Don Singleton: 2007-12-23

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Rudy official resigns after Muslim comment

msnbc.com reported The New Hampshire co-chair of Veterans for Rudy resigned Saturday amid video remarks in which he suggested Giuliani would deal with the “rise of the Muslims” and that the United States should “defeat or chase them back to their caves”.

He is right.

John Deady made the comments in a video interview to The Guardian newspaper last weekend, while attending a Giuliani house party at the home of Manchester, N.H., Mayor Frank Guinta. “He has got, I believe, the knowledge and the judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in current history, and that is the rise of the Muslims,” Deady said in the video interview, posted Dec. 27. “Make no mistake about it, this hasn’t happened for a thousand years. These people are very, very dedicated. They’re also very smart in their own way, and we need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people until we defeat them or chase them back to their caves, or, in other words, get rid of them.” Deady later confirmed he made those comments in an interview to Talking Points Memo, adding that he did not believe there were good and bad Muslims.

He is wrong in that there are good Muslims, but they are to afraid to stand up to the bad ones, so all you hear about is the bad ones.

“They’re all Muslims,” he said.

Netscape Is Dead

InformationWeek AOL on Friday stopped development of the Netscape browser, saying the respected brand that launched the commercial Internet in 1994 had little chance of ever regaining market share against its archrival Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Now that AoL killed Netscape, who will kill AoL? Surely its time has passed as well.

Star Tribune distorts poll

Star Tribune distorts poll, saying More people say there should be less of a Christian emphasis placed on the holidays Star Tribune reported While a majority of American adults still believe that Jesus should be the focus of the holiday season, a growing segment of the population disagrees.

But the headline implies the majority want the focus to be less, while really 64% want more focus on Jesus.

A recent poll conducted by the Rasmussen Reports found that 27 percent of respondents said that there should be less of a Christian emphasis on the holidays. That's up 10 percentage points from a year ago when just 17 percent of adults felt that way.

Still, 64 percent of respondents said that the holiday season should focus more on the birth of Jesus. That's down one percentage point from 2006, when 65 percent felt that way, and eight percentage points from two years ago when 72 percent said Jesus should be the reason for the season.

64, 65, or 72%, it is still a significant majority, The "War on Christmas" has not won yet.

Fox News Drops Ron Paul

Yahoo! Finance reported According to the New Hampshire State Republican Party and an Associated Press report, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul will be excluded from an upcoming forum of Republican candidates to be broadcast by Fox News on January 6, 2008.

It is about time. Why not cut some of the other deadwood that does not stand a chance of becoming the nominee?

Update: It appears the story is wrong, and there will not even be a debate that day. I still think it is time to start narrowing the slate of debaters.

Pizza ad gives Kucinich backers indigestion

A new Pizza Hut ad uses slices of presidential debate commentary to tout a cut-rate pizza deal,

and as Sabrina Eaton indicates it has upset backers of Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich. "Are people seeing lower prices now?" the announcer in the ad asks before cutting to a debate segment where Kucinich says: "More people in this country have seen UFOs." When the vegan congressman disappears from the screen, his image is replaced by meat-covered pizzas. Operators of several websites that admire the Cleveland congressmen are urging readers to complain to Pizza Hut. They're not mad about Kucinich being linked to pepperoni despite his meat aversion, or being linked to chain pizza despite his anti-corporate rhetoric. It's the UFO reference that's given them indigestion.

Is this the only thing that makes you think he is from another planet?

Pocket Veto

White House reported The adjournment of the Congress has prevented my return of H.R. 1585 within the meaning of Article I, section 7, clause 2 of the Constitution. Accordingly, my withholding of approval from the bill precludes its becoming law. The Pocket Veto Case, 279 U.S. 655 (1929). In addition to withholding my signature and thereby invoking my constitutional power to "pocket veto" bills during an adjournment of the Congress, I am also sending H.R. 1585 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, along with this memorandum setting forth my objections, to avoid unnecessary litigation about the non-enactment of the bill that results from my withholding approval and to leave no doubt that the bill is being vetoed.

Thus Bush is saying he is using the pocket veto to veto H.R. 1585, the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008," with it pay raises for the military, because of what it might do to Iraqi funds. But the Pocket Veto will not work, because the Senate has been holding Pro Forma sessions

Daily Kos

so the law will go into effect, and the military will get its raises, and it will appear his has lost, but it will be easy for him to make sure the Iraqi funds are just not in American banks, which will make European bankers happier with the US. Pelosi and Reid will think they won, but Bush will have played them all for suckers.

