Don Singleton

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Hold the ice

Chicago Sun Times reported In a test of ice cubes from 49 fast-food and casual-dining restaurants and hotel bars in the city and suburbs, the Chicago Sun-Times found that more than one of every five samples contained high levels of bacteria. Samples taken at three of the restaurants contained an undetermined amount of fecal coliform, according to the findings of a government-certified laboratory that performed tests on the samples for the newspaper. By comparison, a water sample taken from a toilet in a men's room at the Sun-Times tested cleaner than the ice obtained at 21 of the restaurants and bars.

I would not want to drink that, but if I ever end up in Chicago I want my Coke in a can, no ice.

Teddy Bear named Jesus

Hot Air reported The View wonders, wouldn’t Christians be freaking out if a teddy bear was named Jesus? The burning question on Barbara’s mind is whether the outrage of the Sudanese lynch mob is really all that different in principle from that of religious people in the U.S.

If a teacher in the US allowed a child to name a teddy bear Jesus, there might be an out cry, but it would not be from Christians, but from the Secular Humanists that would object to the use of Jesus's name in public school. They would scream Separation of Church and State.

The CAIR Bears are here!

This is very funny. The Rude News has posted a number of CAIR Bears. Check them all out

Hat tip to Robert Spencer. And check out Robert's article in Human Events about implications of the Muhammad Teddy Bear Madness.

International Islamophobia Conference

Jihad Watch reported Some of the world's leading lights on Islam, both Muslim and non-Muslim, are gathering at the Grand Cevahir Hotel in Istanbul December 8-9 for the International Islamophobia Conference.... But if one wants to understand why it is happening, and what can be done to end it, no two-day star-studded conference is needed -- unless, of course, that conference is meant to highlight the victim status of Muslims and divert attention from jihad terror activity. if Muslims want to end "Islamophobia" instantaneously, here's how they can do it:

Focus their indignation on Muslims committing violent acts in the name of Islam, not on non-Muslims reporting on those acts.
There have been 10, 128 since 9/11, according to the box in my side bar.
Renounce definitively not just "terrorism," but any intention to replace the U.S. Constitution (or the constitutions of any non-Muslim state) with Sharia even by peaceful means.
Teach Muslims the imperative of coexisting peacefully as equals with non-Muslims on an indefinite basis.
This will be a hard lesson for them to learn.
Begin comprehensive international programs in mosques all over the world to teach against the ideas of violent jihad and Islamic supremacism.
Actively work with Western law enforcement officials to identify and apprehend jihadists within Western Muslim communities.

If Muslims do those five things, voila! "Islamophobia" will vanish.

Tariq, Karen, John, Louay, Recep: don't thank me. If you want me to come to Constantinople and explain this in more depth, just contact me at director@jihadwatch.org.

I would not book any air fare just yet, or hold my breath.

Huckabee

Richard Cohen wrote in WaPo What could be called "The Huckabee Moment" occurred Sunday morning when ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked the former Arkansas governor, suddenly and ominously the front-runner in Iowa's GOP contest, whether Mitt Romney is a Christian. Mike Huckabee knew precisely what was being asked of him,

He was challenged by a Secular Humanist to say someone is not a Christian.

and he also knew, because he is a preacher, what the right -- not the clever, mind you -- answer should be. But Huckabee merely smiled that wonderful smile of his and punted.

In other words he was smart enough not to fall in Stephanopolis's trap.

This, with apologies to George W. Bush, is the soft demagoguery of low expectations. Until just recently, the expectations have indeed been low for Huckabee. He is more famous for losing more than 100 pounds than for any towering political accomplishment. But he is an ordained Baptist minister, and Romney is a Mormon -- a member of a church that some conservative Christians consider heretical.

And if some think that way, Richard thinks all must.

Huckabee has presented himself as the un-Mormon. Pardon me for saying so, but that is the chief difference between the two. On about all the social issues you can name -- abortion, stem cells, gun control -- Huckabee and Romney are in sync. So their religious differences are not about morality.

Does Richard Cohen think that a man's belief should control how he would govern?

They are about belief -- religious belief, precisely the issue that is not supposed to matter in this country. Huckabee, though, clearly thinks it ought to.

But he did not fall in Stephanopolis's trap.

Monday, December 03, 2007

We are good friends!

