Saturday, July 29, 2006

Can Congress Make The CUT?

Ed Morrissey wrote on The Heritage Policy Weblog: Business managers responsible for budgets often review planned spending on a monthly basis to spot and eliminate unnecessary spending. Taxpayers might believe that a similar mechanism would exist for a federal budget that now tops two trillion dollars, but they would be wrong. Congress has no formal mechanism of budgetary review that allows members to force votes to trim wasteful spending at any time after the federal budget gets signed into law. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) wants to change that with his Cut the Unnecessary Tab (CUT) resolution. This resolution would make any unspent federal funding vulnerable to a recorded vote for rescission at the beginning of each fiscal quarter. Any Member of the House could offer an amendment to these quarterly rescission bills that revokes the appropriation for any program in the approved budget. That would force House members to go on record supporting or opposing each specific program.

The only improvement I would make is I still want to see a constitutional ammendment for a line item veto by the President, and I would like to see a law that calls for the surgical removal of any legislator that sneaks an earmark into legislation without a recorded vote (I would really prefer to outlaw earmarks altogether, but maybe this would be enough to get their attention).
How much of an effect will this have on spending? Perhaps not much initially, but it does have the potential to put some brakes on the sillier line items in the budget once they get exposure in CUT reviews. Budget hawks will have four opportunities every year to propose elimination of programs they see as superfluous or incompetent. If enough of these programs get eliminated, it could start a new paradigm for the campaign trail-- incumbents could outline all of the money their rescissions saved, while challengers could highlight the programs they would try to eliminate if elected.

Heritage's Alison Acosta Fraser notes the potential for incremental improvement in proposals like CUT:
This is another in a series of small steps to control spending that Congress is considering. All proposals like CUT would do some good in the short term if they were adopted and then seriously used to their full effect. Steps like these could create momentum towards reining in the huge growth in the federal budget. Members of Congress should be encouraged to come up with innovative ideas to tame the federal budget and then to follow through with them. Hopefully this would encourage them to tackle larger spending issues like the future exploding spending on entitlements.
CUT may not solve the gargantuan problem of budget bloat. It does, however, give Congress a tool that individual Members can use to shame the chamber into commonsense rescissions. No longer would any congressman have the excuse that one individual acting alone has no options to reform the federal government.


CQ blogged Will this result in an increase in spending discipline? It may not solve the entire problem, but it does give Congress another tool to control pork-barrel spending. I discuss this in greater depth at Heritage; be sure to read the entire post and let me know your thoughts.

UPDATE: In another post at Heritage, I note that the Coburn bill creating an on-line federal database of all spending has passed unanimously in Senate committee. It now has a number of co-sponsors from both parties, including Harry Reid and Bill Frist. (Trent Lott, oddly, is not among them!) Hopefully it will come to a vote in the full Senate very quickly. However, one major hurdle has to be overcome when it goes into joint conference. Read the post to see where the extraordinary coalition supporting S.2590 could fall apart.

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Friday, July 28, 2006

Is Hezbollah Folding?

Blue Crab blogged This is truly bizarre. According to this report, Hezbollah politicians have agreed to some pretty startling concessions to end the war.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah politicians, while expressing reservations, have joined their critics in the government in agreeing to a peace package that includes strengthening an international force in south Lebanon and disarming the guerrillas, the government said. The agreement — reached after a heated six-hour Cabinet meeting — was the first time that Hezbollah has signed onto a proposal for ending the crisis that includes the deploying of international forces.

The package falls short of American and Israeli demands in that it calls for an immediate cease-fire before working out details of a force and includes other conditions. But European Union officials said Friday the proposals form a basis for an agreement, increasing the pressure on the United States to call for a cease-fire. President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday they too want an international force dispatched quickly to the Mideast but said any plan to end the fighting — to have a lasting effect — must address long-running regional disputes. "This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East," Bush said after his meeting with Blair in Washington. "Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for broader change in the region."

