Saturday, June 17, 2006

Police may let Muslims see terrorism intelligence

Guardian reporteed The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.

If they do anything this stupid, it will mean that the police have no intelligence themselves.
The proposal will be considered as part of a review of the raid in Forest Gate, east London, a fortnight ago when 250 officers stormed a family house searching for a chemical weapon which was not found. One man was shot and police have apologised for the "hurt" caused by the raid which has further damaged strained relations with the local community.
If they screwed up on the chemical weapons raid, then find some other way of handling the matter than turning intelligence over to the Muslims.
The review began this week and is expected to be completed before the end of the month.

Read More...

DSL strikes a chord with frugal shoppers

CNET News reported On one side are middle-income and price-sensitive households, which tend to favor DSL service offered by phone companies. On the other are more affluent families, which gravitate toward higher-speed cable modem services.

I suspect a lot of it is desceptive advertising by the phone companies that imply that their DSL service is the same as what Cable Companies provide. DSL is certainly much faster than dialup, but it is not anywhere near as fast as Cable Broadband.

Read More...

Wikipedia

NYT reported At its core, Wikipedia is not just a reference work but also an online community that has built itself a bureaucracy of sorts — one that, in response to well-publicized problems with some entries, has recently grown more elaborate. It has a clear power structure that gives volunteer administrators the authority to exercise editorial control, delete unsuitable articles and protect those that are vulnerable to vandalism.

Those measures can put some entries outside of the "anyone can edit" realm. The list changes rapidly, but as of yesterday, the entries for Einstein and Ms. Aguilera were among 82 that administrators had "protected" from all editing, mostly because of repeated vandalism or disputes over what should be said. Another 179 entries — including those for George W. Bush, Islam and Adolf Hitler — were "semi-protected," open to editing only by people who had been registered at the site for at least four days.

Why would an entry on Einstein need to be protected any more than one on George W. Bush or Islam?????
(See a List of Protected Entries)

Read More...

Friday, June 16, 2006

Pelosi Rejected Jefferson Deal

TPMmuckraker blogged 99 to 58. That was the final tally among House Democrats to remove Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee. So a number of Democrats outside the 43 member Congressional Black Caucus voted no.

The objection was to the unprecedented nature of the move (stripping a member of a seat prior to an indictment), along with the fact that there didn't seem to be any objective standard for removal. As Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put it, her standard was "Anybody with $90,000 in the freezer -- you have a problem with this Caucus." But apparently The Cash in The Freezer Standard wasn't enough for some members. According to Roll Call, Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) even offered a motion to put off the decision on Jefferson until the Caucus drew up rules for removing members from their committee assignments.... According to Jefferson's statement after the vote, those conditions were:

1) the Caucus institute an across the board rule that any Member being investigated may be asked to step down from an exclusive Committee, regardless of whether charges are filed; and,
She certainly does not want that rule (which is like the ones the Republicans have). She wants to be able to pick and choose who the rules apply to.
2) that Mr. Charlie Melancon, whose district borders mine in Louisiana, be my replacement on the Committee until my return
She wants to be able to choose your replacement, and you may not be coming back.

Read More...

Hamas offers to restore ceasefire

BBC News The Hamas-led Palestinian government is willing to urge militants to renew a ceasefire if Israel halts its attacks on Gaza, a spokesman has said. Ghazi Hamad said the government would urge militant groups to stop firing rockets from Gaza into Israel. The Islamic Jihad group says it was to blame for the latest attack on Israel.

Apparently they don't want to have to fight Fatah at the same time that Israel is targeting Hamas leaders.

Read More...

Democrats Vote to Force Jefferson Aside

NYT House Democrats voted on Thursday night to strip a Louisiana congressman of a key committee position as they tried to avoid any taint of scandal in a year when they want to ride accusations of Republican corruption to election victories. The congressman, William J. Jefferson, is the subject of a federal bribery investigation and has insisted he has done nothing wrong. He has rebuffed efforts to get him to step aside voluntarily. After a meeting stretching more than three hours, the Democrats voted to remove him from the House Ways and Means Committee until his case is resolved. The action, on a 99-to-58 vote, is subject to the approval by the full House.

