called Christians were up in arms today (Friday the 13th) upon the release by the Chinese News Agency of this photograph showing ordinary Chinese citizens being lifted up to heaven in the "Rapture". Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family was quoted as saying "There must be some mistake - are you sure that wasn't simply 'photoshopped'? Said D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries: "This cannot be - I repeated 'I accept you Jesus as my personal lord and savior' every freaking day for the last 45 years - I was PROMISED!!!" Pat Robertson expressed even more surprise and shock: "WHAT THE FUCK!!!" Homosexual activists and Hollywood's commie homo-lovin' sons of guns could not be reached for comment.<br /><br />We invite our reader(s) to submit their own captions for this interesting photo, which we found at the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2009/03/13/GA2009031301889.html?hpid=multimedia1&hpv=national">WaPo's Gallery</a> feature.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-33138043398241838332009-01-27T14:02:00.001-08:002009-01-27T14:03:37.379-08:00Fun Facts For Free ThinkersHarper’s Index<br /><br />Number of news stories from 1998 to Election Day 2000 containing “George W. Bush” and “aura of inevitability”: 206<br /><br />Amount for which Bush successfully sued Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 1999: $2,500<br /><br />Year in which a political candidate first sued Palm Beach County over problems with hanging chads: 1984<br /><br />Total amount the Bush campaign paid Enron and Halliburton for use of corporate jets during the 2000 recount: $15,400<br /><br />Percentage of Bush’s first 189 appointees who also served in his father’s administration: 42<br /><br />Minimum number of Bush appointees who have regulated industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 98<br /><br />Years before becoming energy secretary that Spencer Abraham cosponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy: 2<br /><br />Number of Chevron oil tankers named after Condoleezza Rice, at the time she became foreign policy adviser: 1<br /><br />Date on which the GAO sued Dick Cheney to force the release of documents related to current U.S. energy policy: 2/22/02<br /><br />Number of other officials the GAO has sued over access to federal records: 0<br /><br />Months before September 11, 2001, that Cheney’s Energy Task Force investigated Iraq’s oil resources: 6<br /><br />Hours after the 9/11 attacks that an Alaska congressman speculated they may have been committed by “eco-terrorists”: 9<br /><br />Date on which the first contract for a book about September 11 was signed: 9/13/01<br /><br />Number of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African men detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after 9/11: 1,182<br /><br />Number of them ever charged with a terrorism-related crime: 0<br /><br />Number charged with an immigration violation: 762<br /><br />Days since the federal government first placed the nation under an “elevated terror alert” that the level has been relaxed: 0<br /><br />Minimum number of calls the FBI received in fall 2001 from Utah residents claiming to have seen Osama bin Laden: 20<br /><br />Number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since January 2002: 105,075<br /><br />Percentage of Americans in 2006 who believed that U.S. Muslims should have to carry special I.D.: 39<br /><br />Chances an American in 2002 believed the government should regulate comedy routines that make light of terrorism: 2 in 5<br /><br />Rank of Mom, Dad, and Rudolph Giuliani among those whom 2002 college graduates said they most wished to emulate: 1, 2, 3<br /><br />Number of members of the rock band Anthrax who said they hoarded Cipro so as to avoid an “ironic death”: 1<br /><br />Estimated total calories members of Congress burned giving Bush’s 2002 State of the Union standing ovations: 22,000<br /><br />Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50<br /><br />Minimum number of laws that Bush signing statements have exempted his administration from following: 1,069<br /><br />Estimated number of U.S. intelligence reports on Iraq that were based on information from a single defector: 100<br /><br />Number of times the defector had ever been interviewed by U.S. intelligence agents: 0<br /><br />Date on which Bush said of Osama bin Laden, “I truly am not that concerned about him”: 3/13/02<br /><br />Days after the U.S. invaded Iraq that Sony trademarked “Shock & Awe” for video games: 1<br /><br />Days later that the company gave up the trademark, citing “regrettable bad judgment”: 25<br /><br />Number of books by Henry Kissinger found in Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s mansion: 2<br /><br />Number by then–New York Times reporter Judith Miller: 1<br /><br />Factor by which an Iraqi in 2006 was more likely to die than in the last year of the Saddam regime: 3.6<br /><br />Factor by which the cause of death was more likely to be violence: 120<br /><br />Chance that an Iraqi has fled his or her home since the beginning of the war: 1 in 6<br /><br />Portion of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4<br /><br />Percentage of U.S. veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have filed for disability with the VA: 35<br /><br />Chance that an Iraq war veteran who has served two or more tours now has post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 4<br /><br />Number of all U.S. war veterans who have been denied Veterans Administration health care since 2003: 452,677<br /><br />Number of eligibility restrictions for admission into the Army that have been loosened since 2003: 9<br /><br />Percentage change from 2004 to 2007 in the number of Army recruits admitted despite having been charged with a felony: +295<br /><br />Date on which the White House announced it had stopped looking for WMDs in Iraq: 1/12/05<br /><br />Years since his acquittal that O. J. Simpson has said he is still looking for his wife’s “real killers”: 13<br /><br />Minimum number of close-up photographs of Bush’s hands owned by his current chief of staff, Josh Bolten: 4<br /><br />Number of vehicles in the motorcade that transports Bush to his regular bike ride in Maryland: 6<br /><br />Estimated total miles he has ridden his bike as president: 5,400<br /><br />Portion of his presidency he has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 1/3<br /><br />Minimum number of times that Frederick Douglass was beaten in what is now Donald Rumsfeld’s vacation home: 25<br /><br />Estimated number of juveniles whom the United States has detained as enemy combatants since 2002: 2,500<br /><br />Minimum number of detainees who were tortured to death in U.S. custody: 8<br /><br />Minimum number of extraordinary renditions that the United States has made since 2006: 200<br /><br />Date on which USA Today added Guantánamo to its weather map: 1/3/05<br /><br />Number of incidents of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2007: 897<br /><br />Number on shows during the previous seven years: 110<br /><br />Percentage change since 2000 in U.S. emigration to Canada: +79<br /><br />Number of the thirty-eight Iraq war veterans who have run for Congress who were Democrats: 21<br /><br />Percentage of Republicans in 2005 who said they would vote for Bush over George Washington: 62<br /><br />Seconds it took a Maryland consultant in 2004 to pick a Diebold voting machine’s lock and remove its memory card: 10<br /><br />Number of states John Kerry would have won in 2004 if votes by poor Americans were the only ones counted: 40<br /><br />Number if votes by rich Americans were the only ones counted: 4<br /><br />Portion of all U.S. income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 3/4<br /><br />Increase since 2000 in the number of Americans living at less than half the federal poverty level: 3,500,000<br /><br />Percentage change since 2001 in the average amount U.S. workers spend on out-of-pocket medical expenses: +172<br /><br />Estimated percentage by which Social Security benefits would have declined if Bush’s privatization plan had passed: –15<br /><br />Percentage change since 2002 in the number of U.S. teens using illegal drugs: –9<br /><br />Percentage change in the number of adults in their fifties doing so: +121<br /><br />Number of times FDA officials met with consumer and patient groups as they revised drug-review policy in 2006: 5<br /><br />Number of times they met with industry representatives: 113<br /><br />Amount the Justice Department spent in 2001 installing curtains to cover two seminude statues of Justice: $8,650<br /><br />Number of Republican officials who have been investigated by the Justice Department since 2001: 196<br /><br />Number of Democratic officials who have been: 890<br /><br />Number of White House officials in 2006 and 2007 authorized to discuss pending criminal cases with the DOJ: 711<br /><br />Number of Clinton officials ever authorized to do so: 4<br /><br />Years since a White House official as senior as I. Lewis Libby had been