By signing onto the peace proposals, Hezbollah gave Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora a boost in future negotiations. Going into Thursday night's Cabinet session, Hezbollah's two ministers expressed deep reservations about the force and its mandate, fearing it could turn against their guerrillas. "Will the international force be a deterrent one and used against who?" officials who attended the Cabinet meeting said in summing up Hezbollah cabinet ministers concerns. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the debate.

But afterward, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi announced that the package had been agreed on by consensus in a rare show of unity by a divided administration. While all sides seemed to be looking for a way to stop the fighting, details of plans taking shape on all sides were still fuzzy. And it was not at all certain Hezbollah would really follow through on the Lebanese government plan that would effectively abolish the militants' military wing. It may have signed on to the deal convinced that Israel would reject it.
If true, this indicates how bad a situation Hezbollah is actually in. If they thought they were winning, there is absolutely no way they would agree to any of these terms. Period. I suspect their miscalculation here was of epic proportions and they know it. I also suspect Israel is very close indeed to a total crushing of Hezbollah.
At least Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, is very frightened that Israel will find where he is hiding, because he knows they are targeting him. These cowards will do anything to protect their own lives, even back down (for a while).

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Insurgent snipers sent after engineers, medics and chaplains

USAToday reported Iraqi insurgents are teaching recruits sophisticated sniper techniques for targeting U.S. troops that include singling out engineers, medics and chaplains, according to training material obtained by U.S. military intelligence.

Targeting engineers and medics are because they are helping win the hearts and minds of Iraqi citizens. I am not sure I understand why they are targeting chaplains, other than the fact that they represent God, and the insurgents are really backed by Satan.
The insurgent sniper training manual was posted on the Internet. Among its tips: "Killing doctors and chaplains is suggested as a means of psychological warfare."

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Execution of a teenage girl for being raped

BBC News A television documentary team has pieced together details surrounding the case of a 16-year-old girl, executed two years ago in Iran. On 15 August, 2004, Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged in a public square in the Iranian city of Neka. Her death sentence was imposed for "crimes against chastity". The state-run newspaper accused her of adultery and described her as 22 years old. But she was not married - and she was just 16.

If she was not married, how could she have committed adultery.
In terms of the number of people executed by the state in 2004, Iran is estimated to be second only to China. In the year of Atefah's death, at least 159 people were executed in accordance with the Islamic law of the country, based on the Sharia code.

Since the revolution, Sharia law has been Iran's highest legal authority. Alongside murder and drug smuggling, sex outside marriage is also a capital crime.
Left wingers who are so opposed to Bush and his war against Islamic Terrorism should take note. If the Islamists win, they will have a lot more than some anti-abortion laws to contend with. They will find that the state will be killing people for sex outside of marriage.
As a signatory of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has promised not to execute anyone under the age of 18. But the clerical courts do not answer to parliament.
Again the left needs to take note, and perhaps be more supportive of Bush's war against Islamic terrorists.
They abide by their religious supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, making it virtually impossible for human rights campaigners to call them to account.

Michelle Malkin blogged Many readers across the pond are sending good reviews of a BBC program that aired this week about Atefah Sahaaleh, a 16-year-old girl hanged in a public square in the Iranian city of Neka. Her death sentence was imposed by Islamic mullahs for "crimes against chastity." I hope there's an American station out there that will air the program here. I'm sure that feminists will join me in pressuring our media to help spread the word about this sharia-mandated barbarism.

Below the Beltway blogged So there you have justice in the Islamic Republic. Rape a teenager and get 95 lashes. Get raped as a teenager and get hanged by the neck until dead. Yea, these are civilized people we can deal with.

The Captain's Journal blogged See this for a story on the execution of a teenage girl in Iran, and then this for a barbaric practice that might be coming to an Islamic neighborhood near you. Oh, by the way, it is not true that this practice is merely societal. It occurs everywhere there is Islam. It was prevalent in Afghanistan, for instance, when the U.S. first arrived to clean out the Taliban. This post is updated to link to and address Malkin’s post. The abuses described here go hand-in-hand with the abuses described below, and provide further testimony to the nature of radical Islam.