The Black Caucus opposes removing him. This is an ideal chance to deprive the Democrats of what they want, attract some support from the Black Caucus, and rub their noses in the fact that Republican rules require someone to step aside, but Democratic rules do not. Just say that unless rules are passed that require any member of congressman to step aside, that the Dems must wait until the matter is resolved.

Read More...

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Crisis Seen in Nation's ER Care

WaPo Emergency medical care in the United States is on the verge of collapse, with the nation's declining number of emergency rooms dangerously overcrowded and often unable to provide the expertise needed to treat seriously ill people in a safe and efficient manner.

The solution is to have a clinic next to the ER, and triage the patients, sending those that are coming just because they don't have a Primary Care Physician over to the clinic. Also check IDs and if you find illegal aliens go ahead and treat them, if the law requires it, but call ICE and have someone ready to pick them up when they are treated. And if ICE refuses to send anyone, call the local paper and ask them to print that in the next issue.
OTB blogged While there are many reasons for these problems, the main one seems to be that the poor and uninsured often rely on ER care for ailments that would send the rest of us to a primary care physician. It’s also the case that ER/trauma care is at the high end of the spectrum for susceptability to malpractice suits and therefore their insurance costs are astronomical. Combined with the fact that a substantial portion of their patients can’t or won’t pay, this is problematic.

Read More...

Militant Muslim gang jailed for plot to destroy the Eiffel Tower

Times Online reportedA Paris court sentenced 25 Muslim militants yesterday for planning attacks against the Eiffel Tower and other targets with explosives in support of rebels fighting Russian forces in Chechnya.

The five main defendants, of Moroccan and Algerian origin, received prison terms of eight to ten years for planning terrorist acts. The others received lesser terms for criminal association. Two were acquitted in a trial which prosecutors said demonstrated the “globalisation of the jihad movement”.


Dr. Rusty Shackleford blogged France Jails 25 Unitarians for Eiffel Tower Plot - Did I say Unitarians? I meant Buddhists. Remember, all religions produce an equal proportion of murderous nuts and thugs. Repeat that mantra 20 times while genuflecting in the UN's general direction.

OTB blogged This AP story broke the same day that The New York Times ran Benchellali’s op-ed.

Which claimed that the vast majority of the detainees at Gitmo have no connection to terrorism.
Talk about irony. But more importantly, this reveals that either The New York Times knew about Benchellali’s family’s ridiculously clear ties to terrorism and ran the article anyway or, more likely, “the newspaper of record” was in such agreement with Benchellali’s arguments that it didn’t bother researching his background.
There is a third possibility. They knew about Benchellali's family's ties to terrorism, but they wanted so much to hurt the Bush administration they ignored that knowledge to bring us this baloney.
After all, he was singing the right tune and had the Gitmo cred to back it up.

Knowing what we know now, it seems likely that Benchellali just “happened” to be in Afghanistan like each of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon just “happened” to be hit with planes all on the same day. And The Times, blinded by its own agenda, wound-up promoting the agenda of a terrorist. Well done guys. Well done.

Read More...

Cleric Calls on Bush to Convert to Islam

BREITBART reports A reputed leader of the al-Qaida-linked terror group blamed for deadly bombings across Indonesia on Thursday accused President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard of waging wars against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir also called on Bush and Howard to convert to Islam, saying it was "the only way to save their souls," adding that families still grieving after the 2002 Bali blasts that killed many foreigners should also become Muslim to find "salvation and peace."

That is unlikely, but if he wants salvation and peace, I invite Abu Bakar Bashir to accept Jesus Christ as his personal saviour.
Robert Spencer blogged Not content simply to call the Prime Minister of Australia to Islam, Indonesia's chief jihadist Abu Bakar Bashir now invites the families of those he murdered in the Bali bombings to join the religion that motivated him to kill their relatives.

Read More...

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Rudy goes nuclear

New York Post reported A small gathering in Mid town yesterday got a sneak peek at Rudy Giuliani's formula as he gears up for a likely 2008 presidential run. That formula: one-third leadership, one-third technocratic centrist and one-third radical conservative reformer.