Click here to see some cute "animal friend" pictures like this one

Hague museum pulls offensive Muslim art

TheAge reported The city museum of The Hague has decided not to include in an exhibition a work of art that may offend Muslims, it was reported on Monday.

Will the museum be equally considerate of offending the sensibilities of Christians, or Jews, or Buddists, or Hindus, or .....

The picture, made by Iranian artist Sooreh Hera, is entitled Adam and Ewald and shows two gay men wearing masks of the Muslim prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali.... However, he added he will not exhibit Adam and Ewald in the next few years because "certain people in our society might perceive it as offensive".

Hera responded she was "disappointed" and added "apparently a Muslim minority decides what will be on display in the museum".

It is a stupid picture, and one obviously done to offend, but "art work" drawn to offend Christians has been exhibited.

Liberal-rightist Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders, condemned the museum's decision, adding it was "based on fear".

Finally a little sanity in Sudan

WaPo reported A British school teacher jailed in Sudan for two weeks after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad was freed Monday following a pardon by the Sudanese president.

This whole thing was stupid. I just hope they get her out of the country safely before the mob gets her.

President Omar al-Bashir's pardon of Gillian Gibbons allowed her to leave prison before the end of her 15-day sentence, and ended a diplomatic tangle, resulting in what British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called a victory for common sense.

Iowa and New Hampshire are no longer first

Los Angeles Times reported Thanks to quiet changes in how busy Americans choose to vote -- namely the explosion of early absentee voting as a convenience, not a necessity caused by travel -- Florida's absentee voters will actually be the first Americans to start voting in the primary process for the 2008 election. They can start casting their ballots on Christmas Day, 23 days from now and a full nine days before Iowa's caucus-goers thought they'd be first in the nation.

And at least for the Dems it won't count, because of what their party did to penalize Florida for moving their primary up.

This means that voting in the 2008 presidential election process actually begins in 2007.

For a president that will not take office until 2009.

... Additionally, Gronke's documents show that a strong trend toward early absentee voting all over the West is also quietly undercutting the “first in the nation” primacy of the Hawkeye and Granite states. By this measure, for instance, Iowa is merely tied for second in voting order. On Jan. 3, the night of the Iowa caucuses (and the Fiesta Bowl that might tempt some to stay home by the TV), Arizona voters can begin voting absentee.

I wish Arizona could have started a day earlier and made Iowa third.

Californians may begin voting -- either absentee or in person at select locations -- as early as Jan. 7, a day before the once-inviolate primary primary in New Hampshire now set for Jan. 8. New Mexico voters also start voting absentee before the N.H. primary, starting on Jan. 5.

Oh, and for that matter, here's an even earlier note: overseas and military voters from California have a right to get a ballot starting in five days, on this coming Friday, Dec. 7.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Iowa could be interesting on Jan 3

The Des Moines Register has a poll out which says Huckabee new GOP leader in Iowa Poll

Mike Huckabee has leaped ahead of Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney in Iowa, seizing first place in a new Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican caucus participants. Huckabee wins the support of 29 percent of Iowans who say they definitely or probably will attend the Republican Party's caucuses on Jan. 3. That's a gain of 17 percentage points since the last Iowa Poll was taken in early October, when Huckabee trailed both Romney and Fred Thompson.

and Obama pulls ahead for Democrats in Iowa Poll

Barack Obama has pulled ahead in the race for Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses, while the party's national frontrunner Hillary Clinton has slipped to second in the leadoff nominating state, according to The Des Moines Register's new Iowa Poll. Despite the movement, the race for 2008's opening nominating contest remains very competitive about a month before the Jan. 3 caucuses, just over half of likely caucusgoers who favor a candidate saying they could change their minds.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Do you smoke?

Still Smoking? Watch This

Friday, November 30, 2007

Stalking???

Talking about CNN using questions from members of Democratic campaigns and other Democratic supporters in the Republican You Tube debate, Todd Beeton from MyDD said To fan the flames, Michelle Malkin is doing her usual stalking job

STALKING???. Since when is using Google to do research defined as stalking?

on several of the questioners and has uncovered support for some of the Democratic candidates. God forbid!

Allowing partisans to ask questions is not the problem. Identifying them as undecided voters when they had decided, and or were not eligible to vote, is the problem.