Blue Crab blogged Read the whole thing. It's quite sickening. The most sickening thing? The execution was carried out in public. The authorities put a noose around her neck and hoisted her to the top of a crane. For those of you who do not understand this, this is slow strangulation and exceedingly cruel. These are the actions of barbarians.

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A public advocate for the United States

Alan Dershowitz wrote in The Washington Times As a liberal Democrat, I listened carefully to the opposition voiced by many Democratic senators to the nomination of John Bolton as our chief representative to the United Nations. Mr. Bolton has been representing us at the United Nations since August. During the current Middle East crisis, I have been able to listen for myself to what Mr. Bolton has been saying at the United Nations. On the basis of his performance, I have become a Bolton supporter. He speaks with moral clarity. He is extremely well prepared. He is extraordinarily articulate. He places the best face on American policy, particularly in the Middle East during this crucial time....

I rarely agree with Alan, but I do this time.
Were he not to be confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at this crucial juncture it would send a powerful message to the international community that Senate Democrats do not stand behind our policy in the Middle East. It would be seen as undercutting American policy toward Israel. Even if that were a misunderstanding, it would have a devastating impact on the world's perception of America's solidarity with Israel....

What remains of last year's nomination battle, though, is what I suspect to be the real reason that some Democrats oppose the Bolton nomination. That is, they felt uncomfortable with Mr. Bolton's oft-expressed and blunt skepticism over the United Nations' legal and moral authority. Mr. Bolton can even, at times, come off as "contemptuous of the U.N.," in Sen. Barbara Boxer's words. But Mr. Bolton is right to be skeptical, and all the great U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations — from Adlai Stevenson to Arthur Goldberg to Pat Moynihan to Jeane Kirkpatrick — have shared that skepticism. Mr. Bolton is absolutely justified in pushing for reform of the notoriously corrupt and inefficient bureaucratic structure in Turtle Bay. As he once said, "If member countries want the United Nations to be respected ... they should begin by making sure it is worthy of respect." Most importantly, Mr. Bolton understands that his job is to represent the United States and our interests to the world, and not the other way around.
You are absolutely correct.

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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Hezbollah was using UN post as 'shield'

Canada.com reoorted The words of a Canadian United Nations observer written just days before he was killed in an Israeli bombing of a UN post in Lebanon are evidence Hezbollah was using the post as a "shield" to fire rockets into Israel, says a former UN commander in Bosnia.

Hezbollah is willing to risk anyone's life but their own.
Those words, written in an e-mail dated just nine days ago, offer a possible explanation as to why the post -- which according to UN officials was clearly marked and known to Israeli forces -- was hit by Israel on Tuesday night, said retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie yesterday. The strike hit the UN observation post in the southern Lebanese village of El Khiam, killing Canadian Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener and three others serving as unarmed UN military observers in the area.... "What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)," he said.

That would mean Hezbollah was purposely setting up near the UN post, he added. It's a tactic Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, said he's seen in past international missions: Aside from UN posts, fighters would set up near hospitals, mosques and orphanages.
What is the matter, did the cowardly Islamofascists run out of women and children to hide behind.

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Howard Dean Calls for End to Divisiveness

AP reported Down with divisiveness was the message Wednesday delivered by Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean

Does this mean he is resigning? Howard Dean's middle name is Divisiveness
as he told a group of Florida business leaders that Republican policies of deceit and finger-pointing are tearing American apart.
No, same old Howard Dean

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Spain to Iraq

Yahoo! News reported Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader (Al-Zawahri) issued a worldwide call Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq."

Europe, wake up. Do you still doubt that the Islamofascists expect to take over all of Europe. Rather than being upset with Israel, you should support them, because even though Hezbollah has been stronger than they thought, Israel has been kicking their butts.
Mark in Mexico blogged Well now, let's think about this for a moment. We could give them Spain. It's halfway to dhimmitude already. How does Sheik Jose Luis al-Rodriguez al-Zapatero sound? It probably sounds swell to him so long as nobody shoots at him anymore.

Stop the ACLU blogged As the Islamofacists join forces against freedom the left in America are undermining our support for Israel. As the enemy ties grow stronger, political correctness and appeasement makes its opposition weaker. Its time for the world to wake up and fight this evil!