There's a reason Giuliani outpolls Sen. John McCain regularly when it comes to who conservative Republicans prefer for the presidency

Rudy has some policies we don't like, but we know we can trust him. We know McCain cannot be trusted.
while also maintaining great popularity with centrists - and it was on full display in this Manhattan Institute-hosted talk on energy policy.... The centrism came in the policy speech, which found the former mayor in full-on Ross Perot mode with a series of charts and graphs detailing 1) how U.S. energy demand has far outstripped domestic production since 1960 and 2) how countries like France and Belgium are far outstripping the United States in their use of nuclear power. Drawing on his experience managing New York City's power problems, Giuliani spoke of the government red tape that makes it virtually impossible to build power plants, oil refineries and (especially) nuclear-power facilities.

Summing up U.S. energy policy since the 1970s, he was blunt: "We haven't done anything." We haven't drilled in Alaska. We haven't built oil refineries. We haven't ordered a nuclear power plant since 1978.
We need to do all three.
We need to start doing these things, he said, to diversify. Energy independence, he said, is simply the "wrong paradigm," despite the idea's popularity in quarters of both the Left and the Right. Instead, in a global economy, "We have to diversify, that's our strength . . . You can be independent by being diversified."

And there's room to reach out to the Left on building more nuclear plants now. The technology has grown safer - and nuclear use could reduce emissions that lead to global warming. Giuliani cited support for the idea from the liberal New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore (though, to be fair, Moore has been something of a pariah on the enviro Left since he left that group in 1986). He also plugged clean coal technology and, yes, ethanol, both of which can be harvested at home, as well as natural gas, which is less geopolitically dicey than petroleum.

The red meat for conservatives, however, came in the Q&A: An audience member asked Giuliani what he would do on education as president. Without deflecting the loaded premise of the question (no announcement yet, folks), the former mayor launched into an impassioned brief for school choice. "A president has to know the role" of the federal government, he said. "It's more of a leadership role." But as that leader, he would emphasize, "choice and vouchers."
Fantastic. I support both.
As mayor, he said, he thought he could do for the schools what he did for the police department and other city agencies. But he learned he was wrong. The education bureaucracy and the teachers unions were too deeply entrenched. What's needed, he said, "is to go to a choice system and break up the monopoly."

Read More...

Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe

Canada Free Press reports "Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", showing at Cumberland 4 Cinemas in Toronto since Jun 2. With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic.

Not exactly what Gore wants you to believe.
It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention." But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites?

No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field.
But Gore does not care whether they know what they are talking about. As long as they agree with him, he is happy.

Read More...

Indonesia releases Militant Islamic cleric

Yahoo! News reported A reputed top leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group that has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other deadly attacks walked free from prison Wednesday to cries of "God is great" from cheering supporters. Abu Bakar Bashir, 68, had served 26 months for conspiracy in the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people

Gee, that is about 4 days per person.
and thrust Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, onto the front lines of the war on terror.

"I thank Allah that I am free today," a smiling Bashir said after emerging from a scrum of supporters and journalists waiting outside the gates of Jakarta's Cipinang prison. "I call on all Muslims to unite behind one goal, that is the implementation of Sharia law."
I wonder what the secular government that let him out thinks about that.
.... After being released, the preacher immediately set off for the boarding school he founded in central Java province, which is notorious for spawning many of the world's most populous Muslim nation's deadliest terrorists.
Got to start turning out more Jihadis.
"The United States is a state terrorist because it is waging war against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan,"
Baloney.
Bashir told reporters when asked about U.S. accusations that he was a key member of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Bashir's freedom has raised concerns that he will energize Indonesia's small, Islamic radical fringe by making impassioned speeches at rallies and mosques, but few believe the stick-thin, softly spoken cleric will play any direct role in terrorism in the future.
You don't consider training, inspiring, and encouraging young people to become Jihadi terrorists playing a direct role?

Read More...