indicted while in office: 130<br /><br />Number of U.S. cities and towns that have passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Bush: 92<br /><br />Percentage change since 2001 in U.S. government spending on paper shredding: +466<br /><br />Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002: 60<br /><br />Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe humans are causing climate change: –4<br /><br />Number of total additions made to the U.S. endangered-species list under Bush: 61<br /><br />Average number made yearly under Clinton: 65<br /><br />Minimum number of pheasant hunts Dick Cheney has gone on since he shot a hunting companion in 2006: 5<br /><br />Days after Hurricane Katrina hit that Cheney’s office ordered an electric company to restore power to two oil pipelines: 1<br /><br />Days after the hurricane that the White House authorized sending federal troops into New Orleans: 4<br /><br />Portion of the $3.3 billion in federal Hurricane Katrina relief spent by Mississippi that has benefited poor residents: 1/4<br /><br />Percentage change in the number of Louisiana and Mississippi newborns named Katrina in the year after the storm: +153<br /><br />Rank of Nevaeh, “heaven” spelled backward, among the fastest growing names given to American newborns since 2000: 1<br /><br />Months, beginning in 2001, that the federal government’s online condom fact sheet disappeared from its website : 17<br /><br />Minimum amount that religious groups received in congressional earmarks from 2003 to 2006: $209,000,000<br /><br />Amount such groups received during the previous fourteen years: $107,000,000<br /><br />Percentage change from 2003 to 2007 in the amount of money invested in U.S. faith-based mutual funds: +88<br /><br />Average annualized percentage return during that time in the Christian and Muslim funds, respectively: +11, +15<br /><br />Number of feet the Ground Zero pit has been built up since the site was fully cleared in 2002: 30<br /><br />Number of 980-foot-plus “Super Tall” towers built in the Arab world in the seven years since 9/11: 4<br /><br />Year by which the third and final phase of the 2003 “road map” to a Palestinian state was to have been reached: 2005<br /><br />Estimated number of the twenty-five provisions of the first phase that have yet to be completed: 12<br /><br />Number of times in 2007 that U.S. media called General David Petraeus “King David”: 14<br /><br />Percentage change during the first ten months of the Iraq war “surge” in the number of Iraqis detained in U.S.-run prisons: +63<br /><br />Percentage change in the number of Iraqis aged nine to seventeen detained: +285<br /><br />Ratio of the entire U.S. federal budget in 1957, adjusted for inflation, to the amount spent so far on the Iraq war: 1:1<br /><br />Estimated amount Bush-era policies will cost the U.S. in new debt and accrued obligations: $10,350,000,000,000 (see page 31)<br /><br />Percentage change in U.S. discretionary spending during Bush’s presidency: +31<br /><br />Percentage change during Reagan’s and Clinton’s, respectively: +16, +0.3<br /><br />Ratio in 1999 of the number of U.S. federal employees to the number of private employees on government contracts: 15:6<br /><br />Ratio in 2006: 14:15<br /><br />Total value of U.S. government contracts in 2000 that were awarded without competitive bidding: $73,000,000,000<br /><br />Total in 2007: $146,000,000,000<br /><br />Number of the five directors of the No Child Left Behind reading program with financial ties to a curriculum they developed: 4<br /><br />Amount by which the federal government has underfunded its estimated cost to implement NCLB: $71,000,000,000<br /><br />Minimum number of copies sold, since it was released in 2006, of Flipping Houses for Dummies: 45,000<br /><br />Chance that the buyer of a U.S. home in 2006 now has “negative equity,” i.e., the debt on the home exceeds its value: 1 in 5<br /><br />Estimated value of Henry Paulson’s Goldman Sachs stock when he became Treasury Secretary and sold it: $575,000,000<br /><br />Estimated value of that stock today: $238,000,000<br /><br />Salary in 2006 of the White House’s newly created Director for Lessons Learned: $106,641<br /><br />Minimum number of Bush-related books published since 2001: 606<br /><br />Number of words in the first sentence of Bill Clinton’s memoir and in that of George W. Bush’s, respectively: 49, 5<br /><br />Minimum number of nicknames Bush has given to associates during his presidency: 75<br /><br />Number of associates with the last name Jackson he has dubbed “Action Jackson”: 2<br /><br />Number of press conferences at which Bush has referred to a question as a “trick”: 14<br /><br />Number of times he has declared an event or outcome not to be “acceptable”: 149<br /><br />Rank of Bush among U.S. presidents with the highest disapproval rating: 1<br /><br />Average percentage of Americans who approved of the job Bush was doing during his second term: 37<br /><br />Percentage of Russians today who approve of the direction their country took under Stalin: 37Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-19302882262838424732009-01-26T13:19:00.000-08:002009-01-26T13:43:57.972-08:00You know the world is coming to an end ...... when the fuzzy-headed knee-jerk liberal finds himself agreeing with the National Review:<br /><br /><blockquote>2009: <a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODBhOTYyZWYzYjQ2MDUxOWI2OTU2YTY4Yjc2ZmFlMTk=">A year to defend free speech<br />Or lose it</a>.<br /><br />By Geert Wilders & Robert Spencer<br />Wednesday, January 21, was a black day for freedom, and the beginning of an all-out assault on free speech in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam Court of Appeals <a href="http://www.rechtspraak.nl/Actualiteiten/Amsterdam+Court+of+Appeal+orders+the+criminal+prosecution+of+the+Member+of+Parliament+of+the+Dutch+S.htm">ordered the prosecution of Geert Wilders</a> (one of this article’s co-authors) for his statements about Islam. To participate in public debate is now a dangerous activity. This is the Netherlands today—and it could be the entire Western world tomorrow.<br /><br />The prosecution of Wilders was unexpected, though in retrospect one can see that something like it has been in the offing for a while. The year 2008 marked <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/60UDHRIntroduction.aspx">60 years</a> since the United Nations first promulgated its <a href="http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. Yet instead of celebrating this notable anniversary by reaffirming human rights, the world in 2008 saw certain fundamentally important human rights nearly disappear under intense pressure from Islamic countries that oppose freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the equality of all people before the law. Islamic efforts to create exceptional privileges for Muslims in the area of human rights have been advancing for quite some time, and they made great strides in 2008. Now, with the Amsterdam court’s judgment, we see the outcome of such efforts.<br /><br />The Islamic bloc has been on record for two decades as opposing free speech. In 1990, foreign ministers of the 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), currently the largest voting bloc in the United Nations, adopted the <a href="http://www.oicun.org/articles/54/1/Cairo-Declaration-on-Human-Rights-in-Islam/1.html">Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam</a>. It states clearly that Islamic law—sharia—is the only true source of human rights. Few analysts in 1990 understood that this was tantamount to declaring the legitimacy of institutionalized discrimination against women and non-Muslims, and signing the death warrant of freedom of speech and freedom of conscience as well. And not just in Muslim lands: The OIC and allied organizations have been aggressively pursuing efforts to extend elements of sharia into the West, though few people realize it even today.<br /><br />Due to the relentless efforts of the OIC, passage of a resolution on combating defamation of religions is now a yearly ritual in the United Nations. First introduced in the General Assembly in 2005, the resolution has been adopted with landslide votes every year since. While this resolution is non-binding, the OIC has declared its intention to seek a binding resolution—one that would require UN member states to criminalize criticism of Islam, as the OIC defines such criticism. This is a clear indication of the progressing Islamization of the United Nations.