Al Strata blogged Read this message for what it is, because it communicates on many levels. First off it draws on the true goal of the Jihadists, which is pushing the evil influence of the decadent West back to the Dark Ages boundaries, to Germany and France. Second, it is a desperate call for relevancy. By exposing the true dreams of the Islamo Fascists Al Qaeda is hoping to be able to take back or hold onto the vision in ME they are the leaders of the movement. Right now Hezbollah is doing the fighting, the dying and getting the glory for themselves.

Blue Crab blogged Al Qaeda can't stand to be left out of all the uproar Iran is stirring up in the Middle East. So they have jumped in with a video tape from Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's number two (apt description). In the tape Zawahri calls for all Muslims to rise up against Israel and the "Crusader" Western states. Oh, and don't forget to reconquer Spain while you're at it.

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Give Jihad A Chance

Michelle Malking sarcastically performs her version of a famous Peace Activist song.

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Transgression against God’s law

The Columbus Dispatch reported The gay-rights group Equality Ohio called on Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell yesterday to apologize for and retract his statement that homosexuality is a "transgression against God’s law" that can be cured.

It is certainly a transgression against God's law. Would they prefer that he had said that it could not be cured? Are they afraid that gays will seek a cure?
Danny Carlton blogged Isn't it interesting how so many homosexuals go out of their way to offend others with lewd displays, yet demand apologies when someone simply states their opinion. Apparently, these people believe only they, and those that agree with them have the right to voice their ideas. Of course the article also exposes an ulterior motive behind their "demands".

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Hezbollah Says Israeli Response a Surprise

AP reported A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers.

Gee, we only killed several of their soldiers and kidnapped two. Why should they be upset about that? We gave them a free fireworks display with our rockets.
Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's political arm, also told The Associated Press in an interview that his group will not lay down arms. "The truth is _ let me say this clearly _ we didn't even expect (this) response.... that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Komati.
But we are still not going to lay down our arms.
He said Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel to the July 12 cross-border raid, in which three Israelis were killed. In the past, he said, Israeli responses to Hezbollah actions included sending commandos into Lebanon to seize Hezbollah officials or briefly targeting specific Hezbollah strongholds.
And did that response work? No? Maybe that is why this response is stronger.
He said the Shiite group had anticipated there would be negotiations on exchanging the Israeli soldiers for three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it did before.
The four Arab countries that attacked Israel in 1967 did not expect that after six days the war would be over, and each country would lose major blocks of land either. You need to figure out how to live in peace with Israel.

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Despair as forced marriages stay legal

Times Online reported The lives of young women might be ruined by the Government’s failure to make forced marriages illegal, a senior police officer has warned. Commander Steve Allen of the Metropolitan Police said that a decision by ministers last month to drop proposed legislation had been greeted by some ethnic minorities as a signal that forced marriage was acceptable.

They should have proceeded with the law.
His concern about the about-turn, which was partly prompted by fears that the new law would stigmatise Muslims, is shared by a Crown Prosecution Service director and the head of Scotland Yard’s Homicide Prevention Unit.
it would only "stigmatise" them if they insisted on doing something that British society did not approve of. If they did not like it, they could move to an Islamic society that would let them do what they wanted, but they should not expect British society to allow them to mistreat their children that way.
The head of a South Asian women’s charity said yesterday that girls were already suffering the consequences of the decision. Between 2003 and 2005, 518 forced marriages were recorded in London, and in 2005 more than 140 in Bradford. Campaigners say those are merely the tip of the iceberg. Most cases in Britain involve Muslim families, although the practice is not restricted to any particular religious or ethnic group. Most victims are aged between 16 and 20 and many suffer physical assault, death threats and false imprisonment, usually at the hands of close family members.
That is wrong, and should be stopped.
Suicide rates among young Asian women are more than three times the national average and about 12 women every year die as a result of so-called “honour killings”.