Spate of Good News

WaPo reported In a White House that had virtually forgotten what good news looks like,

Actually there has been a lot of good news, both about the economy, and about the war in Iraq, that the MSM has refused to carry, because they don't like running any story that does not make the President look bad, but this time they could not ignore the good news.
the past few weeks have been refreshing. A Republican won a much-watched special congressional election. President Bush recruited a Wall Street heavy hitter as Treasury secretary. U.S. forces killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And now the architect of the Bush presidency has avoided criminal charges.
What about Iraqis finishing selecting their cabinet?
The question is whether this latest updraft in Bush's fortunes will last much longer than the president's surprise trip yesterday to Iraq.
Not if the lying MSM can block it.
Bush took full command of the political stage with his five-hour appearance in Baghdad, just days after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and used it to showcase a new Iraqi government he hopes to turn the war over to eventually. Yet in the end, some analysts noted, it will matter only if this new government can heal societal schisms and stand up effective security forces.

Read More...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Bush May Meet Vow To Halve The Deficit Three Years Early

Investor's Business Daily reported Aided by surging tax receipts, President Bush may make good on his pledge to cut the deficit in half in 2006 — three years early. Tax revenues are running $176 billion, or 12.9%, over last year, the Treasury Department said Monday. The Congressional Budget Office said receipts have risen faster over the first eight months of fiscal '06 than in any other such period over the past 25 years — except for last year's 15.5% jump. The 2006 deficit through May was $227 billion, down from $273 billion at this time last year. Spending is up $130 billion, or 7.9%.

This should make it difficult for the Democrats to continue complaining about the tax cuts (but it won't). If the MSM would report it, it might force them to.

Read More...

Freudian slip


Hat tip AllahPundit
Flopping Aces has the video
Save the GOP blogged We understand exactly what you mean sir.

And our peaceful nuclear plants will wipe Israel off the map.

Read More...

Italian author to be tried for defaming Islam

Jerusalem Post reported Italian author and veteran journalist Oriana Fallaci goes on trial Monday, charged with defaming Islam in a 2004 book. Fallaci, who lives in New York, was not expected to attend the hearing in Bergamo, northern Italy. Muslim activist Adel Smith filed a lawsuit against Fallaci, charging that some passages in her book, "The Strength of Reason," were offensive to Islam. Smith's lawyer cited a phrase from the book that refers to Islam as "a pool ... that never purifies."

Is this a civil trial, or a criminal one. Having a Muslim activist "filing a lawsuit" sounds like a civil trial, but "author to be tried" sounds like a criminal trial. In either event, what happened to free speech?
Fallaci told The Associated Press last year that "I have expressed my opinion through the written word through my books, that is all."

Michelle Malkin blogged This lioness has taught me much. Opened my eyes. Talk about speaking truth to power. Her trial in Italy for insulting Islam--for insulting Islam--commenced in Italy today. Where are the free-speech champions? The feminists? The human rights brigade? Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Robert Spencer blogged As one Muslim leader told the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Izmir, Turkey, Giuseppe Bernardini: “Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.”

Read More...

He must have used Thiotimoline

Jay Tea sarcastically blogged on Wizbang about Rove not being indicted (which we blogged about earlier) Beginning countdown to "the fix was in" talk from the Left in 5... 4... 3... This means that the sole indictment from the Plame affair is of Scooter Libby, who was charged with lying about telling the truth about a liar...

Update: Steve L. in the Bomb Squad is a rotten, low-down plagiarist. Not only did he steal my news flash AND my countdown idea, he 1) did it better and B) stole my piece a good 45 minutes before I started writing it! Does the man's perfidy know no bounds? I hadn't even created it yet, but he STILL stole it!


He must have used Thiotimoline

Read More...

Kennedy pleads guilty to DUI

Yahoo! News reported Rep. Patrick Kennedy has reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of prescription drugs in connection for his middle-of-the-night car crash last month near the U.S. Capitol.

I wonder what is holding up the grand jury investigating Cynthia McKinney
Two additional charges of reckless driving and failure to exhibit a driving permit will be dismissed under the plea agreement reached with prosecutors.

Read More...

Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq

WaPo reported President Bush arrived in Baghdad today for a face-to-face meeting with new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- an effort, the White House said, to get a clear sense of the premier's priorities and how the U.S. government could help his government succeed.