<br /><br />On March 28 of last year, the UN hit rock bottom. Its Human Rights Council—whose members include such stalwart defenders of freedom as China, Cuba, Angola, and Saudi Arabia—adopted a resolution that <a href="http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/DB737FD5DF7AAB53C125741A006CC861?OpenDocument">severely modified the mandate</a> of the <a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/expression/">Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression</a>. Instead of simply reporting on cases in which the right to free expression is being violated, the special rapporteur will now also have to report on cases in which that right is being “abused”—including when individuals use their freedom of speech to criticize Islam, or the particular elements of Islam that jihadists use to justify violence and Islamic supremacism. In essence, this means that the function of the special rapporteur has changed 180 degrees—from safeguarding the rights of individuals who hold unpopular or controversial ideas, to trying to limit the freedom of individuals to express such ideas.<br /><br />As the Canadian delegation noted, “instead of promoting freedom of expression the Special Rapporteur would be policing its exercise.” This is fundamentally inconsistent with the very foundation of the human-rights tradition, as are measures combating “defamation of religions.” Such measures aim to protect institutions and ideas from criticism, instead of protecting individuals from the consequences of criticizing them. The very concept of freedom of speech has thereby been turned on its head.<br /><br />Now the full force of this initiative has been directed against those who are sounding the alarm about the Islamization of the West. How could this have happened? Where was the opposition from Western nations? The silence in Europe has been deafening. Only recently did the French ambassador finally speak out, on behalf of the European Union, against the UN initiative to outlaw defamation of religions. He stated that the EU would not accept integration of the notion of defamation of religions into the framework of human rights, since the primary purpose of human rights is to protect people, not religions.<br /><br />Still, talk is cheap. If we want to preserve our universal human rights, we have to show determination in 2009 to defend them from the OIC’s attempts to erode them. The Amsterdam Appeals Court decision only indicates how urgently needed this action is today. But opposing the OIC would require strong, positive acts, which would be a departure from the current pattern. In the case of the resolution on the mandate of the special rapporteur, European countries did nothing but abstain from voting on the resolution. Even Canada, which spoke out strongly against the resolution, abstained rather than voting against it. The United States also abstained; in fact, no nation voted against the resolution at all.<br /><br />This was an absolute disgrace. The free nations of the world should have voted with their feet instead and resigned from the Human Rights Council immediately. Civilized states have no business participating in a forum that has been hijacked by the Islamic-supremacist agenda to replace fundamental human rights with the barbaric strictures of sharia.<br /><br />They should also boycott the <a href="http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/index.shtml">2009 Durban Review Conference (Durban II)</a>, because there is every indication that this “UN World Conference Against Racism” will be turned into an anti-Israeli and pro-Islamic platform under the direction of the OIC and will end up actually promoting racism and intolerance. In October 2008, the Second Preparatory Session of the 20-state Preparatory Committee for Durban II convened in Geneva, with Libya, that paragon of human rights, as chair, and Pakistan and Iran among the vice-chairs. This Preparatory Session produced a “Draft Outcome Document for the Durban Review Conference 2009,” recommending that UN member states make “defamation of Islam”—not just of “religion,” but of Islam in particular—a criminal offense on the local, national, and international levels. This “defamation,” the document declared, must no longer enjoy the protection that it has up to now under the “pretext” of “freedom of expression, counter terrorism or national security.” In other words, the Durban II Preparatory Session wants to criminalize investigations of the ideology, beliefs, motives, and goals of Islamic jihad terrorists, so that effectively the only people linking Islam with violence will be the jihadists themselves, and the Free World will be mute and defenseless before their advance.<br /><br />If Geert Wilders is silenced, all those who oppose attempts to impose Islamic legal norms upon the West will be silenced also. European nations and the United States should stop appeasing Islam and start fighting together against the rapidly increasing Islamization of Europe. This is a struggle for human rights and human dignity, and for the great heritage of Western civilization that has given so many things to the world, yet whose children and heirs seem curiously embarrassed and reluctant to defend it.<br /><br />Enough is enough. We must defend our freedom, or we will most certainly lose it.<br /><br /><i>—Geert Wilders is a Dutch parliamentarian, leader of the Party of Freedom, and maker of the film Fitna. Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth about Muhammad.</i></blockquote><br /><br />And we are finding ourself agreeing with this.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-87437682803395023542009-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:002009-01-23T12:03:00.147-08:00Effective Immediately: Return to the Moral High Ground<blockquote>All it took, at long last, was a few strokes of a pen.<br /><br />Scribble scribble. "There we go," President Obama said yesterday as he ordered the closure, within a year, of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.<br /><br />Scribble scribble. "There you go," he said, as he definitively banned torture.<br /><br />And with that, the United States reclaimed its place among nations that respect the rule of law and human dignity.<br /><br />"This is me following through on not just a commitment I made during the campaign," <a href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003015418">Obama said</a>, "but I think an understanding that dates back to our Founding Fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard,"<br /><br />Here are a some excerpts from Obama's executive order <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/EnsuringLawfulInterrogations/">Ensuring Lawful Interrogation</a>: "<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-13440.htm">Executive Order 13440</a> of July 20, 2007, is revoked. All executive directives, orders, and regulations inconsistent with this order, including but not limited to those issued to or by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 11, 2001, to January 20, 2009, concerning detention or the interrogation of detained individuals, are revoked to the extent of their inconsistency with this order. . . . <br /><br />"From this day forward, unless the Attorney General with appropriate consultation provides further guidance, officers, employees, and other agents of the United States Government . . . may not, in conducting interrogations, rely upon any interpretation of the law governing interrogation . . . issued by the Department of Justice between September 11, 2001, and January 20, 2009. . . .<br /><br />"Consistent with the requirements of the Federal torture statute, 18 U.S.C. <a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002340----000-.html">2340</a> <a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002340---A000-.html">2340A</a>, section 1003 of the <a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/gazette/2005/12/detainee-treatment-act-of-2005-white.php">Detainee Treatment Act of 2005</a>, <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/usc_sec_42_00002000--dd001-.html">42 U.S.C. 2000dd</a>, the <a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm">Convention Against Torture</a>, <a href="http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/375-590006">Common Article 3</a>, and other laws regulating the treatment and interrogation of individuals detained in any armed conflict, such persons shall in all circumstances be treated humanely and shall not be subjected to violence to life and person (including murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture), nor to outrages upon personal dignity (including humiliating and degrading treatment), whenever such individuals are in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the United States Government or detained within a facility owned, operated, or controlled by a department or agency of the United States. . . .<br /><br />"Effective immediately, an individual in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the United States Government, or detained within a facility owned, operated, or controlled by a department or agency of the United States, in any armed conflict, shall not be subjected to any interrogation technique or approach, or any treatment related to interrogation, that is not authorized by and listed in <a href="http://www.army.mil/institution/armypublicaffairs/pdf/fm2-22-3.pdf">Army Field Manual 2 22.3</a> . Interrogation techniques, approaches, and treatments described in the Manual shall be implemented strictly in accord with the principles, processes, conditions, and limitations the Manual prescribes." </blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2009/01/23/BL2009012302209.