Hat tip Danny Glover

But the most humorous response to CNN using plants to ask questions at the debate came from Jim Lynch who blogged In a cable television coup, the Home and Garden Network has landed the next presidential debate. It will be co-hosted by Martha Stewart and that irritating gardening guy with the goofy mustache.
“We heard about the large number of plants in the past two debates and realized that we would be the logical choice for the next forum,” a spokesman for the network announced.

“While plants can improve the curb appeal of any home and are simple to work with, it is best to learn from the professionals.”

“CNN and YouTube made a half-hearted attempt, but sometimes you just have to call a ficus a ficus,” concluded the spokesman.
Candidates will be invited to participate in denim and flannel. Question will be vetted by the Department of Agriculture.

Execute her

Guardian Unlimited reported Thousands of Sudanese, many carrying knives and sticks, have taken to the streets of Khartoum calling for the execution of British school teacher Gillian Gibbons, jailed over a teddy bear.... Some of the protesters, who one reporter at the scene said numbered as many as 10,000, carried clubs, knives and axes - but not automatic weapons, which some have carried at past government-condoned demonstrations, suggesting the rally was not organised by the government.

So when the government sponsors a demonstration people are armed with automatic weapons? Is that to help them get their point across, or to discourage counter demonstrations.

During the sermons, the Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons, saying she intentionally insulted Islam but he did not call for protests.

Do you think the teacher called for them?

"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan.

They seem very thirsty.

But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers. "This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars,

Really? The currency is Sudan is the Sudanese pound and dinar, and the woman is a British subject, so I can see her being paid in British Pounds or Euros, but dollars?

teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad,"

The bear was named by a seven year old boy named Muhammad, who named it after himself. If you don't like the name of Muhammad being misused, why is it the most common name in the Islamic world?

he said.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Teddy Bear Teacher

FOXNews reported British teacher Gillian Gibbons was convicted of insulting Islam for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan, one of her defense lawyers said Thursday.

That is certainly better than being executed, but she did not name the bear herself. A seven year old boy named Muhammad gave the bear HIS OWN NAME.

Ali Mohammed Ajab, of Gibbons' defense team, said she was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims in Sudan"

Muslims seem to be offended very easily. I wonder if that means they have doubts about their own faith.

under Article 125 of the Sudanese criminal code, a lighter conviction than the original charge of inciting religious hatred. A charge later confirmed by a judge leaving the closed court session. "I feel this is very serious and very unfair," he told The Associated Press outside the courtroom. Ajab, who also works for the Khartoum Center for Human Rights, said the issue was raised by "hard-liners who are always trying to make some noise," in an apparent reference to religious conservatives. Ajab said his center would appeal the verdict, an opinion not shared by Gibbons' employer.

That is probably not a smart move, since the rape VICTIM that appealed got her sentence more than doubled

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Not Politically Correct

Talk about being Not Politically Correct

Hat Tip to Glenn Reynolds

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Quota for Muslims

Mansoor Ijaz wrote in csmonitor I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that "jihadism" is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today.

He is right.

He answered, "…based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified.

You select cabinet secretaries based on the most qualified, not on a quota basis.

But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration."

Captain Ed blogged Ijaz, however, started off by doing exactly what he accuses Romney of doing -- playing identity politics. The presidential Cabinet includes only a small number of positions, and Ijaz wants Romney to commit to holding a position open for a Muslim, regardless of qualifications. Which position should this nameless Muslim take? Homeland Security? Defense? State? And what qualified candidates does Ijaz have for these positions?

As it turns out, Ijaz has someone in mind: himself. Ijaz spends four paragraphs talking about what a great candidate he himself would be, given his service to the nation. Nothing on his resume rises to the level of running the Pentagon, Homeland Security, or even the Department of the Interior. He would certainly make a good advisor to the FBI or the CIA, or perhaps the State department -- the kind of position Romney acknowledged as a possibility.

Ijaz also gives some indication that he didn't even understand his own question:

Imagine how a qualified American Muslim FBI director, sensitized to the genuine concerns among Arab and Muslim communities about civil rights violations, would be able to ensure that FBI actions and policies target the real bad guys, not communities as a whole.
If the communities would help root out the bad guys, there would be no need to target the entire community.

The FBI Director is not a Cabinet position. The FBI director reports to the Attorney General. Romney's answer doesn't rule out that kind of assignment, assuming -- once again -- that a Muslim has the qualifications for the job.

