Don Singleton: 2009-03-29

Friday, April 03, 2009

Russia in NATO? Nyet!!!!

csmonitor.com reported "We need Russia for the resolution of European and global problems," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told journalists earlier this week. "That is why I think it would be good for Russia to join NATO," if it can meet membership requirements, he added.

That would be sheer stupidity.

Moscow's official response to Mr. Sikorski's suggestion, delivered by Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitri Rogozin, was a study in ambivalence: "There is no such necessity at the moment [to join NATO], but we cannot rule out this opportunity in future," he said.

I certainly can. It is hard enough to get them to act in the Security Council, and we sometimes have to go to NATO instead.

Some Held at U.S. Base in Afghanistan Have Right to Habeas Corpus

NYTimes reported A federal judge ruled on Thursday that some prisoners held by the United States military in Afghanistan have a right to challenge their imprisonment,

Does the military also have to give some prisoners Miranda rights? And who decides who?

dealing a blow to government efforts to detain terrorism suspects for extended periods without court oversight. In a 53-page ruling that rejected a claim of unfettered executive power advanced by both the Bush and Obama administrations, United States District Judge John D. Bates said that three detainees at the United States’ Bagram Air Base had the same legal rights that the Supreme Court last year granted to prisoners held at the American naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

How is the military supposed to fight if a foreign battlefield is under the jurisdiction of US judges

Video of Taliban Flogging Rattles Pakistan

NYTimes.com reported The video shows a young girl held face down as a Taliban commander whips her repeatedly with a leather strap. “Leave me for the moment — you can beat me again later,”

This always made me wonder. In prison they will sentence someone to a huge number of lashes, in the hundreds, but administer them in pieces, as they heal from one lashing they get another installment

she screams, pleading for a reprieve and writhing in pain. Paying no heed, the commander orders the others to tighten their grip on her and continues the public flogging.

He was havong too much fun.

A large group of men quietly stands and watches in a circle around her.

Probably getting sexual stisfaction from the scene.

The girl in the video is a 17-year-old resident of Kabal in the restive Swat region in northwestern Pakistan. The images, which have been aired repeatedly by private television news networks in Pakistan, have caused outrage here and set off bitter condemnation by rights activists and politicians.

There must be some civilized people there.

It has also raised questions once again about the government’s decision to enter into a peace deal in February that effectively ceded Swat to the Taliban

Making a deal with the devil.

and allowed them to impose Islamic law.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Replace Dollar as Reserve Currency

NYTimes.com reported Barely 24 hours after announcing that Russia and the United States would cooperate on a variety of long-simmering issues, President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia reproposed a Russian idea that the United States had thought it had batted away: starting a new basket of strong regional currencies to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

That is not unreasonable. Obama is devaluing the dollar so much I can see why other countries would be concerned about it.

Mr. Jefferson

We're keeping score

Karl Rove Says Barack Obama Has Moved Chicago Politics to the White House - WSJ.com reported "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."

So are the American People, and you have struck out many times.

That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.

Obama does not have enough opposition from the Republicans, now he is targeting Dems.

A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration's stimulus bill.

Good for him.

The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president's budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign.

Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and her chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, are in regular contact with MoveOn.Org, Americans United for Change and other liberal interest groups. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina has collaborated with Americans United for Change on strategy and even ad copy.

Is that legal?

Ms. Jarrett invited leaders of the liberal interest groups to a White House social event with the president and first lady to kick off the lobbying campaign.

Its targets were initially Republicans, as team Obama ran ads depicting the GOP as the "party of no." But now the fire is being trained on Democrats worried about runaway spending.

We are all worried.

Americans United is going after Democrats who are skeptical of Mr. Obama's plans to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10. The White House is taking aim at lawmakers in 12 states, including Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. MoveOn.Org is running ads aimed at 10 moderate Senate and House Democrats.

That should make it easier for Republicans to take their seats in 2010.

And robocalls are urging voters in key districts to pressure their congressman to get in line.

Integration

The Local reported Believers file quietly out of a mosque into the cold night in Rosengård, a neighbourhood at the centre of a heated debate over Sweden's failure to integrate immigrants amid reports that radical Islamists now control the area. "How does society expect us to integrate when we are so segregated?" asks Sami Touman, a 21-year-old mechanical engineer student whose family comes from Gaza.