Can you imagine how depressed the Democrats must be. Zarqawi is killed, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki selects the last few members of their government, Bush flies to Iraq to talk to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and to congratulate our troops, and Fitzgerald announces that he will not charge Rove.

I suspect the rabid Left will start calling this a photo op, but consider this. When he went to Iraq for Thanksgiving 2003 they did not announce it until his plane was in the air for the return trip. This time, they allowed the Iraqi PM to publically announce his presence while he was still there. If it is so safe for him to be there, that this is just a photo op, then why are the Dems screaming so loud to bring our troops home? Do they not want them there for photo ops?
The White House originally had said Bush was scheduled to be at Camp David and to hold a video-conference with Maliki this morning. Instead, without telling the Iraqi government or all but his closest advisers, the president slipped out of Washington last night and made the 11-hour trip to Baghdad International Airport, landing at 4:08 p.m. Baghdad time (8:08 a.m. EDT).

Read More...

Fitzgerald Won't Charge Rove

NYT reported The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

Can you imagine how depressed the Democrats must be. Zarqawi is killed, the Iraqis select the last few members of their government, Bush flies to Iraq to talk to the PM and to congratulate our troops, and Fitzgerald announces that he will not charge Rove.

Read More...

Monday, June 12, 2006

The Democrats, Keeping a Civil Tongue????

WaPo reported House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is promising that things are going to change big time if the Democrats capture control of the House in November.

They will get worse.
Former majority leader Tom DeLay 's resignation, she wrote last week in a piece in The Hill newspaper, "brings to an end what the press has referred to as a 'criminal enterprise' run out of the former majority leader's office."
Nothing has yet been proven. But her candidate for Majority Leader, Murtha, would pull us out of Iraq and Afganistan, and let the Islamists set up training bases from which they would launch attacks on the US.
But "Democrats are proposing change," she added, "a new direction for all Americans." The House Democrats have a new set of principles for a Congress "that sets standards for civility and integrity." Civility?
We certainly have not seen any civility from Democrats, and if Jefferson is any example of Democratic integrity, do they propose freezing all of their assets?

Read More...

Al Gore's Convenient Fiction

Debra Saunders writes in RealClearPolitics The problem with Gore is not that he is a hypocrite. The problem with Gore is that he has no idea he is not Lancelot. He has this scary ability to block out any facts that make him less than a perfect, selfless eco-hero, and in his need to present himself as the world's savior, he'll say anything -- no matter how hysterical. There is a pattern here. In his book, "Earth in the Balance," written after he lost his first White House bid in 1988, Gore warned that the next generation might experience "a decade without a winter," that deforestation could create damage for "tens of millions of years" and that the automobile presented a cumulative global threat "more deadly than that of any military enemy we are ever against likely to confront." (I'll write on the film's bad science in another column.) Gore tells his movie audience that he was mystified that, after he sponsored congressional hearings on global warming, Washington did not instantly change how it addressed environmental issues.

Then, the film cuts to a personal vignette of loss, lest moviegoers notice that Gore himself did not change the Washington culture from the White House.

Or in fact do anything productive as VP
After listening to Gore talk about his decades crusading on global warming, you might expect the movie to highlight his many achievements as vice president and designated chief nerd on the environment in the Clinton administration. Instead, the movie essentially airbrushes out Gore's eight years on Pennsylvania Avenue. (Gore does refer to his role negotiating the Kyoto global warming pact in 1997. He does not mention that 95 senators, including John Kerry, had voted for a resolution that announced the Senate would reject any treaty that exempted developing nations -- but Gore agreed to exempt them anyway.
Guaranteeing that not only would the US not approve it, but that other nations that did, would begin backing down from committments they met.
So Clinton never dared to ask the Senate to ratify it.) Here's another propaganda element. Average automobile fuel-efficiency hit a 19-year low under Clinton-Gore -- it was worse than under Ronald Reagan. President Bush has raised fuel standards more than Clinton-Gore. But Gore wants to lampoon the man who defeated him in 2000. So he shows his audience one of his trademark charts, this one comparing U.S. automobile fuel efficiency with other countries. The chart begins in the year 2002 -- it has to, because Bush performed better than Clinton-Gore. The post-2000 Gore has changed one angle of his green message: In "Earth in the Balance," Gore warned that "sacrifice, struggle and a wrenching transformation of society" would be necessary to save the planet. Even if a "miraculous technology" was able to cut per-capita greenhouse gas emissions in half, he wrote, Washington still would have to raise taxes on gasoline, electricity and heating oil. No more. In 2006, Gore tells moviegoers that, as dire as the situation may be, the changes needed to avert global warming would not be onerous, except maybe for some greedy corporations.
That is because if he told the truth, people might not be anxious to encourage addressing the problems.
His prescription, he argues, would be good for the economy, and create wealth and jobs. Sacrifice? Struggle? Wrenching transformation? Forget that. Fighting global warming will be good for your bottom line. How convenient.

