:: PROLEGOMENA ::

:: Monday, December 30 ::

NO BOXING IN NABLUS

Yesterday's New York Times gave front-page space (their op-ed page) to the extremely disadvantaged boxer from Nablus who is an Olympic hopeful. The article makes a reference to the Palestinian uprising in the same sentence as the "Israeli occupation". And in what seems to be a second attempt at suggesting cause and effect, the article reports:

The suicide bombers began setting out from Nablus — more than from any other city — and the Israeli paratroopers arrived.

Then, another suggestion of cause and effect:

In centimeters — the measurement he uses — Mr. Abu Kishek stands at 181. That number, he notes, is the same as that of the United Nations resolution that partitioned Palestine between Jews and Arabs in 1947. It was after Arab states rejected that split and went to war with the new Jewish state that his grandparents became refugees, losing their lands in what is now Israel's coastal plain. There, his family once lived like kings, he said.

The Charlotte Observer also printed the story, edited to one-fourth the length of the original. the writer neglected to report whether the grandparents were among those who had a choice to become Israeli citizens, chose to leave, or were forced out by the Arab High Command.

"There, his family once lived like kings, he said." This statement echos the description of the Iraqi Jews who left Baghdad 50 years ago, except for the obvious difference of Arab persecution of Jews instead of Arabs starting war. Reported also on Saturday:

They talk about the good life they once had, with spacious homes perched on riverbanks in Baghdad, important jobs and sand so rich in oil that they could light a fire by digging a small hole and striking a match.

They are Iraqi and Jewish, and they came to Israel half a century ago to escape violent attacks and killings targeting Jews. Now, many eagerly await an American war. If Saddam Hussein is ousted from power, they say, they could visit their childhood homes once more.

Something else about Nablus came to mind when reading about its civilized, cosmopolitan description: the first anniversary of the start of the intifada, celebrated with an art show featuring reproductions of suicide bombing scenes, complete with severed limbs and red paint splattered on the walls, and in the Sbarro bombing reproduction, slices of pizza and "Kosher" printed in Hebrew on the Sbarro sign.

In depressed, authoritarian Nablus, it's too bad they don't see the cause and effect as well as even the New York Times apparently does.


:: michael Monday, December 30, 2002 [+] ::
...

TOO LATE

Dammit I can't have nice things. Would Jew believe it was for a Christmas tree?

Via rachellucas.com, check out her comment section for a very funny discussion of Barbra Narcissustreisand.

:: michael Saturday, December 28, 2002 [+] ::
...

NATIVITY

Have you thought about the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ? My dad was terribly bothered by a pair of very good friends who agreed with Thomas Jefferson:

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.

I never learned his reason for his discomfort, but I have my own reasons for believing not just in the miracle, but in its absolute necessity.

Oddly, there are people who consider themselves "creationists" and will give the Supreme Being credit for making the universe, but seem to forget what they believe when it comes to the creation of a single body. They argue that the Hebrew from Prophecy was not correctly translated, or that "virgin" was a word for young girl.

Romans 6:23 reports, "..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,.." All. The New Testament also stresses the flawlessness of the person Jesus Christ, that he was perfect in his life on Earth and did not sin. Thus, a suitable sacrifice for the all who have sinned.

I Peter 1:23 describes the seed of life. "..having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever."

The fall of man occured not when Eve sinned by disobeying God in Eden, but when Adam sinned and disobeyed God in Eden. His seed, then corruptible, was passed on. Jesus had to be of the incorruptible seed of the Holy Spirit to qualify as a redeemer, to be able to stand in our place and suffer our penalties in order for God to be satisfied that justice had been served.

If Jesus were of Joseph's seed, he would have been unqualified. The Virgin Birth is an essential, and very exciting miracle. It fulfills ancient Prophecy, it is a testament to God's creative power, and it highlights His absolute (and frightening) justice and the incomprehensible love that God has for us.

:: michael Tuesday, December 24, 2002 [+] ::
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ISRAEL WILL NOT FIGHT

This headline was a surprise. I thought I had read earlier headlines reporting Israel's declaration that they would fight if attacked. They already showed remarkable restraint in the Gulf War, so I was actually looking forward to them demonstrating their capabilities, not that they haven't so very well already.

Senior U.S. officials told Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz that the U.S. has decided that Israel will not be involved in the war against Iraq even if Iraq launches a missile attack against Israel.

Instead, the United States will provide for Israel's security should such an attack take place.

Then this in the article:

In Gaza, PA officials criticized the Bush administration for failing to adopt the roadmap plan. The delay causes "a political vacuum in the region," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday.