Last September the Home Office launched a consultation paper on creating a specific criminal offence of forcing someone into wedlock. Although the proposal was welcomed by many victims’ groups, some organisations complained that it would increase racial segregation. The Muslim Council of Britain gave a warning that such a law might become “another way to stigmatise our communities”.
The Muslim Council of Britain should be "stigmatised" out of the country.
When Baroness Scotland, the Home Office Minister, announced the Government’s reversal, she said that most of those consulted “felt that the disadvantages of creating new legislation would outweigh the advantages”.
What are the disadvantages of stopping honor killings, and stopping forcing girls into marriages they don't want.
Mr Allen, who tackles honour-related violence and advises the Association of Chief Police Officers on the issue, told The Times: “There is a school of thought which suggests that a specific piece of legislation may have the impact of driving the practice further underground .
So to avoid driving it underground, you are going to allow it in public?
For me the persuasive argument is about the message we send out. We have already received feedback from community groups suggesting that the decision not to make it a criminal offence means it must be all right. “We need political and faith leaders from within these communities to stand up and utterly reject these practices.” Nazir Afzal, the Crown Prosecution Service director for London West, said that a new law would have helped campaigners in minority communities to stamp out forced marriage. “I have heard it said that a new criminal offence would be just another stick to beat the Muslim community with, but my belief is that we should be carrying our own stick,” he said.

“More than 60 per cent of cases involve Muslim families, particularly Pakistani Muslim families, yet there is no faith foundation for it A forced marriage in Islam is no marriage at all. The community has a responsibility. I hear dialogue from victims but I don’t hear a great deal from Muslim men.”

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UN official accuses Hezbollah of 'cowardly blending' among civilians

Haaretz reported The UN humanitarian chief accused Hezbollah late Monday of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel. The militant group has built bunkers and tunnels near the Israeli border to shelter weapons and fighters, and its members easily blend in among civilians. On Monday he had strong words for Hezbollah, which crossed into Israel and captured two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on July 12, triggering fierce fighting from both sides.... "Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.

But women and children are unimportant to Islamoterrorists. They just want to kill Jews. They target Jewish women and children, because they are less likely to be able to shoot back, so they don't care if their own women and children die. In fact they hide behind their women and children, to protect themselves from being killed.
"We need a cessation of hostilities because this is a war where civilians are paying the price," said Egeland, before flying to Israel.

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Gaza groups ready to deal on cease-fire, release of Shalit

Haaretz reported All groups in Gaza, including Hamas, would now accept a cease-fire deal with Israel which would include releasing Gilad Shalit, according to the Palestinian Agriculture Minister, who also heads the coordinating committee of Palestinian organizations there. Ibrahim Al-Naja said the factions were ready to stop the Qassam rocket fire if Israel's ceased all military moves against the Palestinian factions in Gaza. They are also ready to release Shalit in exchange for guaranteeing the future release of Palestinian prisoners.

This is good news, but if they stop the rocket fire, what will they do next. Send suicide bombers through tunnels? Or will they really do something unexpected, and form a state of their own, living in peace with their neighbor?
Hamas leaders did not confirm this report on Monday, but if it is true, then this is the first time that Hamas has indicated its acceptance of the Egyptian proposal to solve the crisis.

CQ blogged It remains to be seen whether the Palestinians will honor such an agreement. It could, after all, just provide a cover for their "triangle offense", where a couple of groups announce a cease fire while another continues to attack until Israel responds -- and then the other groups blame Israel for violating the cease fire. Islamic Jihad ran most of these rocket sites; will they agree to stop attacking Israel? We'll see, but at least Israel has made plain the response they can expect if they do not.

Assuming the Palestinians adhere to the cease-fire, the Israelis get a cessation on rocket attacks and their soldier returned to them, as well as the elimination of one front in their war. In return, all they concede is the promise to release minors and women at some later date, moves which they wanted to make before the kidnapping took place anyway. The agreement also abandons Hezbollah to their own political devices, and points to a split between Iran and the Palestinians that might hold some cause for optimism.