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">Go to original</a>Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-87987998643855925962008-12-30T09:13:00.000-08:002008-12-30T09:16:14.970-08:00Christian Bias in Military?<blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/29/AR2008122901924.html?hpid=sec-religion">Soldier alleges military pattern of Christian bias</a><br /><br />An atheist soldier suing over prayers at military formations claims a larger pattern of religious discrimination exists in the military, citing attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and an evangelical bias in a suicide prevention manual.<br /><br />The expanded lawsuit filed Monday by Spc. Dustin Chalker and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in U.S. District Court in Kansas City also claims the military doesn't take complaints of religious discrimination seriously enough.<br /><br />The Defense Department has identified fewer than 50 complaints about alleged violations of religious freedoms during the past three years, with 1.4 million personnel in uniform, spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said.<br />ad_icon<br /><br />She declined to comment on a pending lawsuit but noted that the military has policies against endorsing any religious view.<br /><br />The revised lawsuit criticizes the Army's 2008 manual on suicide prevention, quoting it as promoting "religiosity" as a necessary part of prevention and describing "connectivity to the divine" as "fundamental."<br /><br />The lawsuit cites comments from a chaplain and a second soldier in Christian missionary publications about attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the two soldiers' desire to distribute Bibles.<br /><br />The lawsuit also notes that in 2007, the Air Force sponsored "Team Faith," which performs motocross stunt shows to "lead extreme sports athletes to Christ."<br /><br />The original lawsuit filed in September alleged Chalker had to attend events at Fort Riley where Christian prayers were given. Foundation president Mikey Weinstein said Chalker tried to pursue his complaints within the Army but was told they were "unfounded." <br /><br />On the Net:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ksd.uscourts.gov/">U.S. District Court, Kansas</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/">Military Religious Freedom Foundation</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.defenselink.mil">Department of Defense</a> </blockquote><br /><br />What will these crazy Christians think of next?Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-73254455856400007042008-12-26T15:12:00.000-08:002008-12-26T15:21:47.744-08:00Correspondences"All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus" Republican Candidate Sam Brownback's stump speech in Iowa.<br /><br />"Between science and God, I'll stick with God if the two are in conflict." Republican Candidate Mike Huckabee<br /><br />"Freedom requires religion." Republican Candidate Mitt Romney<br /><br />"I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation." John McCain<br /><br />"Just before us is a nuclear countdown with Iran, followed by the final battle: the battle of Armageddon . . . . The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. The best is yet to be." Televangelist and McCain endorser John Hagee<br /><br />"Americans must be 'Christocrats' -- citizens of both their country and the Kingdom of God"; "And that is not a democracy; that is a theocracy"; "That means God is in control, and you are not." Televangelist and McCain supporter Rod Parsley<br /><br />March 13, 2008 - Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced S. Res. 483, a resolution "recognizing the first weekend of May 2008 as 'Ten Commandments Weekend,'" which has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The resolution has one co-sponsor -- Joe Lieberman. "The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation" John McCain, September 2007<br /><br />"Our national leaders, are sending soldiers out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan." Sarah Palin, on the Iraq war<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfUKvGtkGxxkgBGq0NNA6vuGfsSNRuc6wxSP5r3EVks0lXlYXSuKjqhu829GnHJ_UrEHuHOmSL1ZRifjo0H1eQF_Qk-YuDiE0Y3rExw6pfvpJwwGl6t5D5ixeQzjrQMKTTgjSB53ANgj6/s1600-h/081226+-+Fascist-Palin-.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 229px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfUKvGtkGxxkgBGq0NNA6vuGfsSNRuc6wxSP5r3EVks0lXlYXSuKjqhu829GnHJ_UrEHuHOmSL1ZRifjo0H1eQF_Qk-YuDiE0Y3rExw6pfvpJwwGl6t5D5ixeQzjrQMKTTgjSB53ANgj6/s320/081226+-+Fascist-Palin-.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284240819314825106" /></a><br /><br />If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier -- so long as I'm the dictator. George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2000<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzLG1ngSeItUNxh2pz10NNE7va-G31BsTtYabw2thrszA5OBdg7JIJsSQ7ylgHNH0dy9euA9GZOjflJ2hefeRawDNvNMBlLOE4J-SYGOs8zTH-Vds-YBlZ9OO9iiPjV7ajbXNuu49Q2Fog/s1600-h/081226+-+bush-der-feurher.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 289px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzLG1ngSeItUNxh2pz10NNE7va-G31BsTtYabw2thrszA5OBdg7JIJsSQ7ylgHNH0dy9euA9GZOjflJ2hefeRawDNvNMBlLOE4J-SYGOs8zTH-Vds-YBlZ9OO9iiPjV7ajbXNuu49Q2Fog/s320/081226+-+bush-der-feurher.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284241089836857090" /></a><br /><br />"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" Rev. Jerry Falwell<br /><br />"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.... We need believing people." Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933<br /><br />"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society." D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries and Bush advisor.<br /><br />"The really dangerous American fascist... is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective, toward which all their deceit is directed, is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection." U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, quoted in the New York Times, April 9, 1944<br /><br />"What did the Fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, and Spain have in common? They consisted of a highly militarized state, backed by corporation and a wealthy elite, that rose to power through a false populism that exploited the public's fear of foreigners and 'moral degenerates'. This precisely defines the formula that Karl Rove designed to consolidate the Bush administration's power in the recent election." Sean Donahue, Nov. 2004<br /><br />"I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for president." George W. Bush, quoted in George Magazine, September, 2000<br /><br />"I would like to thank Providence and the Almighty for choosing me of all people to be allowed to wage this battle for Germany." Adolf Hitler<br /><br />"A person who is guided by God will never be misguided by anyone." Osama Bin Laden<br /><br />"We're being guided by God." Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson<br /><br />"George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the United States. He was appointed by God." Lt. Gen. William Boykin, the defense undersecretary in charge of hunting down top terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan<br /><br />"Nothing [Bush] does can be challenged on moral grounds, however unethical or evil it might appear, because all of his actions are directed by God. He can twist the truth, oppress the poor, exalt the rich, despoil the earth, ignore the law--and murder children--without the slightest compunction, the briefest moment of doubt or self-reflection, because he believes, he truly believes, that God squats in his brainpan and tells him what to do." Chris Floyd, CounterPunch, 7/30/03<br /><br />"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God." George Bush Sr., to a reporter in 1988<br /><br />"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider to be God-fearing and pious." Aristotle, 343 B.C.<br /><br />"He [God] is using me, all the time, everywhere, to stand up for a biblical worldview in everything that I do and everywhere I am." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay<br /><br />"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier -- so long as I'm the dictator." George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2000<br /><br />"Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." Lt Gen William Boykin, speaking of G. W. Bush, New York Times, 17 October 2003<br /><br />"He [Rumsfeld] leads in a way that the Good Lord tells him is best for our country." Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff<br /><br />"God gave the savior to the German people. We have faith, deep and unshakeable faith, that he was sent to us by God to save Germany." Hermann Goering, speaking of Hitler<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHjtLwzOA4mzRQ1_42wl6sSBIeXNtCo4pkcK2YA6Pv5eMQgu1HaX1GeRh3n1cI82C8SR4ugd0MK0wVm0QWEt0m1CpIcW3P9FTx27H4amACznsA5Je0hoX5Cbvt8lPha3-_Gyrd50RVH75/s1600-h/081226+-+guns_and_gods.