Que? Do they even know what a political vaccuum is? They will when Arafat is gone, and Fatah will need that map to light the Molotov cocktail they throw at Hamas.

Cross-posted at Israpundit

:: michael Monday, December 23, 2002 [+] ::
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ISRAELI SCIENCE NEWS

In addition to the announcement of Israeli labs getting closer to helping humans replace their own kidneys, another Israeli scientists has been awarded for his magnificent contribution to cleaning up oil spills.

Has anyone noticed that you can see Israel's borders from space? I noticed it in a space shuttle photo of the Holy Land in a coffee table book at the house of a pro-Palestinian friend. Yes, the Israelis have offered their technology to make the deserts green to the Arabs, who were too proud and hateful to adopt Jewish Ideas.

As environmental consciousness rises in Israel, let's see how their environmental voices behave. Here, with greens, socialists, and the anti-Israeli crowd typically on the same political team, could there possibly be an honest self-re-examination when they watch democratic, capitalist Israelis keep their emotions under control while making environmental advances?

Do you think the Palestinians will follow suit anytime soon?

Do you think the executives at Selfridges would be interested in a Jewish kidney?

:: michael Monday, December 23, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Friday, December 20 ::

LUCAS GOT SPANKED

The second Lord of the Rings film rocks. I actually had a buzz after watching it on opening night. I have misspoken a few times and called it the Twin Towers, which made me wonder if the sensitive people were going to do their thing.

Unfortunately, yes, the niggling has already started, from the crowd that exposed the racism in Star Wars.

:: michael Friday, December 20, 2002 [+] ::
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BUNNIES AND BIO-CHEM WARFARE

The Belligerent Bunny Blog reports on the US Air Force's Agent Defeat Weapon and its considering the best way to target chemical weapons storage facilities, and why bunnies are not good pets for children. Scroll down to "Arsenal of Democracy."

The weapons report made me feel good, the other I simply agreed.

:: michael Friday, December 20, 2002 [+] ::
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MUSIC TO MY EARS

Yesterday as I drove west across North Carolina, and as talk radio continued to blather about the Lott thing, I decided to find a classical music station. The radio dial no longer lights up, so I don't know where I stopped, except that it was at the sound of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, played entirely with horns. No strings. I tuned in when "Winter" was playing, the rapid fire of the allegro non molto in horns was simply amazing. How do horn blowers do that?

When it was finished, they went straight to Christmas music without naming the conductor. I don't like good things being messed with, which is why I never order chocolate creme brulee, but this is an exception. Does anyone know whose version it is?

:: michael Friday, December 20, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, December 18 ::

NATIONAL PEOPLE'S RADIO WEDNESDAY MORNING LESSON.

It's settled. The Republican party has been racist since 1954. NPR's balanced report aired a tape of Condoleeza Rice speaking at the Republican National Convention in 2000, where she spoke of her father's being accepted by the Republicans after he was refused by the Democrats in 1952. However, Nixon in 1954 appealed to Southerners, oh, well, I see.

Also, Ronald Reagan referred to states' rights. Republicans speak at Bob Jones University, repeatedly. Jesse Helms expressed his disapproval of awarding jobs based on race, and George W. Bush dragged James Byrd to his death in Texas by opposing hate crimes law.

-You know, Reagan was probably thinking of unfunded mandates, the likes of which was offically rebuked by the Southern state of Colorado's historic "seize-and-desist" declaration in 1994.
-"Republican" John McCain took care of Bob Jones with his "Catholic Voter Alert" in the 2000 primary campaign.
-Helms' karma delivered him neuropathy, prompting him to apologize for his non-response to the AIDS that the CIA introduced to kill off the black population.
-And W. - well, we're waiting. Giving a black woman one of the most powerful positions in the world, and the office of Secretary of State to a black man is a nice first step, but they're not the right kind of black.

:: michael Wednesday, December 18, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, December 17 ::

BLATANT - IT'S ALIMENTARY

In the post below I accuse the Floridian Supremes of "blatant" conduct. Blogger Moira Breen quotes blogger Susanna Cornett on when to use blatant and when to use flagrant. Check her comment section for a good Trent Lott remark.

If it helps, think about it this way: If you fart loud and long with a grin on your face while in the line at Wal-Mart, that's blatant. If you run off with your brother's wife, that's flagrant. And if you do both at the same time, well... that's just trashy.

:: michael Tuesday, December 17, 2002 [+] ::
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WWPD - WHAT WOULD POINDEXTER DO?