Friday, December 28, 2007

If You Want Democracy, Kill the Jihadists First

Andrew C. McCarthy wrote in National Review Online Jihadists are not going to be wished away, rule-of-lawed into submission, or democratized out of existence. If you really want democracy and the rule of law in places like Pakistan, you need to kill the jihadists first. Or they’ll kill you, just like, today, they killed Benazir Bhutto.

That is absolutely right.

Time to Choose

Scott Ott wrote on Townhall The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has put on notice the leaders of every European nation. Your secularism, your democracy will not stand. The growing Muslim populations in your own lands that you have done so much to tolerate, protect and celebrate, will soon rise up against you. Sharia law shall become your law. The Caliph shall rule you.

That is certainly their objective

It remains only for you to choose submission or assassination.

A third option is available. Reject secularism, and re-embrace Christianity. It is hard for nothing to replace something, but show the Muslims in your country that Christ offers the things that drew them to the West from the oppressive environment that was in the countries they left

This bullet to the neck of democracy in Pakistan should cause a twinge in the carotid artery of each leader in France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Greece...name them all.

I wonder if they realise it.

The assassin, strapped with bombs and carrying a firearm, stood amidst a cheering throng and took aim at the only major symbol of liberalism and democratic reform in the Islamic world. As the mortally-wounded woman slumped through the sunroof, the happy hunter detonated himself to send a clear message that no security cordon can protect those who rise to oppose jihad.

Cling, if you will, to your professors who drone on about the legitimate grievances of oppressed peoples who wish only to be left alone. Your cartridge clicks into the chamber.

Sing yourself to sleep each night with an ode to peaceful co-existence. The crosshairs find your throat.

Cup your hands over your ears to muffle the unthinkable warnings. The finger squeezes the trigger.

As you mount the rostrum to decry the slaying and call for calm in Pakistan, do you wonder whether your security detail could stop him?

As you send your condolences to the grieving widower, the shattered supporters and the tottering Pakistani president, himself a target of previous assassination attempts, do you have a strategy for negotiating with those who embrace murderous martyrdom?

Which will you choose -- submission or assassination?

Take your time deciding, but know this: The bullet hurtles onward.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

The American Soldier

The average age of the military man or woman is 19 years old.

They are a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half adult, half child. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for their country.

They never really cared much for work and they would rather wax their own car than wash their father's; but they have never collected unemployment either.

They are recent High School graduates; they were probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities; drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, or wife, that either broke up with them when they left, or swears to be waiting when they return from half a world away.

They listen to rock and roll, hip-hop, rap, jazz, or swing, and 155mm Howitzers.

They are 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when they were at home because they are working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

They have trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for them but they can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.

They can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if they must.

They dig foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

They can march until they are told to stop or stop until they are told to march.

They obey orders instantly and without hesitation, but they are not without spirit or individual dignity.

They are self-sufficient. They have two sets of fatigues: they wash one and wear the other. They keep their canteens full and their feet dry.

They sometimes forget to brush their teeth, but never to clean their rifle.

They can cook their own meals, mend their own clothes, and fix their own hurts.

If you're thirsty, They will share their water with you; if you're hungry, their food.

They will even split their ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

They have learned to use their hands like weapons and weapons like they were their hands. They can save your life - or take it, because that is their job.

They will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still find ironic humor in it all. They have seen more suffering and death then they should have in their short lifetime.

They have stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them.

They have wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and are unashamed.

They feel every note of the National Anthem vibrate through their body while standing at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around them who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, they defend their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did their Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother, Great-grandfather, and Great-grandmother, they are paying the price for our freedom.

They are, THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, that have kept this country free for over 200 years.

They have asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding.

Remember them, always, for they have earned our respect and admiration with their blood.

THEY ARE OUR SONS, OUR DAUGHTERS, OUR HUSBANDS, OUR WIVES, OUR BROTHERS, OUR SISTERS, OUR FRIENDS AND OUR PROTECTORS!

Treat them with utmost respect at all times whether during war times or just in everyday life.

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS! GOD BLESS AMERICA! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Blair, the Muslim?

Ajmal Masroor wrote on Guardian Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism does not come as a surprise to anyone but I would have liked him to turn to Islam instead.

He converted to Catholicism because his wife is Catholic. He is not stupid.