OTB blogged While this looks at first glance like a victory for Israel, it’s mostly a sign that the terrorists have gotten all they can hope for in this conflict and wish to regroup. All Hamas and company can do is ensure that there is a deep-seated hatred of Israel, to perpetuate the war against their enemy, and plenty of suicide bombers and foot soldiers ready to take them on. They’ve achieved that. As a bonus, their jihadist comrades-in-arms, Hezbollah, are currently killing Israelis and Israel is stoking the anger of other states in the region. Hamas might as well try to get a breather at this point.

Dan Riehl blogged If I had my druthers, I'd like to see Israel continue until they crushed both Hamas and Hezbollah. They are not political entities. They are militaristic religious zealots who came to realize whatever political power they presently enjoy through force of arms, terror and intimidation. The next few decades would be a great deal better if we rid the planet of this particular brand of vermin now while we have the chance, instead of waiting for the next opportunity - after we've once again paid a significant price through some terrorist act.

KnightHawk blogged I would say no dice! Give Israel back Shalit in return for cessation, anything else just puts Israel back to where they were before all this happened and gives the Palestinian factions just what they wanted in the first place, all their terror buddies released. This “offer” is no different then their position the day after the kidnapping. Israel should reject any pressure put on it to accept such an “offer". If those in Gaza want hostilities brought to an end they continue to have the option of releasing Shalit from captivity, if they seriously desire and end they can exercise that option at any time. Agreement to any other terms represents a win for terrorists around the world and an open invitation for another repeat of current events.

Jay Currie blogged If this is true then Hamas has capitulated….for the moment. The key part is the willingness to end the rockets. The return of Shalit is important; but the end of the rockeets would be the first step to an actual peace.

BlueCrab blogged Simply put, if the Palestinians stop attacking, Israel has no need to target the terrorists. Eventual release of prisoners can mean when they die of old age the bodies will be sent back. This could very well mean the Palestinian terrorists have folded. If this is true, Israel just won a major victory.

Sto the ACLU blogged I’m sure the left will hail this as a fair compromise, but I must say that I disagree. Israel should not accept this deal. The only reason the terrorists are even going this far is because they are losing. Why should Israel release any of their terrorist buddies? Isn’t that what the terrorist demanded from the very beginning? Wouldn’t an acceptance of this deal be a victory for terror, giving in to exactly what they wanted?

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Monday, July 24, 2006

Pigs Fly

Cumberland Times-News

A day after criticizing Israel for "disproportionate" strikes against civilians, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians.
Hell must be frozen over and Pigs must be Flying. Notice what the U.N. Humanitarian Chief admitted
"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," Egeland said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

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Failure to solve Palestinian question empowers Iran

Mark Steyn wrote in Sun Times Afew years back, when folks talked airily about "the Middle East peace process" and "a two-state solution," I used to say that the trouble was the Palestinians saw a two-state solution as an interim stage en route to a one-state solution. I underestimated Islamist depravity. As we now see in Gaza and southern Lebanon, any two-state solution would be an interim stage en route to a no-state solution.

Absolutely. We see in Gaza that they have absolutely no idea how to run a state, they just want an area where they can bring in weapons to attack Israel.
In one of the most admirably straightforward of Islamist declarations, Hussein Massawi, the Hezbollah leader behind the slaughter of U.S. and French forces 20 years ago, put it this way: "We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you."
That is Evil's ultimate objective.
Swell. But, suppose he got his way, what then? Suppose every last Jew in Israel were dead or fled, what would rise in place of the Zionist Entity? It would be something like the Hamas-Hezbollah terror squats in Gaza and Lebanon writ large. Hamas won a landslide in the Palestinian elections, and Hezbollah similarly won formal control of key Lebanese Cabinet ministries. But they're not Mussolini: They have no interest in making the trains run on time. And to be honest, who can blame them? If you're a big-time terrorist mastermind, it's frankly a bit of a bore to find yourself Deputy Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions, particularly when you're no good at it and no matter how lavishly the European Union throws money at you there never seems to be any in the kitty when it comes to making payroll.
It all goes to buying weapons, or to personal bank accounts in case they live long enough to retire.
So, like a business that's over-diversified, both Hamas and Hezbollah retreated to their core activity: Jew-killing.