After much talk, and consternation, about John Poindexter's mega-database idea for the Pentagon, an interesting thing happened this past week after a posse of geek-heroes gave him a memorable dose of his own.

This morning, this bit from an article about punishing abortion protesters who (mis?)use public information:

The Supreme Court put the Bush administration on the spot Monday, asking for its views in a politically charged abortion case involving aggressive efforts to deter doctors from performing abortions.
The administration will consider whether a law that protects access to abortion clinics can be used to punish protesters who list doctors' personal information on the Internet and advertise doctors and clinic staff as "wanted" on posters.

I will be interested in how the Administration words this, and I do not think the Supreme Court is playing games with Bush. I like this interest they have in the opinion of the elected power. ( ! ) While millions still still stupidly complain about a court-appointed Presidency, this was the Supreme Court that overthrew the Florida Supreme Court-appointed Presidency for its blatant re-write of Florida election law.

When it comes to these protesters, and my sense of right and wrong, and my faith, I struggle with the fact that I do not like them, especially when they block access and when they intimidate by misusing public information. They give the opposition endless chances to play the abortion-doctor-murder card, even though in the last three decades there have been only seven.

Their obsession with stopping the legal practice by almost any means necessary overshadows the mainstream feminists' obsession with having abortion on demand, under any circumstance, no matter how late in term. It is the success of the feminists, and those who think like them, that led to the shameful necessity to pass a baby-born-alive protection law. Right there, that need, is the number one sign of our civilization's decline.


:: michael Tuesday, December 17, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Monday, December 16 ::

A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HOW TO FOLLOW THE NEWS

Joseph Norland has assembled numerous reports from the media just from December 15, listing the number of terrorists and plots foiled. He then explains how reason is creeping into the (potential) Palestinian leadership, and sites correct forecasts to this effect. It is an impressive blog, and will bring you up to date in a way that should change the way we look for (and at) news concerning the Jewish State.

Click here for "The Sons of Light are Winning" posted at Israpundit.

:: michael Monday, December 16, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Saturday, December 14 ::

IT'S AN IRISH THING, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND

I laughed out loud at William Birdthistle's essay, The Bejaysus Factory, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal (page W17), about Hollywood stars acting Irish roles.

Otherwise self-respecting actors have blundered through their "Irish" lines with an astonishing ineptitude. To the Hibernian ear, the on-screen results of American larynxes wrestling with a brogue could not be much worse if Arnold Schwarzenegger and Roberto Benigni teamed up to do play-by-play for a debutante's tea party.
...
As Mickey O'Neil, Mr. Pitt reveals the wondrous scope of his acting range, moving from his earlier turn as a pugilistic Irish lawbreaker whose accent is unrecognizable to a pugilistic Irish lawbreaker whose speech is wholly unintelligible.

Better they do that than presume to advise the President, or, worse, assume diplomatic missions (see below).


:: michael Saturday, December 14, 2002 [+] ::
...

Sean Penn Arrives in Baghdad for Three-Day Visit
The occurance of so many Hollywood stars pulling stunts like this is, to me, linked to their ability to act, but also to the sad fact that most of their lives are hallucinations.

"As a father, an actor, a film-maker and patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation...to find my own voice on matters of conscience," Penn, once married to pop diva Madonna, said in a statement issued by the Institute of Public Accuracy.

"I have the privileged opportunity to pursue a deeper understanding of this frightening conflict," Penn said.

Who is his muse this time? Bonior? McDermott? Farrakahn?
Institute of Public Accuracy? Hmm.
As he visits the country that launched 39 scuds at Israel after stealing Kuwait, will he add up the palaces as he adds up the poverty?

Cross-posted at IsraPundit

:: michael Saturday, December 14, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Thursday, December 12 ::

GUARD DOGS FOR SALE

The West Bank is suffering a crime wave, and ex-underpaid-Palestinian cops are the culprits. They "face virtually no danger from being captured by either Israeli or Palestinian authorities."

Underpaid? What about the billions in PA-owned Swiss bank accounts, for which Fatah and Hamas will fight? -oh, that's not really the Palestinian people's money.

So they're back to the dangerous days of travelling the Road to Jericho. Borrowing an idea from South Central L.A. in 1992, maybe they should put little signs in their store windows that say, "Palestinian Owned."

I am sure any offer of help from Israeli police would be turned down, just as the police in Guiliani's New York were rebuked by Sarandon, Sharpton, and Co. (After which Guiliani conceded and lowered the police presence; and they watched their violent crime rates soar.) Hell, blood donated by Israelis for Palestinians was refused (by the UN) because they didn't want Jewish blood. They waited for a shipment of Jordanian blood instead. You know they would rather have a crime wave than proven Jewish security.