Blair has claimed on many occasions that he has read the Quran and has said he found its teachings "progressive".

He did not read it very well.

He is right that the Quran is progressive and as a revealed book of God, it is the latest testament. Why would Blair turn to the older versions of God's testament when there is the Quran? His conversion sounds rather regressive to me.

Different denominational churches within Christianity are part of the same house. If the Church of England was not providing our former prime minister with spiritual fulfilment changing to another denomination within the same house surely will not make substantial difference. If he is looking for reform and spirituality, he should come to Islam. Blair has said the Quran strikes him as a reforming book "trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, much as reformers attempted to do with the Christian church centuries later".

Actually Muhammad tried to pretend it was a part of Judaism and Christianity, but when the Jews and Christians saw through him, he just invented verses that said he was to kill everyone.

If he so admires the Quran for its reformist outlook, why turn to Christianity

Because he felt he could reach Christ more easily in the Catholic Church.

and particularly Catholic Church, which has been plagued with centuries of baggage?

In an article published by Foreign Affairs early this year, Blair spoke of the Quran as being inclusive. His new Church has been the most exclusive and in the name of its own version of Christianity has murdered and destroyed the lives and properties of many fellow Christians over the years.

While Islam has killed more Jews, Christians, AND Muslims.

In his role as a Middle East envoy he would have won the hearts and minds of the Muslim world if he had come to Islam. He might have found redemption for his crimes against Iraq and its innocent people. His conversion to Catholicism would no doubt remind the Muslim world, especially the Arab world of the history of the Crusades. The blood of millions of people still stain the cobblestones of the Holy Land from the cold-blooded murders committed in the name of Christianity and was blessed by the then Papacy in Rome.

According to Blair, Islam "extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition".

Blair is an idiot if he said that.

I agree, but why has he embraced Catholicism with its history of hostility towards science and is embedded with superstition?

Islam is just as anti-science, if not more so.

If Jesus (may peace be on him) was to descend today and walk into a church he would not recognise anything that Christians are practicing in his name. So why then convert to Catholicism?

Blair was very clear in his words when he said Islam "is practical and far ahead of its time in attitudes toward marriage, women, and governance". If Islam is a religion that values family and respects women

They respect a woman as needing to be completely covered when they leave the house, and who cannot go out unless accompanied by a father, brother, ho husband, whose word in court is worth half of a man's word, whose inheritance is worth half of her brothers, and who cannot choose who she wants to marry.

why has he converted to a church that prohibits its priests from getting married, whose holy man are dogged by accusations of homosexuality and pedophilia?

Muhammad married a six year old girl, and had sex with her at age 8 or 9. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.” The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.”

Blair certainly admires Islam. He said "under its guidance, the spread of Islam and its dominance over previously Christian or pagan lands were breathtaking. Over centuries, Islam founded an empire and led the world in discovery, art, and culture." If I admired a faith so much I would convert to it.

And if you found it was misrepresented, you could not leave it.

So I am baffled to know why he has converted to Catholicism and not embraced Islam.

Islam certainly stands for tolerance and demonstrates this by giving a special status to the Christians and Jews calling them people of the Book - Ahl al-Kitab.

Where they live as second class citizens, submissive to the Muslims.

Christianity does not do the same.

It treats all men as equals.

Blair reminded us that "the standard-bearers of tolerance in the early Middle Ages were far more likely to be found in Muslim lands than in Christian ones".

But this is not the Middle Ages, even though some Muslims might want to go back to those days.

Yes, but why has Mr Blair converted to Catholicism? Surely he stands for tolerance, progress and good governance.

And finally I have one last question for Blair. Did you not say "the faith of Islam is very peaceful and a very beautiful faith"? Why have you not tried Islam? I do not want to dismiss your journey to spirituality, but it is not too late to try Islam - you may like it.

But if you don't, don't try to change back, because the will kill you.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Can you imagine

Can you imagine the amount of work this would have taken

Old and stupid

NYT reported Eight years ago, when Robert J. Pyle was 73 years old, he had about $500,000 in the bank and owned a house in Northern California worth about $650,000. He was looking forward to a comfortable retirement. Today, at 81, he has lost everything. Mr. Pyle, a retired aerospace engineer, now lives in his stepdaughter’s tiny, mountainside home in a room not much larger than his bed. By his own admission, Mr. Pyle willingly made every decision that led to his financial problems. He gave away large sums to people he thought were friends, and then, in need of money, sold his house at a deep discount to the first person who offered to buy it. Even so, he claims in a lawsuit that he should be compensated for some of his losses for a simple reason: he is old, and should not bear the full responsibility for his choices.