Romney should have emphasized that in his answer. The point in picking Cabinet officials should be to find the best people for the job, and had Romney emphasized that, he would have shown Ijaz as the small-minded questioner he was. Instead, Romney gave a direct answer in the same sense of identity politics that Ijaz used, and noted that in that kind of system, plenty of other minorities would have claim on Cabinet positions before Romney worked his way down to the Muslims, Sikhs, Laplanders, and Vietnamese.

Ijaz thinks he's skewered Romney for bigotry. Instead, he has only outed himself as a self-promoter and identity-politics obsessive.

Captain Ed blogged As it turns out, Ijaz left a few items out of his resume in the Christian Science Monitor in yesterday's essay. In 1997, the Washington Post reported Ijaz's involvement in presidential politics -- for the Democrats:
Mansoor Ijaz, a 35-year-old businessman, was precisely the kind of political activist the White House was seeking last year to help finance President Clinton's reelection campaign.

Wealthy and well-connected, Ijaz was more than willing to pitch in. By Election Day in November, he had raised $525,000 for the Democratic cause, including $250,000 from his personal funds and $200,000 donated by guests at a fund-raising reception for Vice President Gore at Ijaz's New York penthouse in September, according to Federal Election Commission records, White House documents and Ijaz.

Think Progress tries to spin this into racism on Romney's Part Religious Minority Candidate Mitt Romney Comes Out In Favor Of Religious Bigotry.... Note to Romney: As a Mormon running for President, you’re going to need to come up with a better justification for religious bigotry against Muslims.

According to the CIA World Factbook (which uses 2002 numbers), Mormons comprise just 2 percent of the U.S. population, while Jews and Muslims comprise 1 percent each. Based on 2001 numbers, there were 2.8 million Mormons and 1.1 million Muslims in the United States. Surveys since that time indicate that the number of Muslims may have eclipsed the number of Mormons living in the U.S.

What does that have to do with anything?

Moreover, according to a recent Pew survey, Americans are about as familiar with Mormonism as they with Islam:

They know no Morman has flown planes into buildings to kill people,

Think Progress blogged Romney falsely spins his anti-Muslim bigotry.

After facing intense scrutiny for his bigoted comments about Muslims serving in public office, Mitt Romney attempted to “clarify” his position during a campaign stop in Florida by saying he opposes religious quotas:
It’s something I rejected, number one. And number two, point out that haven’t given a lot of thought to the people I would have in my Cabinet. I don’t have boxes I check off in terms of ethnicity, and it’s not that I need a certain number of people representing ethnic groups. Instead, I would choose people based on their merits… I’m open to having people of any faith, ethnic group. But they would be selected based on their capacity and capabilities and what they could bring to the Administration, but I don’t choose people based on checking off a box.
In his spin, Romney conveniently forgets his original argument that a Muslim shouldn’t be given a cabinet position “based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population.” As Matthew Yglesias points out, the original “account of Romney’s answer makes it seem as if Romney has no problem in principle with the idea of a Muslim quota,” but he “just doesn’t think there are enough American Muslims to justify a cabinet post.”

Over 1,500 Extremists Freed After Repenting

Arab News reported Saudi authorities have released more than 1,500 reformed extremists, who were detained on charges of embracing and spreading takfeer (the ideology that brands other Muslims who disagree with them as infidels).

What about the idealogy that we are all "People of the Book" (or ahl al Kitâb)
Surat Al 'Imran, 64 (Qur'an 3:64) says "O People of the Book! Let us rally to a common formula to be binding on both us and you: That we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than God."
Did they mention that?

The extremists, under the guidance of the Ministry of Interior, had undergone lengthy counseling, according to Muhammad Al-Nujaimi, a member of the Counseling Committee and professor of comparative jurisprudence at the King Fahd Security College.... The suspects were largely confused about the meaning of jihad, which led to their believing in committing blind violence. They also viewed that the present Muslim rulers, scholars and public were infidels, and therefore demanded the establishment of a single Islamic state, said Al-Nujaimi.

I bet the major emphasis was on not killing current Muslim rulers.

“After several graded sessions with the committee, and having been convinced of their misguided vision, they renounced their erroneous ideologies, including the concept of driving out all infidels from the Arabian Peninsula,” he said.

Does that mean that this no longer applies.