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHjtLwzOA4mzRQ1_42wl6sSBIeXNtCo4pkcK2YA6Pv5eMQgu1HaX1GeRh3n1cI82C8SR4ugd0MK0wVm0QWEt0m1CpIcW3P9FTx27H4amACznsA5Je0hoX5Cbvt8lPha3-_Gyrd50RVH75/s320/081226+-+guns_and_gods.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284242543967591522" /></a><br /><br />"Government authorities, police and the military = God's Ministers" Frank Bussey, director of Military Ministry at Fort Jackson<br /><br />"Our purpose for Campus Crusade for Christ at the Air Force Academy is to make Jesus Christ the issue at the Air Force Academy and around the world. They're government paid missionaries when they leave here." Scot Blom, Campus Crusade for Christ director assigned to work at the Air Force Academy<br /><br />"...bring lost soldiers closer to Christ, build them in their faith and send them out into the world as Government paid missionaries." Military Ministry, a subsidiary of the Campus Crusade for Christ <br /><br /><br />Thanks to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68467&id=846105721#/profile.php?id=6310388">Ray</a> for showing me <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=55105098504&h=G7Inx&u=ocW1D">this</a>Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-7890653916628599272008-12-23T15:49:00.000-08:002008-12-23T15:59:08.300-08:00Vatican rehabilitates Galileo Five Hundred Years Too Late<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlZsydPXUcfRJvl_wskQhDBWQhVYFs4eFsnaKo7SriunE32tC4KrOuEjN4RuLoyAJ8Nv7QbdoWE7JWy60iaU9n3xqqAcqjtqRYyBIn8s6800iLRgXiJSXLeWq0d6jWJoTRVuraVaq-2On/s1600-h/Galileo+Galilei.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlZsydPXUcfRJvl_wskQhDBWQhVYFs4eFsnaKo7SriunE32tC4KrOuEjN4RuLoyAJ8Nv7QbdoWE7JWy60iaU9n3xqqAcqjtqRYyBIn8s6800iLRgXiJSXLeWq0d6jWJoTRVuraVaq-2On/s320/Galileo+Galilei.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283137467298278322" /></a><br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081223/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_rehabilitating_galileo">Vatican rehabilitating Galileo</a><br /><br />By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 23, 2:45 pm ET<br /><br />VATICAN CITY – Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero.<br /><br />The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope and the U.N.-designated International Year of Astronomy next year.<br /><br />Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist Sunday, saying he and other scientists had helped the faithful better understand and "contemplate with gratitude the Lord's works."<br /><br />In May, several Vatican officials will participate in an international conference to re-examine the Galileo affair, and top Vatican officials are now saying Galileo should be named the "patron" of the dialogue between faith and reason.<br /><br />It's quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.<br /><br />The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest.<br /><br />The Church has for years been striving to shed its reputation for being hostile to science, in part by producing top-notch research out of its own telescope.<br /><br />In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."<br /><br />But that apparently wasn't enough. In January, Benedict canceled a speech at Rome's La Sapienza University after a group of professors, citing the Galileo episode and depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed to science, argued that he shouldn't speak at a public university.<br /><br />The Galileo anniversary appears to be giving the Vatican new impetus to put the matter to rest. In doing so, Vatican officials are stressing Galileo's faith as well as his science, to show the two are not mutually exclusive.<br /><br />At a Vatican conference last month entitled "Science 400 Years after Galileo Galilei," the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Galileo was an astronomer, but one who "lovingly cultivated his faith and his profound religious conviction."<br /><br />"Galileo Galilei was a man of faith who saw nature as a book authored by God," Bertone said.<br /><br />The head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, which co-sponsored the conference, went further. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi told Vatican Radio that Galileo "could become for some the ideal patron for a dialogue between science and faith."<br /><br />He said Galileo's writings offered a "path" to explore how faith and reason were not incompatible.<br /><br />The Rev. John Padberg, a church historian and the director of the Institute of Jesuit Sources at St. Louis University, said he suspected the Vatican's new emphasis on Galileo's faith came from the pope himself.<br /><br />"Pope Benedict XVI is ardently convinced of the congruence of faith and reason, and he is concerned, especially in the present circumstances, of giving reason its due place in the whole scheme of things," he said.<br /><br />While it is widely accepted that Galileo was a convinced Catholic, Padberg questioned whether he could ever be accepted as some kind of a poster child for the faith and reason debate. "That's going to be a long shot for an awful lot of people, on both sides, by the way," he said.<br /><br />Benedict, a theologian, has made exploring the faith-reason relationship a key aspect of his papacy, and has directed his daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, in particular, to take up the charge.<br /><br />On Monday, the newspaper published a piece on the possibility of alien life on other planets as well as one on the popes who were "friendly" to astronomy.<br /><br />Benedict clearly is: In his Sunday blessing, he noted that the Vatican itself has its own meridian — an obelisk in St. Peter's Square — and that astronomy had long been used to signal prayer times for the faithful.<br /><br />But the Vatican's embrace of Galileo only goes so far.<br /><br />There were plans earlier this year to give Galileo a permanent place of honor in the Vatican to mark the anniversary of his telescope: a statue, to be located inside the Vatican gardens, donated by the Italian aerospace giant Finmeccanica SpA.<br /><br />The plans were suspended after some Vatican officials voiced "problems" with the initiative, said Nicola Cabibbo, the president of the Pontifical Council for Science. He declined to elaborate.<br /><br />Finmeccanica spokesman Roberto Alatri said the Galileo statue was just an idea that never got off the ground.<br /><br />Italian news reports suggested the Vatican simply didn't want to draw so much permanent attention to the Galileo episode, which 400 years on, still rankles some.<br /><br />"The dramatic clash between Galileo and some men of the Church left wounds that are still open today," the Vatican's chief astronomer, the Rev. Jose Funes, wrote recently in Osservatore. "The Church in some ways has recognized its errors.<br /><br />"Maybe it could do better. One can always do better," he wrote.<br /><br />___<br /><br />On the Web:<br /><br />International congress "The Galileo Affair: A historical, philosophical and theological re-examination" is at http://www.stensen.it<br /><br />Vatican Observatory is at http://www.vaticanobservatory.org</blockquote><br /><br />Now,if the Vatican could just undo all the damage it did to the "heretics" it burned at the stake (alive and dead), tortured, imprisoned, from whom it took all property, even doing so posthumously by appropriating the "heretic"'s survivors. In our mind, the RCC has still got a lot of 'splainin' to do ... and apologizing and atoning and ...Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-24545864569758982512008-12-22T10:06:00.001-08:002008-12-22T10:08:34.569-08:00Democracy flowers in Iraq, thanks to US Presence<blockquote>December 22, 2008<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/world/middleeast/22iraq.html?_r=1">Iraqi Journalist Who Threw Shoes at Bush Was Tortured in Jail, His Brother Says</a><br /><br />By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS<br /><br />BAGHDAD — The television reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush was burned by a cigarette in the hours after his arrest on Dec. 14 and was beaten so badly by Iraqi security personnel that one of his teeth was knocked out, the reporter’s brother said Sunday after a visit to the jail.<br /><br />The reporter, Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, has been jailed since hurling his shoes at Mr. Bush during a news conference here last week. Mr. Zaidi has not been formally charged, but he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of the crime of aggression against a foreign leader during an official visit.<br /><br />A spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki did not return phone calls seeking comment on Sunday about the allegations, but the Maliki government previously denied that Mr. Zaidi had been mistreated while in custody.