Does he want to give up the right to make stupid choices, or just have someone else pay for them?

“I still make pretty good decisions about most things,” said Mr. Pyle, who shows no signs of dementia. “But for others, I guess I’m not as sharp as I was before, and people take advantage of that.”

One is never too old to learn, but education costs money.

In the last few years, thousands of older Americans like Mr. Pyle have filed suits against companies and salespeople who have promoted dubious offers and schemes. These suits are unusual because the victims typically do not say they were intimidated or lied to, and they concede they freely made what turned out to be unwise decisions. But because the plaintiffs are older, they argue, they should be less accountable for their mistakes.

They can always choose to turn the management of their funds over to a trust department in a bank, but these people don't want to do that. They want to go on making their own decisions, but have someone, either the courts or the government, bail them out when they make stupid decisions.

These lawsuits raise controversial questions: In the eyes of the law, should the elderly be treated like adolescents, who are not entirely responsible for their poor decisions, but are also barred from making certain choices on their own? Or should they have autonomy, and therefore be accountable for their blunders?

They want to be able to make the stupid decisions, but not have to live with the impact of those decisions.

Minors, for instance, can typically cancel a contract without penalty, unless it is co-signed by a parent. But the law also prohibits most teenagers from making major financial decisions. “Figuring out how to protect senior citizens from victimization, even when it’s caused by their own mistakes, is one of the most important issues facing us right now,” said Sharon Merriman-Nai of the National Center on Elder Abuse. “If we don’t solve this, millions of older people will suddenly be reliant on their families or the government.”

That is the role of Family, not Government.

.... For instance, Mr. Pyle’s suit contends that mortgage brokers and banks defrauded him by helping him take out loans they knew he could not afford,

He was stupid for taking out any loan if he did not have an income bringing in money to pay for it.

and that the person who bought his house deceived him by paying far less than its market value.

He sold it to the first person that offered to buy it. That was his decision.

Monday, December 24, 2007

The Gas Station

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. He had no decorations, no tree, no lights. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. There were no children in his life. His wife had gone. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through. Instead of throwing the man out, George, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the space heater and warm up.

"Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy. I'll just go."

"Not without something hot in your belly," George turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew. Made it myself. When you're done there's coffee and it's fresh."

Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me be right back," George said.

There in the driveway was an old 53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front. The driver was panicked. "Mister, can you help me!" said the driver with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken."

George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold; the car was dead. "You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away.

"But mister. please help...." The door of the office closed behind George as he went in. George went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building and opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good." George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. George turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck. Their tires were shot too. That ol' truck has brand new........" George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The thermos was on the desk, empty with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the block hadn't cracked; it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on. "Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car.

As he was working he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Help me." George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels.

He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease. "Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there. I'm going to get you an ambulance." The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two-way radio. He went back in to find the policeman sitting up.

"Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area." George sat down beside him. "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time yer gonna be right as rain." George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked.

"None for me," said the officer. "Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts."

The officer laughed and winced at the same time. The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.

"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.

"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George. "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt."

The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!" The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop. "We got one too many in here now."

He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve If you need the money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pee shooter away." George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time.

The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job. My rent is due. My car got repossessed last week..."

George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can." He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Being stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer."

"Shut up and drink your coffee." the cop said. George could hear the sounds of sirens outside.

A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer. "Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?" "GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man. Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other. "That guy work here?," the wounded cop continued. "Yep," George said. "Just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job." The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"

Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy. And you too, George, and thanks for everything." "Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems." George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go. Something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day." The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you."

"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours." The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier. "And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family."

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good."

"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after."

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?" "I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"

"Well, after my wife passed away I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was getting a little chubby."

The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor. The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man." George was taken aback by all this stranger had said.

"And how do you know all this?" asked the old man. "Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again." The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned."

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room. "You see, George... it's my birthday. Merry Christmas." George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord."