How about moving to another area, and acting like a Swede.

.... Traditional Swedish names like Svensson, Larsson and Andersson have gradually disappeared from the metal buzzers, replaced to a large extent by the names of Muslim refugees who have fled conflicts in places like Iraq, Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, Somalia and Afghanistan.

They leave home to get away from the violence, and the create violence themselves.

"When I first got here 15 years ago I had Swedish neighbours. Today, there isn't a single one left," says Anis, a 33-year-old of Bosnian origin who only gives his first name, as he eats a kebab at the large shopping centre that is Rosengård's main meeting point.

Maybe they moved because of the violent clashes caused by the "immigrant youths".

The neighbourhood found itself in the midst of a media frenzy in December following days of violent clashes between immigrant youths and police, and again in January after a government-commissioned report claimed a small group of radical Islamists had a stranglehold on the area. "Families who have just moved into the neighbourhood and who have never been particularly religious or traditional claim that they led freer lives in their home country than in Rosengård," the report said.

I would say go home, but the violence in Sweden was caused by Muslim youth, and you left home because of the violence there. Could it be that Muslim equals violence. Try embracing Christ.

.... While Sweden's official unemployment rate stands at around seven percent, nearly 40 percent of Rosengård working age residents are jobless.

Do they speak Swedish? Maybe that is necessary to get a good job.

"A lot of young people here are out of work... Their parents don't work, and they get their only social interaction in the Islamic milieu, which complicates integration," says Camara, originally from Guinea.

So what should Sweden do to eliminate the "Islamic milieu"?

"They spend their time speaking Arabic," he says, adding that "at heart they don't really want to be Swedish. They tell me so themselves."

Then why don't they move to a country where Arabic is the common language.

Even the imam (preacher) at Rosengård's largest mosque complains that some immigrant communities here are not as open as they should be to Swedish society. "That is a problem for us, for Europe, having some communities always looking to the past," says Bejzat Becirov, who gives his sermons in Swedish.

I am happy to hear that, but maybe they don't understand his sermons if they spend their time speaking Arabic.

Death penalty for those who sell land to Jews

Jerusalem Post reported The Palestinian Authority has issued yet another warning to Palestinians against selling their homes or properties to Jews, saying those who violate the order would be accused of "high treason" - a charge that carries the death penalty.

Apparently Muslims only recognize land transfers that result from conquest and killing, and not land bought and paid for.

... Sheikh Tamimi's warning came in response to reports that Jewish businessmen from the US had purchased 20 dunams of land from Palestinians on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

An area given to the Jews by God, but still the Jews were willing to compensate the current owners.

... He said that the ban was necessary to counter the Israeli government's efforts to change the Arab and Islamic culture of Jerusalem by expelling its Arab residents and turning it into a Jewish city.

Which is what it should be. Jerusalem is not even mentioned in the Koran. Muslims claim it because of a dream about the "furthest mosque"

"The city of Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of the Palestinians," he said.

Palestine was never a country, and Jerusalem has only been the capital of a Jewish state.

"The Jews have no rights in Jerusalem.

No,the Muslims have no rights to Jerusalem, however arab citizens living in Israel have more rights than arabs living in other countries in the Middle East.

This is an occupied city like the rest of the territories that were occupied in 1967."

Baloney.

Scores of Palestinians have been murdered over the past three decades for allegedly selling their property to Jews or for acting as intermediaries in real estate deeds involving Jews.

Islam, the Religion of Peace. NOT!!!

Global Warming

George Will noted in a WaPo editorial
according to statistics published by the World Meteorological Organization there has not been a warmer year on record than 1998.

Jonathan Chait of Tne New Republic, Steve Benen of Washington Monthly, and Get Energy Smart whined Will (again) cites the unusually hot year of 1998 to prove that the planet isn't warming. He fails to understand a very basic concept in data that you don't need any particular social science expertise to grasp, which is that trends don't always move in a perfectly straight line. The planet has been getting warmer,

At least until 1998, and since then it has gotten cooler.

and there was an extreme spike in 1998.