<br /><br />It was Mr. Maliki’s security detail that detained Mr. Zaidi after he hurled his shoes. Mr. Zaidi was seen being beaten before he was pulled from the room where the news conference by Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki was held.<br /><br />On Sunday before the torture allegations were made public, Mr. Maliki said that he had received a letter from Mr. Zaidi saying that a terrorist had persuaded him to throw the shoes.<br /><br />“A person urged him to commit this act, and this person is known to us as a person who beheads people,” Mr. Maliki said, without divulging the person’s name.<br /><br />Mr. Zaidi’s family has maintained that he was acting out of his own frustration with the American invasion.<br /><br />The visit by one of Mr. Zaidi’s brothers was the first by either a relative or a lawyer that the reporter had been allowed since being jailed. He has not been seen publicly since his arrest.<br /><br />During an interview broadcast Sunday on Al Baghdadia, the Cairo-based satellite television network for which Mr. Zaidi works, his brother Uday, 33, said that Mr. Zaidi had been stripped to his underwear before being placed in a cell and tortured during the 24-hour period after his arrest.<br /><br />“He told me he was sleeping on the floor of the cell when a very large man came in and dumped cold water on him and began hitting him with a thick cable,” Uday al-Zaidi said in the TV interview.<br /><br />He said his brother had told him that he was brutally beaten by several men and burned on his right ear by a cigarette. Uday al-Zaidi said that on Sunday his brother had bruises on his face, stitches on the bridge of his nose and swelling in his legs, arms and hands.<br /><br />His jailers had periodically demanded that he state in a videotaped confession that he had been ordered to commit the act by enemies of the prime minister, Uday al-Zaidi said his brother had told him.<br /><br />Uday al-Zaidi said his brother had said: “After the torture and the cold-water shower, I told them to bring me a blank sheet of paper and I would sign it, and they could write whatever they wanted. I am ready to say I am a terrorist or whatever you want.”<br /><br />But Muntader al-Zaidi told his brother that the men had stopped beating him and did not force him to write or sign anything. The journalist said that a letter to the prime minister written by him from jail expressing regret for the attack had not been coerced, his brother said. It was unclear if this was the same letter Mr. Maliki referred to.<br /><br />Uday al-Zaidi said his brother told him that he had bought the shoes — used — at a market in Cairo. </blockquote><br /><br />For THIS we liberated Iraq? How many Americans and Iraqis and "coalition troops" have died so that this great democracy can flourish?Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-78354777269548770852008-12-19T14:03:00.000-08:002008-12-19T14:04:28.501-08:00The Line Between Contraception and AbortionWe're having fun over at the Washington Post this afternoon, participating in a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/groups/index.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aa70e3396-6663-4a8d-ba19-e44939d3c44fForum%3a7e37e6c5-101b-4a23-8c06-99fc97d57bf8Discussion%3a33c0cdd0-818b-4179-a49c-9951bcce51a1&plckCurrentPage=0">discussion</a> of "The Line Between Contraception and Abortion". Feel free to stop by and join in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/groups/index.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aa70e3396-6663-4a8d-ba19-e44939d3c44fForum%3a7e37e6c5-101b-4a23-8c06-99fc97d57bf8Discussion%3a33c0cdd0-818b-4179-a49c-9951bcce51a1&plckCurrentPage=0">discussion</a>!Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-83002708981976041112008-12-19T08:49:00.000-08:002008-12-19T09:00:59.484-08:00Bristol-Levi UpdateWe know that our reader has been on the edge of his/her seat recently, wondering how things are going for the lovely damsel Bristol Palin and her handsome knight Levi Johnson. We are therefore mightily pleased to be able to bring you this item from the Anchorage Daily News:<br /><blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/628010.html?pageNum=10&&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container">Levi Johnston's mother hit with drug charges<br />Arrested: her son was in the spotlight as father of Bristol Palin's baby.</a><br /><br />By ZAZ HOLLANDER<br />zhollander@adn.com<br /><br />WASILLA -- A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. Sherry L. Johnston was charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.<br /><br />Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old who received international attention in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Bristol Palin, 18, is due on Saturday, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath.<br /><br />Troopers served the warrant at Johnston's home at the "conclusion of an undercover narcotics investigation," said a statement issued Thursday by the troopers as part of the normal daily summary of activity around the state.<br /><br />Troopers charged Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance -- generally manufacturing or delivering drugs -- as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession.<br /><br />Troopers released no other information, including the kind or amount of drugs, because details could jeopardize an ongoing investigation, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.<br /><br />Asked how long the investigation had proceeded before Johnston's arrest, Peters would only say "a while."<br /><br />The Palmer District Attorney's office had no comment.<br /><br />Sherry Johnston was arrested around noon and booked at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, according to a booking officer there. She was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond just after 2 p.m.<br /><br />No charging documents had been filed at Palmer courthouse by the end of the day, a clerk said.<br /><br />Levi Johnston sat with Bristol and the rest of the Palin family in St. Paul, Minn., during Gov. Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention, and he joined the family on the stage afterwards.<br /><br />When asked about the arrest, Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, issued the following statement by e-mail: "This is not a state government matter. Therefore the governor's communications staff will not be providing comment or scheduling interview opportunities."<br /><br />Johnston didn't come to the door of her home on Caribou Loop Road outside Wasilla on Thursday afternoon. A teenage boy who answered the door said he couldn't provide any information.<br /><br /></blockquote><br /><br />A commentator at the Anchorage Daily News offers this comment:<br /><br />"And this is news why? Oh, wait, it's because her son knocked up the governor's daughter. What a sorry excuse for a news story. If this was anyone else, it would be a small blurb in the police blotter."<br /><br />All true. And yet, some say that apples don't fall far from the tree .... We're just worried that Sherry may not be out of the slammer in time to attend Bristol's and Levi's wedding - now that would be a tragedy, the Johnsons and the Palins bein' all jiggy with family values, n' stuff. <br /><br />Come to think of it, when is that wedding? The baby is apparently due tomorrow, Saturday, December 20, 2008 ... and the kid's parents aren't even living under the same roof, let alone married? I'm sure, however, that all their friends on the "right" will be rushing to give them a hand (not a hand-out) to get on their feet. We expected it to be four feet, rather than two, however. Surely, the Johnsons and the Palins won't disappoint.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-22445578228728880582008-12-18T16:11:00.000-08:002008-12-18T16:19:55.222-08:00Biblical MarriageTalking Points for the Religious Right's efforts to legislate "Biblical Marriage", with references to the textual support found in the Bible:<br /><br />A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)<br /><br />B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)<br /><br />C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)<br /><br />D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)<br /><br />E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)<br /><br />F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)<br /><br />G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)<br /><br />Thanks to "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/mypost/index.html?newspaperUserId=inbox_blues&plckUserId=inbox_blues">inbox_blues</a>" in comments to Joe Solmonese's piece "Obama's Inaugural Mistake" in today's <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121802788_Comments.html#">Washington Post</a>.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-73115438778271186342008-12-18T10:56:00.000-08:002008-12-18T11:02:50.481-08:00I am the Walrus<blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Iraq officials arrested for reviving Baath party</span><br /><br />BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Twenty-three officers from Iraq's Interior Ministry have been arrested on suspicion of trying to rebuild former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baath party, a ministry spokesman said on Thursday.