And right there is a noteworthy difference - would underpaid police in Israel or the US make up by taking up a life of crime? No. They would find a better paying job in the private sector, the kind of private sector that citizens find... in Israel and the US!

:: ::Cross-posted in 'Comments' at Israpundit:: ::

:: michael Thursday, December 12, 2002 [+] ::
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RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE - TIME TO PANDER

Predictably, there are more columns than you want to read about Senator Lott and his big bad remark. This is one of those times when I choose to wait for the writers I respect before I formally opine. Jonah Goldberg is one such of the opinionated:

Regardless, Trent Lott only does two things well, freeze-dry his hair and say stupid things. He mishandled impeachment, mishandled the 1998 elections, mishandled power-sharing with the Democrats after the 2000 election and mishandled Jim Jeffords straight into the Democratic Party.

I was distracted by the opportunists in the opposition, snorting at the immediate overuse of the word 'racist', the fact that lie-monger Al Gore was one of the first to use it. And what?! - Marc Racicot of the Republican Party offers to pencil-in the Reverend Al (Tawana Brawley) Sharpton. Hell, why not schedule in Susan Sarandon at the same time and let her write a couple of hate-crime laws? Anyone who signed that petition, or meant to, should be qualified.

Dethroned Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is demanding a full explanation, while he has not offered us one on the threats he gets from talk-radio listeners. Anyone with any common sense knows that Lott was not calling for segregation. But Goldberg's reasons above and citing political stupidity are the real reason I agree Lott should go.

I can't help but be reminded of Senator Paul Wellstone's memorial service, which the Democrats turned into a campaign rally. Now they have taken the hundredth birthday celebration of an old statesman (who has repudiated his past) and turned it into a lynching of a political sort.

:: michael Thursday, December 12, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, December 11 ::

I have been waiting for someone to draw this very cartoon...

:: michael Wednesday, December 11, 2002 [+] ::
...

"If someone kills my Muslim brother, I can kill him."

This is not news: extremism in Saudi Arabia, the same Saudi Arabia who claims to disallow extremism. It is simply more evidence for the pile already collected.

When confronted with statements like these, Saudi officials say they're the views of a small minority. But they concede these views are being promoted by extremist religious teachers, and even in some school textbooks.

"If I can't target the enemy who did wrong, then I can sacrifice other people."

As Victor Davis Hanson put it in his article, "Our Enemies, the Saudis," in Commentary's July 2002 issue, "It may be true that the Saudis are neither Iraqis nor Iranians nor Libyans, but it is quite dangerous enough that they are Saudis."

::This piece is cross-posted on Israpundit and Prolegomena.::

:: michael Wednesday, December 11, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, December 10 ::

THE PHONE RINGS

It's Mac. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"Todd and I are discussing pan-Asian nuclear proliferation and the imminent civil war between Fatah and Hamas on Instant Messenger. What are you doing?"

"I'm listening to Bob Marley remixes and watching Alice in Wonderland. What did you do last night?"

"Watched Sliding Doors with Jessica and Joanna. Excellent movie... an answer to a prayer for people who couldn't handle Memento. Why do girls think English guys are sexy? I don't get it."

:: michael Tuesday, December 10, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Monday, December 9 ::

MORE GORE

He was just on Larry King speaking against war in Iraq, against the idea of invading and changing the Iraqi government. Is this because the (illegal) attempts by his administration to invade and change the government in Serbia had to resort to "Wanted" posters to capture Milosevic at the soccer stadium?

...and Serbia was a Chinese ally, no?

Oh, and Lott's a "racist". Did Gore call Thurmond a racist? Former KKK member Sen. Robert Byrd? ... ...Al Gore, Sr?

:: michael Monday, December 09, 2002 [+] ::
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COOL AS A CONDOLEEZA

I first heard her speak at the Republican convention in 2000, and it was love at first sight. This article is a very good read about her life, her musical talent, her loyalty to the President, and her methods. It is her methods that I would like to learn. They must have something to do with knowing football as well as she does.
:: michael Monday, December 09, 2002 [+] ::
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TOP NEWS STORIES ON THE TODAY SHOW THIS MORNING

-Shakeup in the Bush economic team, and a new pick from corporate America.
-AAA is accused by a grieving family of not doing its job.
-A six year-old is taking diet pills.
-Something about the Sopranos - what? The HBO show? Are they actually going to make me wait through those other stories to hear about the Sopranos?