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Sunday, July 23, 2006

Why my website was banned in India

Rusty Shackleford wrote in WorldNetDaily Two days after the Mumbai bombings last week that killed more than 180, the government of India issued a directive banning 17 websites. These websites were singled out because, according to the Indian government, they might incite religious violence. The nine American websites banned by India are all critical of the Islamist movement. Not a single website of Islamic extremists justifying and even celebrating the Mumbai bombings has been banned.

That is because the Indian Government is afraid of its Muslim population.
Why did India ban these websites? And what is the larger meaning of this action? As proprietor of one of the banned websites, I am in a unique position to answer those questions.

The short answer to the first question is that we offended Islamists, and India is afraid of its own Muslim citizens. The short answer to the second question is that liberty may not be able to exist where there are large populations of Muslims.
At least not Radical Islamofascists.

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In Iran’s Streets, Aid to Hezbollah Stirs Resentment

NYT There is a huge amount of anger here about what is happening in Lebanon, but it is not all the result of Israeli bombs, missiles and artillery. “Of course I am angry,’’ said Hamid Akbari, 30, a deliveryman. “All our income is going to Palestine and Hezbollah.”

Then do something about it. Get rid of the clerics that want to start Armegedon.
For decades, Iran has been Hezbollah’s prime patron, helping create it as a Shiite Muslim militia and then nurture it with money, expertise and weapons. But now that Hezbollah is in the midst of full-blown fighting with Israel, Iranian officials have been adamant in insisting that they had nothing to do with the events that set off the crisis. Part of the reason may be fear, or concern, that the United States and Europe would punish Iran, if it were proved otherwise.
They are right there.
But Iranian officials may have a wary eye on their public. In interviews in central Tehran Saturday, person after person said the same thing: Iran should worry about Iran’s problems and not be dragged down by others’ battles.
This is what we have been waiting for.

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British 'dirty bomb' lorry heading for Iran

Daily Mail reported Border guards seized a British lorry on its way to make a delivery to the Iranian military - after discovering it was packed with radioactive material that could be used to build a dirty bomb.

It looks like Iran can't wait to perfect its own Atomic Bomb
The lorry set off from Kent on its way to Tehran but was stopped by officials at a checkpoint on Bulgaria's northernborder with Romania after a scanner indicated radiation levels 200 times above normal.

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God's army has plans to run the whole Middle East

Sunday Times reported God's army has plans to run the whole Middle East

God needs to keep a better eye on what His army is doing.
Hezbollah, the group at the heart of the Lebanese conflict, is the spearhead of Iran’s ambitions to be a superpower, says Iranian commentator Amir Taheri ‘You are the sun of Islam, shining on the universe!”
And that sun is about to be eclipsed.
This is how Muhammad Khatami, the mullah who was president of Iran until last year, described Hezbollah last week. It would be no exaggeration to describe Hezbollah — the Lebanese Shi’ite militia — as Tehran’s regional trump card. Each time Tehran has played it, it has won. As war rages between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Tehran policymakers think that this time, too, they can win. “I invite the faithful to wait for good news,” Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last Tuesday. “We shall soon witness the elimination of the Zionist stain of shame.”
Considering what Israel did in six days back in 1967 when attacked by four Arab armies, I suspect the stain will be what is left of Iran.

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Possible deal in Gaza

Haaretz reports According to reports Sunday, the Hamas leadership in Gaza is ready to halt Qassam fire as part of a cease-fire deal that would involve an end to IDF action in the Gaza Strip. Senior members of Fatah made similar claims Saturday. The initiative, discussed by representatives of Palestinian organizations in Gaza over the past several days, also includes an agreement to set up a unity government. The Egyptian-initiated plan consists of freeing abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, a joint cease-fire and the cessation of IDF assassinations in the Gaza Strip.

This sounds like good news.
The release of Palestinian prisoners would be part of the deal, but come at a later stage.

It is not clear, however, whether the Hamas political leader in Damascus, Khaled Meshal, would agree to such a deal.
A few well placed precision guided bombs should resolve this problem in Syria, and also the Hezbollah office there.

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