And the GW hysteria has been built around such a spike. And now the spike is used against them.

Both these things can be true.

But because something CAN be true, does not mean it is.

Michel Jarraud of WMO said It is a misinterpretation of the data and of scientific knowledge to point to one year as the warmest on record and then to extrapolate that cooler subsequent years invalidate the reality of global warming and its effects.

And it is equally invalid to pretend that the cooling that has happened since 1998 never took place.

Two sides

Two sides to the story. Red State took a MoveOn.org ad and made a few improvements (added a dash of truth)

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Securing Afghanistan

Mehrnews reported U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that Tehran has an interest in securing Afghanistan

Of course they want to secure it, as take possession of it, as they would like to secure Iraq. They want to be the dominant country in the area. They have no interest in it becoming an secure, independent country. Their only interest in the drugs would be to finance terrorism.

as Iran is flooded with huge drug flow from its eastern neighbor.

Deficit

Washingtonpost.com reported In the first independent analysis, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that President Obama's budget would rack up massive deficits even after the economy recovers, forcing the nation to borrow nearly $9.3 trillion over the next decade.

The Foundry reported President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term. But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious.

Absolutely. It is still twice Bush's deficit. And he has brought things like the Iraq war into the budget and projected it for 10 years, while at the same time promising to get out in one year, and it will still be in the baseline for him to say he cut that much when he never planned to spend it.

The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s.

Shown above

Gateway Pundit blogged The US debt is so large that America couldn't qualify to join the EU.

Lunatic

Reuters reported Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of "honorable reconciliation," a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea"

It was. Only a lunatic, or a left wing idiot, (wich is the same thing) would think they are honorable or want reconciliation or peace.

and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.

I.E. surrender, so they could take over the country, and allow groups to use it to plan more attacks like 9/11.

Best wishes, Ann

Andrew Sullivan and Jesse Taylor of Pandagon seem to think it is a subject of derision that Ann Althouse is going to be married to a man who she initially met as he commented on her blog. People on the left can't seem to abide even Centrists like Ann, who voted for Obama, much less Conservatives.

I am just happy that she found someone to love, who loves her, and I wish her the best in the world.

Palestinian youth orchestra disbanded

Haaretz reported Palestinian authorities disbanded a youth orchestra from a West Bank refugee camp after it played for a group of Holocaust survivors in Israel, a local official said on Sunday. Adnan Hindi of the Jenin camp called the Holocaust a political issue

It is a historical issue

and accused conductor Wafa Younis of unknowingly dragging the children into a political dispute.

What dispute? They played some music that was heard by Jews? Aren't you pretending you want to live in peace with your neighbors? It would seem playing music for them might make them think you did not just want to kill them.

He added that Younis has been barred from the camp and the apartment where she taught the 13-member Strings of Freedom orchestra has been boarded up.

That'll show them. Punish the Paletinian girls.

"She exploited the children," said Hindi, the head of the camp's popular committee, which takes on municipal duties. "She will be forbidden from doing any activities.... We have to protect our children and our community."

We can't have them playing pretty music for Jooozz

The move highlights the sensitivity of many Palestinians over acknowledging Jewish suffering, fearing it would weaken their own historical grievances against Israel.

There is no comparison. The Jews were killed because Hitler wanted to get rid of them. If Israel wanted to get rid of the Palestinians, it would kill the ones it has in prison, rather than feeding them, and it would bomb indiscriminately when you shoot rockets at Israel. And if the other Arab countries cared about the Palestinians it would settle them in their countries. Many Jews were run out of Jordan, and they settled in Israel. Why can't the Paletinians settle in Jordan, or any other Arab country?

"The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," Hindi said. "We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years."

You were forced to flee by Arabs that wanted you out of the way while they tried to destroy the newly formed Israel. Arabs who stayed now have more rights than arabs in any other country in the Middle East

.... Kaynan Rabino, director of Ruach Tova, or Good Spirit, the charity that organized the event, said he was disappointed to hear about the reaction in Jenin. "They approached us and volunteered to play. Wafa knew the orchestra would play before Holocaust survivors," he said. "We wanted to bring people's hearts closer together and if they are against that then that's a real shame."