Read More...

We failed our youth: Imam

TheStar reported Imams across the GTA urged families and communities to take more responsibility for shaping the minds of young Muslims, following the arrest of 17 young men and boys on terrorism-related charges last Friday. In Mississauga, North York and Scarborough, they spoke to thousands gathered for Friday afternoon prayers, some addressing concerns about backlash, others urging the community to have faith in the Canadian justice system to provide a fair trial. "There is nothing wrong in saying we failed our youth," said Imam Munir El-Kassen at the Toronto and Region Islamic Congregation in North York. "We did not fail them intentionally, but our community was in a formative stage and our youth searching to fill the vacuum within received wrong advice and training. "We should be more careful in controlling the youth in the public domain — not everybody should be allowed to talk or lead the youth.

You might also want to take a look at the Wahhabi comments in the Qurans the Saudis are providing.
They are the most vulnerable."

Read More...

US planning to keep 50,000 troops in Iraq for many years

Telegraph America plans to retain a garrison of 50,000 troops, one tenth of its entire army, in Iraq for years to come, according to US media reports.

This is a very good idea. I don't think the forces will be needed to patrol Iraq, but after all we have spent, in both blood and treasure, to give them a democratic country, we need to have a few bases that might be very useful to help pacify some of the other countries in the Middle East.

Read More...

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Symbolically

BBC News reported Thousands of people have attended the funeral of seven members of a Palestinian family killed in an explosion on a Gaza beach on Friday

Although it now appears that Israel may not have been responsible. Perhaps it was one of the rockets being fired by the Palestinians 400 yards away from the beach.
.... Hamas said it fired rockets at Israel for the first time since its truce 16 months ago, in response to the deaths.... At the cemetery, seven-year-old Huda Ghalia, the last surviving family member, asked for forgiveness as she bent down to kiss her father's face. Huda, who was asleep under a blanket when the explosion occurred, has been symbolically adopted by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. The BBC's Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says that Saturday's rocket attacks appear mainly symbolic.
Was her "symbolic" adoption the same as Hamas's "symbolic" rocket attacks?
But a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam brigade, said next time the rockets would be longer range and hit deeper inside Israel.
And you can count on Israel's response being even stronger and more deadly. I believe that Israel should announce that future reprisal attacks will be double. For every rocket attack they will have a targeted attack at a Hamas leader, plus a general attack on the Palestinian people that elected Hamas.

Read More...

Good point

Cliff May wrote on The Corner Distressing videos are being shown of carnage after what appears to have been an Israeli artillery attack on a Gaza beach in which seven civilians were killed. Apparently, the Israelis missed their intended target: Just 400 yards from the beach, Palestinian militants were firing rockets at Israel. Is there no one – in Gaza, in Europe, at the UN – who will say that it is at the very least irresponsible to set up a launch site for a missile attack on Israel so close to areas where Palestinian civilians swim, sunbathe and picnic?

Because they are cowards. They think that launching attacks from areas near innocents will protect them from retaliation.
Also, note how every story on this emphasizes that Hamas has been “observing a truce.” How is permitting the firing of missiles from territories under its control, not a violation of this “truce”?
Good point.

Read More...

Post Zarqawi

The rabid left may be focusing on whether Zarqawi was really killed a long time ago, and just brought out to raise Bush's poll ratings, counter the Yearly Kos Convention, or any of a number of other wild claims, but right wing bloggers have been much more innovative.