:: michael Monday, December 09, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Saturday, December 7 ::

MUSLIMS AND THE POLITICS OF OFFENSE

Salmon Rushie was condemned by the Ayatollah for insulting Islam, and recently three prominent American Christian evangelists had fatwas issued against them for the same. Riots in India and Nigeria left hundreds dead and injured because they said their prophet was insulted, and people face execution in Iran for insulting Islam as well.

A toy company headquartered in Connecticut is selling dolls in the images of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Bush, and Blair. Security has been greatly heightened in the wake of subsequent death threats. Staff have been going to work armed.

Muslims complain that the £20 figures reinforce negative stereotypes. "You have disrespected a whole religion by the nasty image in your 'villain' doll," said one, referring to the bin Laden figure.

So we now have a death penalty in the Muslim world for insulting mortal Muslim dictators or terrorists. What's next? Death for offending any Muslim?


:: michael Saturday, December 07, 2002 [+] ::
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TODAY IS PEARL HARBOR DAY

The Belligerent Bunny Blog writes best on today, the 61st anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

The War Generation remembers where they were when it happened, and a later generation remembers where they were when JFK was assassinated, and for mine... we knew where we were when the shuttle Challenger exploded, until the terrorists gave us a truly unforgettable event. I was refreshed, however, that so many Americans could make the Pearl Harbor connection, compared to how many English can only think of the People's Princess.
:: michael Saturday, December 07, 2002 [+] ::
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HUSSEIN'S LITTLE HELPERS

Canadian war protesters, in increasing numbers, are on their way to Iraq to volunteer as human shields against an American attack. Given our ever-improving accuracy in hitting targets, where exactly are they going to stand? Keeping in mind that Saddam has sheltered civilians in military targets before, will they stand with them?

Perhaps they can help the UN inspection team actually find the things Saddam is hiding by shielding them. Memo to Blix: The Canadian marks the spot.

In a related Canadian act, an MP named Carignan is sending taxpayer-funded Christmas cards with a photo of him with his arm around Yasser Arafat.

But the Canadians had better watch the people they support, for the Muslims have an odd way of expressing thanks. Just ask the French.

:: michael Saturday, December 07, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Friday, December 6 ::

BULLING FOR COLUMBINE

A while back Camille Paglia wrote about an Ivy League driver with numerous bumper stickers of wisdom based on trite sloganeering. She called it "elitism masquerading as egalitarianism."

We went to see Michael Moore's film last night, and he has a message for you: YOU ARE STUPID. There is hardly a better example to stress the importance of being informed when hit with this kind of information, especially when it is mixed in an entertaining film that is as stylistically clever as this.

What bothers me especially is the quick, SouthPark-style cartoon history of the US. It is actually funny to someone who knows history and can take a joke, but to the ever-increasing surveyed who don't know their history, it is a dangerously inaccurate lesson. Moore repeatedly makes the trite NRA - KKK connection that I heard jokes about on Dangerfield's stage over fifteen years ago. (And he forgot to give Al Gore credit for that part of the writing.)

Moore compares the gun death statistics of other countries to ours in an unforgettable way, reporting 68 in England and over 11,000 in the US. In a tactic Clinton used, we are not told how many of those deaths are gang killings. With 30 tons of heroin consumed annually by British addicts and 900 organized crime gangs active in England, who believes their gun death rate is only 68? (Oh, an editing error left out England's increasing rate after tightened gun restrictions in the wake of Dunblane.)

He wheels a Columbine survivor into the K-Mart HQ to challenge them over the K-Mart bullets in the kids' bodies. If only the executive had responded, "Those are the killers' bullets, not K-Mart's," but she was probably distracted by the show he put on, wondering where she had seen it before... oh yeah - when the DNC wheeled out James Brady and Christopher Reeve for Clinton's re-election in 1996.

Moore will also tell you about the genocides of US foreign policy, scooping up Allende/Pinochet all over again, and misinforming you that the CIA trained bin Laden to fly planes into buildings. There is time for another Enron-Bush Adminstration connection (with the Enron that Bush refused to help when it tanked, the Enron that grew during the previous administration, and the Enron whose former independent director just hosted Al Gore to a lunch in China.)

And you get a headfull of little Kayla, and a rip-off of President Clinton's comments blaming the death on the NRA. (Oh, an editing error left out that the five year-old shooter's father was in jail for burglary, the mother was staying in a crackhouse, and that the gun was stolen.)