A Green Light for Stupidity

WaPo reported Like countless other communities, this west German town lived for years with a miserable traffic problem. Each day, thousands of cars and big trucks barreled along the two-lane main street, forcing pedestrians and cyclists to scamper for their lives. The usual remedies -- from safety crossings to speed traps -- did no good. So the citizens of Bohmte decided to take a big risk. Since September, they've been tearing up the sidewalks, removing curbs and erasing street markers as part of a radical plan to abandon nearly all traffic regulations and force people to rely on common sense and courtesy instead.... The assumption is that drivers are accustomed to owning the road and rarely pay attention to speed limits or caution signs anyway. Removing traffic lights and erasing lane markers, the thinking goes, will cause drivers to get nervous and slow down. "Generally speaking, what we want is for people to be confused," said Willi Ladner, a deputy mayor in Bohmte. "When they're confused, they'll be more alert and drive more carefully."

You are insane.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Department of sartorial intimidation

Roger Kimball writes on PjamasMedia The Italian footoball team Inter Milan has a stylish uniform, white jerseys with a bold red cross. Well, I think it is stylish. Baris Kaska, a Turkish lawyer, doesn’t like it. Indeed, according to the London Times, Mr. Kaska has initiated legal action against the team, alleging that the “Crusader-style” uniforms are “offensive to Muslim sensibilities.” Yes, really.
Baris Kaska, a lawyer in Izmir who specialises in European law, said that he had lodged a complaint in a local court against Inter Milan, which last month played the Istanbul team Fenerbahce in a Champions League match at the San Siro stadium in Milan. The Inter players wore a new strip - a white shirt with a giant red cross on it - marking the club’s centenary.

Mr Kaska said he was not only seeking damages but was also appealing to Uefa to annul the match, which Inter won 3-0. “That cross only brings one thing to mind - the symbol of the Templar Knights,” he said. “It made me think immediately of the bloody days of the past. While I was watching the game I felt profound grief in my soul.” Mr Kaska told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that the cross symbolised “Western racist superiority over Islam”.
I used to think these “offensive-to-Muslim-sensibilities” stories were half comical—I saw that they had an edge, but really, I thought, they were local eruptions of politically correct nonsense: a nuisance, no more. I have corrected that opinion.

When you have a faith as weak as Islam you can't stand to see it compared with anything else.

A English school teacher in Sudan allows her students to name a Teddy bear “Muhammad” and she is jailed for “insulting the prophet.” Maclean’s magazine publishes a chapter from Mark Steyn’s best-selling book America Alone and a London lawyer files a “human rights” complaint in Canada against Mr. Steyn and the magazine for fostering “contempt and hatred” of Canadian Muslims. Everyone knows what happened when a Danish newspaper published some satirical cartoons of Muhammad. A very long list of such incidents could be compiled. Now a Turkish lawyer arrogates to himself the power to tell an Italian football team what they can wear. And Turkey wants to join the EU? Think about that.

As quickly as the rest of Europe is being Islamized, Turkey may soon be the most secular part.

Muslims have mastered the Western system of litigation and forged a powerful weapon out of it. When will they manage to adopt the Western system of free speech and respect for individual freedom?

When Hell freezes.

When will they learn that the luxury being offensive and offended is part of what it means to be a grown up?

When pigs fly.

While we wait for an answer, I suggest that every Western sports team adopt a uniform that features a large cross as a sign of solidarity.

I second the motion.

Elect me and oil prices instantly drop, says Hillary

NY Daily News reported Hillary Clinton predicted Saturday that just electing her President will cut the price of oil.

Just electing her will not completely destroy the economy, just start it on its slide.

When the world hears her commitment at her inauguration about ending American dependence on foreign fuel, Clinton says, oil-pumping countries will lower prices to stifle America's incentive to develop alternative energy.

They will just laugh, and send more jihadis.

"I predict to you, the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil," Clinton said, speaking at the Manchester YWCA. "They will once again assume, once the cost pressure is off, Americans and our political process will recede."

They will charge whatever the market will bear.

Clinton argued that former President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s actually started moving in the right direction toward energy independence, but his successor, Ronald Reagan, "dismantled" that work.

So that was the purpose of stag-flation and the "misery indes". And Hilary wants to take us back to those days, and long gas lines.

U.S. illegal immigrants 'self deport' as woes mount

Reuters reported Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico. She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico. "The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.

Wonderfl. It works. To those who said you can't deport all of these illegal workers, you don't have to. Just enforce existing law and they will deport themselves. Then you can set up a secure system of documentation and readmit them in a controlled fashion.

The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip.

Have a safe trip.

Santa Claus

Santa Claus! | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Deck the Halls

Deck The Halls | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Fred Thompson Christmas Ad

Fred Thompson had the best Christmas Ad of all of the candidates

Hat Tip CQ

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