The committee first evaluates the personality and the ideological crisis suffered by the suspect, and then decides on how to clean his mind of the mistaken impressions, said Al-Nujaimi.

How about a prefrontal lobotomy?

The committee in the later stages of counseling holds several sessions on the concept of obedience to a ruler, loyalty, conditions for baiat (declaration of allegiance to a ruler)

Again I bet the emphasis was on that point.

and the mistaken concept of murder and violence without guilt.

Murder and violence are ok, but they should feel sad about it.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Riots break out in Paris suburbs

BBC NEWS reported Youths

Youths? Were theyMethodist Youths? Hindu Youths? Buddist Youths? Oh, yes, Muslims again.

have damaged police stations, shops and cars in two Paris suburbs, following the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike hit a police car.... Police sources said the two were riding a stolen mini-motorcycle, and that neither was wearing a helmet. The police car was on a routine patrol and the teenagers were not being chased by police at the time of the accident, police said. The collision wrecked the front of the car and smashed the windscreen.

The "youths" crash a stolen motorbike into the front of a police car, and blame the police? Why? for being there for them to crash into?

Witnesses have accused the police of leaving the scene and of preventing local people from trying to help the youngsters as they lay in the road.

If they left the scene how could they have prevented anyone from doing anything. If you are going to blame them, pick one thing.

The brother of one of the victims has called for the officers involved to be convicted.

Of what? Being in the way when two "youths" on a stolen mini-motorcycle crashed into them?

... A brother of one of the dead teenagers, Omar Sehhouli, said the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage".

Maybe it was both, a violent expression of rage. But do they not teach "youths" how to express rage without violence?

Edwards Offers Heating Plan

NYT reported Former Senator John Edwards outlined a proposal yesterday in New Hampshire to lower the cost of heating oil, increase regulation of oil companies and promote energy efficiency....

Give the government more control. That is a typical Democratic solution. If that was a good idea, then socialism would have resulted in Europe being a major world power (it isn't), second only to Communist countries (and even Europe is in better economic condition than they are).

To ease the financial burden for low-income families, Mr. Edwards, a Democrat from North Carolina, said Congress should tap into its heating and oil reserves

Absolutely NO. Those reserves are for use in a time of war or major national disaster. Not to buy a politician some votes by temporarily driving down prices.

and increase subsidies to the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program....

Typical Democratic solution, Let the Government pay for it (with money it steals from the Rich.

He also spoke out against oil companies, saying they exerted too much control and should be investigated more fully by the Justice Department. “We need to find out if these oil companies are gouging the American people, because we know they’re making a lot of money,”

But first we need to investigate trial lawyers like Mr Edwards to find out if they are gouging the Judicial system, because we know they're making a lot of money.

Mr. Edwards said. “We need to stop subsidizing the big oil companies’ profits with taxpayer money.”

Which we do not do.

He proposed increasing financial assistance for a program to winterize homes, putting it on a $500 million annual budget, and supporting emergency loans for families to pay heating bills.

You don't borrow money to pay for a regular (annual) expense. You borrow money to make capital improvements, or because of an unexpected one time occurance like a major one-time destructive event or a major illness.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Nooses

MyFox Kansas City reported Travis Grigsby loves playing drums, but he and his friend Alex Coday weren't able to play for two weeks after they were suspended. It started after the band's performance at a football game. Some kids on the drum line said they were talking about the best knots to use to tie up the drum equipment. "Someone asked if anybody knew how to tie a noose and Travis did admit he knew how to tie a noose," Kim Grigsby said. Travis' mom said her son is almost an Eagle Scout, he knew how to tie it, but told his friends he wouldn't because you could get in trouble for that. Later, a black student on the drum line told the teacher he was offended. "Travis was accused of using a racial slur for saying the word 'noose.' Then he was suspended for 10 days," Kim said.

Betsy Newmark blogged They weren't talking about nooses to lynch black people, but a noose to tie a knot. But who cares? Someone was offended so suspend the kids.... Has the administration given students a list of words that are verboten? Oops, perhaps verboten is forbidden because it reminds people of Germans which makes them think of Nazis which makes them think of the Holocaust and thus, could offend people. Once you start allowing people to find offense at certain connections that they're making in their minds, the way is open to all sorts of charges that someone somewhere is offended.

No one has a right to never be offended. This is as stupid as Muslims rioting because of some stupid cartoons.

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