NRA president Charlton Heston unfortunately failed in his interview to read into Moore's intentions to make him look like a racist and give better answers. However, Moore's self-righteous little Kayla shrine-making at the end only brought back an image Moore criticized earlier, and reminiscent of William Hurt's staged tears in Broadcast News.

Rent this movie, it will test your knowledge while you watch.

:: michael Friday, December 06, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Monday, December 2 ::

AMISH WEB SITE

An oxymoron? Yes and no. Actually, it's Mennonite, and there are differences between the some-25 Mennonite communities in North America.

Anyway, they have a great idea, something I could not get away with anytime soon in my family, but it would be a dream come true.

http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html

:: michael Monday, December 02, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Sunday, December 1 ::

ALL WE ARE SAAAAAYYYYYYING....

Religious leaders in Chicago have written a letter to the President urging him to avoid war in Iraq.

Dear Mr. President:

Please don't bomb Saddam Hussein's Iraq. After all, he was the recent winner of the elections in Iraq, where he won the full support of the people with 100% of the vote. The Iraqi people spoke unanimously, even without the help of South Dakota Democrats. You will kill untold thousands of these people as you destroy the military installations he shelters them in.

You must consider the environmental damage as well. If you are bent on preventing him from continuing to gas his own people he will be forced instead to continue draining the wetlands they live in.

He can't go nuclear anytime soon, as you may remember the Zionist aggression that destroyed the nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981. Think about it. When the Chinese bought our nuclear weapons technology from the DNC, they got 25 years ahead in their program. It hasn't been 25 years since Osirak, and the Iraqis never got as far west as Los Alamos, they just got to Oklahoma City.

So he violated sixteen of the conditions he agreed to. Hell, the civil rights movement began with breaking the law.

Give peace a chance,
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, and its Useful Idiots,
The Christian and Jewish Leaders of Chicago, aka the People of the Book, aka the Worst of Created Beings

:: michael Sunday, December 01, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, November 27 ::

"NOT IN MY BACKYARD!"

J. A. Norland does a great job dissecting a Jerusalem Post article about the Nativity terrorists. Think again about how the Arabs, with incomprehensible wealth, allow Palestinian refugees to live in squalor.

:: michael Wednesday, November 27, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, November 26 ::

A STAR IS (RE)BORN

Many in Russia are alarmed at Vladimir Putin's resurrection of the Red Star as the symbol for the Russian Military. The Russian defense minister defends the decision, "Our fathers and grandfathers went to battle with the star."

It is a fair defense, I think, not just because I recently viewed the sacrifices aboard K-19, The Widowmaker, and am conscious of the Kursk, but because I am sympathetic to the many millions who labored for a Mother Russia whose communist leaders robbed them of their souls, a regime that I am convinced is gone for good, even with the lingering red star. I think it is acceptable for these people to have their fathers and grandfathers recognized as valuable as opposed to erased. In an odd connection, the value of these people is well illustrated in an old First Things article called "The Godlessness that Failed."

Now someone may say this argument could be used to justify the reinstating of the Nazi swastika should the Germans prefer, and I am on the record below condemning the German embassy in Tel Aviv holding a ceremony honoring its war dead. I am also well aware that the Communists were actually worse than the Nazis, remembering that Stalin's "Agricultural Policy" alone outdid the Nazis in murder by triple.

The difference is that the Russian people actually did accomplish some things, particularly in space and aeronautics. And they fought for the homeland, not to commit genocide because they couldn't accept blame for their own problems. (With that thought in mind, keep an eye on the Arabs - click here and scroll to "Fascism Today")

So let the Russians have their star reborn, but please keep Putin away from Michael Jackson.

:: michael Tuesday, November 26, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Monday, November 25 ::

AGAIN I ASK, WHAT'S ALL THIS OSAMA FUSS?

There was a lot of discussion yesterday about this proof of Osama's voice and letter and the promise President Bush made to capture him dead or alive. I am not at all surprised to learn of his survival. There was time to get out of the way. And how many millions over there would sell their mothers into prostitution just to safekeep him? The president, I think, made a mistake with that promise, but what else was he supposed to say, and, oh, isn't there still time to keep that promise? And really, if the FBI still cannot find Eric Rudolph, then what could be at all surprising about not finding Osama in the Hindu Kush?

And did anyone get that Ted Kazinsky feeling when reading the Osama letter? Or perhaps that Lynne Stewart feeling?

I am confused by it, however. Bin Laden gave analysts the impression of not being well-connected to the world after his 2001 interview. So how did this reference to the Kyoto Treaty get in there? Did he really write that, or was it ghost-written?