They don't want to bring hearts together; they want to kill Jews.

.... At last Wednesday's performance, most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank,

They probably assumed they were civilized arabs, like those living freely in Israel

a rare sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide - or even what the Holocaust was.

A problem with Palestinian education, that only teaches hatred of the Jews.

They want to tell you what choice to make

POLITICO.com reported Tim Kaine, the Virginia governor and President Barack Obama's hand-picked choice as the head of the Democratic National Committee, infuriated abortion-rights groups Monday by signing legislation that gives abortion foes a long-sought victory.

Why are they infuriated? They are Pro Choice aren't they? The plate says "Choose Life". Or is it that they want to tell you what choice to make?

Kaine brushed off intense lobbying by abortion rights supporters in Richmond to sign a bill that allows Virginia motorists to advertise their anti-abortion views by sporting "Choose Life" specialty license plates.

The revenue from the specialty plates would go to crisis-pregnancy centers, which many abortion-rights backers believe proslyetize against abortion and encourage women to keep unwanted children.

And they don't want to have to spend all the money they make providing abortions to counteract the support that $35 per license plate can provide.

... “It is surprising that Governor Kaine would do this, but it’s all the more surprising that he would do it as chair of the DNC,” said Paulette McElwain, the president of the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.

Why? They satisfied the legal requirements didn't they. Does Paulette suggest the Governor should violate the law, and especially as chair of the DNC?

McElwain exchanged numerous calls with the governor’s office over the license plates and organized a grass roots effort that logged more than 2,000 calls to the governor’s staff. “We provided him with abundant information,” she said. “We’re terribly disappointed that he decided to sign it.”

What information did they provide him? It sounds like they got got 2,000 people to whine they don't like Pro Life.

In Washington, NARAL/Pro-Choice America channeled more than 17,000 emails and 200 calls to the DNC urging Kaine to veto the bill. “It is unfortunate that, even after receiving thousands of messages from Virginians and pro-choice activists across the country, Gov. Kaine has opted to sign a bill that advances a divisive political ideology

"Life" and a little boy or girl is a divisive political ideology?

at the expense of women’s health,”

The plate does not say "support back room abortions" it says "Choose Life"

NARAL/Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan said in a statement.

The “Choose Life” plate was among a number of designs approved by Kaine, including one honoring the Washington Capitals professional hockey team. To request a plate, a group must get at least 350 people to prepay a $25 fee.

And if they can get 200 people to call, or 17,000 to email, surely they can get 350 to pay $25 for a plate that says "Kill Your Baby"

Kaine defended the move by pointing out that Virginia has a “long-standing program” allowing customized license plates and said that if Planned Parenthood applied for a plate he would grant it.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bankruptcy May Be Best Option

CNBC reported General Motors's new chief executive told CNBC that filing for Bankruptcy may be the best option for the struggling automaker.

I've known all along tat Chapter 11 was going to be the only way to fix GM. But why couldn't they have firgure that out before we poured so many billions into the black hole.

In a taped interview to be aired tonight on NBC Nightly News, Fritz Henderson said that because of greater demands from the Obama administration to restructure, GM is considering the bankruptcy option.

He does not want Obama to fire him too.

The auto giant previously had ruled out such a move, saying it would discourage people from buying GM cars.

How are they going to get loans to buy them anyway, and will they want to buy the green cars the government is going to force GM to make. We have already seen how well five and ten year plans worked out in the Soviet Union, as the bureaucracy tried to run the economy.

Henderson's comments came after President Obama bluntly rejected turnaround plans by GM and Chrysler and demanded that both companies make fresh concessions in order to get more federal aid.

Taliban Leader Vows To Attack D.C. "Soon"

CBS News reported The top Taliban commander in Pakistan promised an assault on Washington "soon" - one he says will "amaze" the world.

He better hurry. Obama is destroying not just DV, but the entire country.

"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Baitullah Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone.

You may find it is easier to attack a police academy outside of Lahore than Washington DC, Baitullah

Mehsud also claimed responsibility for Monday's attack on a police academy outside the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, saying it was in retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

We The People Stimulus Package

Common Sense

Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense," returns to modern times to pleas for a second revolution to take back America, Now!

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