<br /><br />Major-General Abdul Karim Khalaf said the officers were arrested under suspicion of being part of the al-Awda ("Return") party, seen as a new incarnation of the once omnipotent Baath party that was outlawed following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.<br /><br />"They are now being interrogated under the supervision of the Iraqi judiciary," Khalaf told Reuters. He said being a member of al-Awda was equivalent to being a Baath member.<br /><br />The New York Times reported on Thursday that an elite counterterrorism force, reporting directly to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, arrested up to 35 officials, some of whom were accused of plotting a coup against the government.<br /><br />Asked whether those arrested were suspected of plotting a coup, Khalaf repeated they were suspected of being members of the al-Awda party.<br /><br />Read the rest <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081218/wl_nm/us_iraq_arrests_9">here</a>.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqOKvonLrH8">Coup coup ka joo</a>.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-77093901766380749012008-12-11T10:36:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:41:34.891-08:00Bipartisan Report: Rumsfeld Responsible for Detainee Abuse<blockquote>Senate Committee Finds Officials Made Decisions That Led to Offenses Against Prisoners<br /><br />A <a href="http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/pdf/12112008_detaineeabuse.pdf">bipartisan Senate report</a> released today says that former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials are directly responsible for abuses of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and charges that decisions by those officials led to serious offenses against prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. <br />The Senate Armed Services Committee report accuses Rumsfeld and his deputies of being the principal architects of the plan to use harsh interrogation techniques on captured fighters and terrorism suspects, rejecting the Bush administration's contention that the policies originated lower down the command chain. </blockquote><br /><br />Read the rest of the WaPo story <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121101969.html?hpid=topnews">here</a>.<br /><br />We're not holding our breath waiting for those <a href="http://villainouscompany.com/vcblog/">credulous sycophants for the military</a> to apologize for their knee-jerk commentaries that it really was a few bad apples who were responsible for this.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-32914431350666247442008-12-02T20:11:00.000-08:002008-12-02T20:32:32.798-08:00So-Called Christians Come to the Defense Of Alleged Torturers Of Teen<blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">TRACY, Calif. — A Girl Scout leader and her husband were arrested after an emaciated, terrified and nearly naked 17-year-old showed up at a gym with a chain locked to his ankle, saying he had just fled his captors, authorities said Tuesday.<br /><br />Police were also seeking a third suspect and had an outstanding felony warrant against her for an earlier alleged assault against the teen.<br /><br />The boy, who authorities said ran away from a Sacramento foster home last year, came into the In-Shape Sports Club in Tracy on Monday wearing only boxer briefs and covered in what appeared to be soot, gym manager Chuck Ellis said. Tracy is about 70 miles south of Sacramento.<br /><br />Ellis said the teen was scared someone was going to come after him and asked to be hidden.<br /><br />"He said, 'Don't let them get me, don't let them get me,'" Ellis said. "He was totally terrified."<br /><br />The boy said he had been held captive for nearly a year, said Ellis, adding that he looked as if he was only 10 to 12 years old.<br /><br />Authorities said they believe the boy had been chained to a car seat but picked up a dropped key, unlocked himself and fled when the car stopped.<br /><br />Police arrested Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and Michael Schumacher, 34, late Monday after questioning the couple. A subsequent search of their nearby home found further evidence implicating them, said Tracy police spokesman Matt Robinson, who would not describe what officers found.</span></blockquote><br /><br />Read the rest <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/02/girl-scout-leader-and-hus_n_147905.html">here</a>.<br /><br />We here at HSD are investigating rumors that the <a href="http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=bbd508f54922d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=9c672f2324d98010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____">Moron Church</a>, the primary proponent of California's recent <a href="http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/title-sum/prop8-title-sum.htm">Proposition H8</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/homosexuality/">Focus on the Family</a>, <a href="http://www.frc.org/human-sexuality#homosexuality">The Family Research Council</a> are pooling their resources to mount a publicity campaign arguing that custody of the boy should be restored to Kelly Layne Lau and Michael Schumacher rather than run the risk that a homosexual couple might be seen as better guardians for the boy than Lau and Schumacher or 43-year-old Caren Ramirez, suspected of being the boy's aunt.herMark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-49484426912285124112008-11-27T21:48:00.000-08:002008-11-27T21:49:09.115-08:00Thank you Sarah Palin<div><iframe src="http://www.236.com/ovembed.php?vid=MTg5Njc4Njk1OA==" width="425" height="370" noresize="noresize" frameborder="0" border="0" cellspacing="0" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" style="border:0px;overflow: hidden;"></iframe><div style="padding: 0px 5px 5px 5px; width: 410px; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;">Get the latest news <a href="http://www.236.com/">satire</a> and <a href="http://www.236.com/video/">funny videos</a> at <a href="http://www.236.com">236.com</a>.</div></div>Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-1424956016788215372008-11-10T09:24:00.001-08:002008-11-10T09:25:16.461-08:00You know the end of the world is near ...... when there is a <a href="http://www.marleyresort.com/">Bob Marley Resort</a> in the Caribbean with rooms that start at $450 per night.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-38904361130154660292008-10-29T08:59:00.000-07:002008-10-30T11:35:09.888-07:00Swan song for losers in the marketplace of ideasPredictably, the nattering nabobs of right-wing nut-job-dom are bloviating all over the ether about voter fraud. <br /><br /><a href="http://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/">Grim</a> is doing it. <a href="http://www.villainouscompany.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2491">Cassandra</a> is doing it. <a href="http://saywhatyoureallymean.blogspot.com/2008/10/fox-breaking-news-indiana-secretary-of.html">Fred Flintstone</a> is doing it. The “<a href="http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2008/10/acorn-is-also-tax-cheat.html">yidwithlid</a>” is doing it, and <a href="http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2008/10/hillary-supporters-obamaacorn-fraud.html">doing</a> it. <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/obama_voter_fraud/2008/10/26/144303.html">Kenneth R. Timmerman</a> is doing it (whoever the hell that is). <a href="http://logisticsmonster.com/2008/10/26/obama-and-voter-fraud/">Diamond Tiger</a> is doing it. <a href="http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-campaign-workers-pull-their.html">Susan Duclos</a> is doing it. <a href="http://blog.savejersey.com/2008/10/25/obamite-cheating-continues-in-ohio.aspx">Zebulon Pike</a> is doing it. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/urgent_queue/index.html#15d7bf84,2008-10-22">John Boner</a> is doing it. <a href="http://faultlineusa.blogspot.com/2008/10/acorn-voter-registration-fraud-issue.html">Faultline</a> is doing it. The <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/10252008/news/politics/bam_staffers_pull_their_bogus_ohio_ballo_135152.htm">NY Post</a> is doing it. <a href="http://myaisling.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-much-harm-can-acorn-do-about-66.html">My Aisling</a> is doing it. <br /><br />We can understand how the right’s reactionary wheels might be coming off, seein’s how it looks at this point as if BHO and Joe will get the gold next Tuesday, but all this hysteria about voter fraud is just the swan song for a philosophy which is NOT winning in the marketplace of ideas. <br /><br />http://cronespeaks.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/the-real-story-of-voter-fraud/<br /><br />to be continued ...Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-43780752530996985092008-10-28T21:32:00.000-07:002008-10-28T21:49:41.013-07:00Batter my heart, three-person'd GodOur surfing tonight has taken us a ways afield from our usual haunts for this page ... but since we've gone there, we offer this:<br /><br />by John Donne<br /><br />Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you<br />As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;<br />That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend<br />Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.<br />I, like an usurp'd town to'another due,<br />Labor to'admit you, but oh, to no end;<br />Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,<br />But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.<br />Yet dearly'I love you, and would be lov'd fain,<br />But am betroth'd unto your enemy;<br />Divorce me,'untie or break that knot again,<br />Take me to you, imprison me, for I,<br />Except you'enthrall me, never shall be free,<br />Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.<br /><br />from <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173362">Poetry Foundation</a>Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-10942471048780045322008-10-28T21:12:00.000-07:002008-10-28T21:17:45.938-07:00Night Fantasies: works of Crumb, Ligeti, Debussy, Carter, Berg, Schumann, Messiaen, and others<object width="400" height="225"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1904882&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /> <embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1904882&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/1904882?pg=embed&sec=1904882">Night Fantasies</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user493448?pg=embed&sec=1904882">The Chamber Music Society</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com?pg=embed&sec=1904882">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /><blockquote>In November, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will present an imaginatively programmed festival entitled <a href="http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/nf/">Night Fantasies</a>: works of Crumb, Ligeti, Debussy, Carter, Berg, Schumann, Messiaen, and various others, on a nocturnal theme. Klaus Lauer, of the Römerbad festival in Germany, serves as guest curator. To spread word, CMS has created a striking short video of musicians in Manhattan at night. The soundtrack is the "God-music" from Crumb's Black Angels, with a slight admixture of Chopin and Ligeti.<br /><br />Opening at <a href="http://www.issueprojectroom.org/">ISSUE Project Room</a> in Brooklyn tomorrow: Darmstadt's <a href="http://www.darmstadtnewmusic.org/">Essential Repertoire</a> festival, celebrating American experimental and minimalist music of the postwar era.</blockquote><br /><br />We found this at <a href="http://www.therestisnoise.com/">The Rest Is Noise</a>. This doesn't have anything to do with hypocrisy, but we like it anyway.Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-50162396427225558342008-10-28T20:24:00.000-07:002008-10-28T20:30:14.725-07:00Dear Red States<blockquote>Dear Red States:<br /><br />If you manage to steal this election too, we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. <br /> <br />In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.<br /><br />To sum up briefly: <br /><br />You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share.<br /><br />Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms. <br /> <br />Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.<br /><br />With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.<br /><br />With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.<br /><br />We get Hollywood and Yosemite too, thank you. <br /><br />Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you believe you are people with higher morals than we lefties.<br /><br />Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico. <br /><br />Peace out,<br /><br />Blue States</blockquote><br /><br />One of our friends sent this along today. Although we have seen things like it before, we found this one so amusing and the timing seemed right, so we thought we'd share it with our reader. We just want to go on the record, however, as stating that we do not use pot or weed (though we did give it a try 30-odd years ago or so, and at that time we did inhale).Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-9544914258047885772008-10-27T17:48:00.000-07:002008-10-27T17:49:44.090-07:00More GOP socialism for the little guy ...The U.S. government is considering direct financial assistance to facilitate a possible merger between General Motors Corp (GM.N) and Chrysler LLC, a private sector source familiar with Treasury discussions told <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081027/bs_nm/us_financial_gm_4">Reuters</a> on MondayMark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-79957271514324537032008-10-27T14:32:00.000-07:002008-10-27T14:35:00.458-07:00The South Will Rise AgainWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Law enforcement arrested two men in Tennessee who had plans to rob a gun dealer to shoot Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and "as many non-Caucasians" as possible, an official said on Monday.<br /><br />An official from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said police found the men in the Jackson, Tennessee area with a number of guns, including a sawed-off shotgun, in their car.<br /><br />"They wanted to go to a place where they could shoot as many non-Caucasian as they could," the official said, noting that the men first planned to rob a gun dealer. "They also had a plot to assassinate Sen. Obama."<br /><br />Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, is leading Republican John McCain in opinion polls ahead of the November 4 election.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081027/pl_nm/us_usa_politics_plot_5">Original</a>Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-61636464480385563082008-10-24T11:15:00.000-07:002008-10-30T11:48:10.582-07:00The first one now shall later be last for the times they are a-changin’<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302869.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">Civil War on the Right</a> - Washington Post<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102303806.html?hpid=topnews">Polls Point to Struggle for McCain</a> - Washington Post<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102303363.html?hpid=sec-politics">As an Issue, Taxes Favor Obama</a> - Washington Post<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?hp">New York Times: Editorial: Barack Obama for President</a> - New York Times<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/opinion/23kristof.html?em">Rebranding the U.S. With Obama</a> - New York Times<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24poll.html">Polls Show Obama Gaining Among Bush Voters</a> - New York Times<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=00c06f55-a5e0-48fb-a5e1-c3978ba94600">The GOP Has Finally Imploded</a> - New Republic<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081110/moser">North Carolinians Have Fallen for Obama</a> - The Nation<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1d0b127c-a380-11dd-942c-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1">Obama is the better choice</a> - Financial Times<br /><br /><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/obamas_first_100_days.html">Obama's First 100 Days</a> by Patrick Buchanan<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/nov/03/00020//">Francis Fukuyama at The American Conservative</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/nov/03/00023/">Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn at The American Conservative</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/nov/03/00011/">Scott McConnell at The American Conservative</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/nov/03/00030/">Robert Pape at The American Conservative</a><br /><br /><br />To be continued as time permits ...Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948590733023128436.post-49364142211214320812008-10-21T10:05:00.000-07:002008-10-21T10:07:39.047-07:00US drops charges against 5 Guantanamo prisoners<blockquote>The Pentagon said Tuesday it has dropped war-crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay detainees after the former prosecutor in their cases complained that the military was withholding evidence helpful to the defense.<br /><br />None of the men will be freed, and the military said it could reinstate charges later.</blockquote><br />Can someone please explain to me how <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081021/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_guantanamo_charges_dropped">this</a> is anything different than what Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the Shah of Iran, the Taliban did and are doing?Mark In Irvinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614659771194841374noreply@blogger.com0