:: michael Monday, November 25, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Sunday, November 24 ::

DRAWN AND QUARTERED

Christopher Johnson rants about the US Mint and those state commemorative quarters. Personally, I like the program because the coins may teach a few Americans something about their nation's geography, and it is an indication that the states' distinguishing characteristics still matter. What they teach on the small side of a coin, however, can clearly indicate whether the party responsible for the design has its own appreciation of history or a sense of lurid political correctness.

I was absolutely amazed that Massachusetts allowed the patriot with a rifle. I was very pleased with the Wright Brothers' flight on North Carolina's. I snorted at Ohio, with its Carolina envy, subsequently putting the First Flight on theirs as well, and disappointed in Indiana choosing a race car over the Jackson Five. Vermont would have done well to put Sen. Jim Jeffords on the other side of the coin.

:: michael Sunday, November 24, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Friday, November 22 ::

"SHAPE UP AND ACT OUT"

BigGeorge sent me a very entertaining link to more on the Nigerian riots and the history of riots in America. Click here for Something Awful. Look for the Friday, November 22 entry.

:: michael Friday, November 22, 2002 [+] ::
...

RELIGION OF PEACE

I know there is nothing original about the title, but it does represent how our country has fallen over itself to prove we are not waging war against another religion, a religion whose followers in the last day marched the streets of Kaduna yelling, "Miss World is sin" as they destroyed property and committed murder. Mosques and churches were burned and bystanders were stabbed and set alight. Necklacing, execution by burning a fuel-soaked tire around the victim's head (a favorite of Winnie Mandela and Haiti's Aristide), was witnessed. All this in response to a newspaper article which claimed Muhammed would have chosen a wife from the Miss World contestants.

It brings to mind the Muslim reaction to Falwell's remark that Muhammed was a terrorist, when in India they responded with attacks on Hindus. Eight were killed, over fifty injured. Iranian clerics issued a fatwa, a death sentence on Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Franklin Graham.

It brings to mind protests against racism in Los Angeles (the tenth anniversary of which was celebrated by the mainstream media this year), where protestors destroyed property, committed murder, and especially targeted the Koreans as they destroyed their own South Central neighborhood in the name of fighting racism.

But I digress. The Miss World thing is very screwed up, scheduled to happen next month in Nigeria, where Sharia Islamic law controls the north and has sentenced Amina Lawal, among others, to be stoned for adultery. Considering the role of women in Islam, I cannot see what was incorrect in what was written about Muhammed taking a beautiful wife.

:: michael Friday, November 22, 2002 [+] ::
...

BEAUTIFUL MORNING

I woke up to snow this morning, just a heavy dusting, but still a surprise. It is so lovely how, before sunrise, you can see it. On Tuesday morning I got up even earlier to go duck hunting with a neighbor for the first time in many years. We floated down the French Broad River here in the North Carolina mountains and watched a spectacular sunrise. We saw five beavers, four deer, three otters, two ducks, and one heron that flew ahead of us for most of the trip. Eventually, we saw a whole flock if herons.

As I went to my kitchen, I walked on the leaves of Fall that had blown into my house overnight because I didn't shut the door. No snow inside, though.
:: michael Friday, November 22, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Thursday, November 21 ::

SOMETHING NEW IN EXPLOSIVES

Violent Muslim extremists (not the radio listeners of Tom Daschle's fantods - see below), just hit a Jerusalem bus largely occupied with very young students. Debka File reports a new type of explosive has been used which worsens the suffering of its victims. This recalls the problems reported in stopping the bleeding of surviving shrapnel victims. The screws, bolts, and shredded metal the Palestinians used in their suicide bombs had been dipped in rat poison before bomb assembly so victims would continue to bleed even after being sewn up.

Click here for an X-ray of a shrapnel victim.

:: michael Thursday, November 21, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Wednesday, November 20 ::

DASCHLE REMARK, PART TWO

The soon-to-be Former Senate Majority Leader fears for his family's safety, likening Rush Limbaugh's listeners to "violent Muslim extremists".

This means after his party's recent embarrassing defeat, he still hasn't learned to come up with anything original. It was President Clinton who in 1995 blamed "loud and angry voices heard over the airwaves in America" for the Oklahoma City bombing. (That wasn't the only time Clinton revealed his fear of Limbaugh - "And there's no truth detector!")

Recalling an old Paglia column declaring Elizabeth Dole "not man enough to be President", Daschle, if anything, is by comparison less a man than either Dole or new House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi. With all the talk declaring Vermont's turncoat Senator Jim Jeffords the biggest loser in the recent election, Daschle seems to covet the title. Hell, right now he wouldn't even be an acceptable sugar daddy for David Brock.