Protein Wisdom has a post-death Zarqawi interview.

IowaHawk features a Zarqawi op-ed.

DJ Drummond has the probate on Zarqawi’s will.

Read More...

Britian should adopt more Islamic ways

Telegraph reported In his first newspaper interview since being elected, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari [new leader of the Muslim Council of Britain] suggests this country should adopt more Islamic ways.... His aim, he says, will be to encourage Britain to adopt more Muslim ways, as well as to encourage Muslims to be good British citizens. He thinks that non-Muslim Britons would benefit from having arranged marriages and espousing stronger family values; they would also do well to stop drinking and gambling and to follow many of the teachings of Islam. But, first, he must calm the tensions between Muslims and the rest of Britain.

That is a task that may be more difficult when Britains see that they are expected to adopt more islamic ways.
... But would he not agree that many in Britain see Muslim fundamentalism as the biggest threat of the next few years? "Extremism is a threat, but on all sides: Christian, Muslim, Jewish," he says. "It is objectionable when people talk about Islamic terrorists; those who terrorise people are not being Islamic in any way."
They are the ones that are saying they are being Islamic. And if you really believe it is not Islamic you should get rid of the Wahhabist literature distributed in many mosques.
.... What does he like about Britain? "The education system is superb, compared to Bangladesh. Children are allowed to think.
According to many Islamic countries, allowing them to think for themselves is non-Islamic.
I had four children born here and they have been taught to be broad-minded. The British are also very enterprising. The East has wisdom and tradition; Britain has dynamism. Then there is your pluralism. Over 100 languages are spoken in Tower Hamlets alone. And, finally, there is your tolerance. We may have graffiti and bottles thrown at Muslims but, after 9/11, no Muslims were killed. For all its faults, we do feel grateful to this country." One reason he settled here, he says, was that we make such wonderful cheese. "I came here from Bangladesh in 1978 to do my air force training. I loved the food in the officers' mess - all those cheeses I had never tasted, the yoghurts. I adored fish and chips." He also likes British dress: "I feel comfortable in shirts and suits.".... Dr Bari has also warmed to football: "My children love it. When England play, we always fly the flag."
Is this the same flag that the extremist Islamic group al-Muhajiroun said symbolizes the 'blood thirsty crusaders' and the occupation of Muslims, causing some of the largest companies in England to order their workers not to wave the English flag.
All Muslims here, he believes, must learn English. "It is a vital skill. At my home, we speak Bangla but my children speak English fluently." However, he does not think that Muslims should adopt too many British practices; Britain should espouse many more Muslim traditions, he says.
In other words Britain should assimilate into being an Islamic country, rather than Muslims that are guests in Britain assimilating into British society. If you dont like British society, go somewhere else (and let them ship cheese to you); don't expect them to change their society to please you.
"Arranged marriages are a good idea. These are not forced on children but it is a way of parents helping to guide their children to make the right choices. In youth, you are very emotional; you just go on instinct. Elders can look at compatibility, background, intentions. It is a wonderful system. "I had an arranged marriage. My daughter is 22 and we will help her to choose a man.
You like for children to be allowed to think, but not to pick their own spouse.
But it will be a choice made by all of us. It would be a good thing for British society to take on board. Traditionally, you had far more of this; now, it is all done on impulse.".... Dr Bari also thinks that there should be more faith schools and that British children should be encouraged to attend Muslim establishments.
You want British children to learn Islam; why not send your children to learn Christianity as it is taught by the Church of England.
"We are taking the blame for the events of the past few years, but we should be saying, 'Look at what is good about our culture. Come to our schools. They are better: they have more discipline, more respect, better exam results, children work hard, there are fewer mini-skirts, there is less bad behaviour, the teachers can get on with their jobs.' "We could have Christians, Jews and Muslims. We would teach all religions, as well as British values.
Would you teach that all three religions were of equal value, and that Muslims could convert to Christianity or Judiasm and not be killed, or would you teach that Christians and Jews were Dhimmi
We could really help.

Read More...