:: michael Wednesday, November 20, 2002 [+] ::
...

I WOULD HAVE PICKED A HYDROFOIL INSTEAD

There is talk on the web about an organized effort by certain Christians to save the environment. The article is being passed around by many who find this laughable for various reasons and by others who find the idea a surprise because they haven't noticed that Christian environmentalism, while not a concern of all Christians, is nothing new. Tony Campolo's How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshipping Nature was the first title to come to mind, and theology/ecology writer Paul Santmire has been on top of the subject for over thirty years.

Coincidentally, Andrew Sullivan has a funny way of dealing with the mystery of "What Would Jesus Drive?":

One theory is that Jesus would tool around in an old Plymouth because "the Bible says God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury." But in Psalm 83, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to "pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm." Perhaps God favors Dodge pickup trucks, because Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain "until the Ram's horn sounds a long blast." Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in St. John's gospel where Christ tells the crowd. "For I did not speak of my own Accord..." Meanwhile, Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that "the roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills." Joshua drove a Triumph sports car with a hole in its muffler: "Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout the land." And, following the Master's lead, the Apostles car pooled in a Honda... "The Apostles were in one Accord."

:: michael Wednesday, November 20, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Sunday, November 17 ::

WHY DOES ANYONE SIDE WITH THEM?

A Red Cross worker has been kidnapped by Palestinians in Gaza. This particular worker was known for helping those whose houses had been destroyed by Israelis. He is from Germany, yes, the Germany that threw its relations with the US down the toilet during its recent election cycle, and the Germany that plans to honor its war dead at a ceremony in Israel tomorrow.

Then there is France, whose 5 million Muslim population and experience with North African Muslim terrorism guarantees its anti-Israel position, whether or not its Ambassador to England openly called Israel "that shitty little country". Recently surveyed, the French determined Israel to be the world's number two threat to world peace. The French were subsequently thanked with a suicide boat ramming a la USS Cole.

The very recent mass murder of left-wing Jews in Israel also raises this question. There are two ways of looking at the matter: the view that a Jew's sympathy means nothing and the annihilation of all Jews and every trace of Israel is the true goal is the of the enemy, and then the Kibbutz' own mind-boggling view that the enemy should still have what it wants. Either way, why does anyone side with them?

:: michael Sunday, November 17, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Thursday, November 14 ::

OSAMA ALIVE - DOES IT MATTER?

oooh - They think they heard his voice, they think hospitals in San Francisco are a target today. Every day it's malls or bridges, and now Osama is alive. Does anyone really want to shelter him? Isn't he broke by now? Shouldn't we be hearing the names of the rest of Al-Qaeda who are likely more dangerous?

There is probably not much life left for him, anyway, or anywhere. Think of Abu Nidal's recent "suicide" by several shots to the head.

:: michael Thursday, November 14, 2002 [+] ::
...

EVERY WAR A CIVIL WAR, NO WAR A CIVIL WAR... SOMEBODY DECIDE

Correct me if I heard it wrong, but during his Fox interview this morning, I heard war photographer Peter Howe say, "War has changed, civilians are the target." He was making a point about the evolution of war photography, but the statement struck me as something generated in part by an emotional (and incorrect) opinion of war.

The past year's news coverage of the war in Afghanistan has been reporting rather exact numbers of civilian dead. Think about that. Civilian dead in past wars have been so numerous that we only have estimates. Our precision has so greatly improved that we are now able to actually count the dead. The mentality of Howe's remark is what is behind the hysterical accounts of the "massacre" in Jenin, with 56 dead, not 500, not tens of thousands, and half of that 56 were militants that were hiding among the civilians.

:: michael Thursday, November 14, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Tuesday, November 12 ::

BILL AND MAUREEN SITTIN' IN A TREE

If I had to choose, HAD to choose between reading one of these two when stranded on an island, I might actually go with Maureen. At least with her, there are episodes of originality, even if at the expense of reporting (no one before her said anything about "Lemon Fizzes on the banks of the Euphrates").

Bill Moyers, writing for tax-funded PBS, throws out the same old boring lines about Conservatives in power. Especially notice his trite little line about the Supreme Court. News Flash Mr. Moyers: that's the same Court that protected virtual kiddie porn on First Amendment grounds... (but at least they know 7 does not equal 19)

For all the bitching I do about weathermen getting the forecast consistently wrong and still having a paying job, my respect for them just increased.

She has written in the past about how smart women could not find mates for being too intimidating, even though Michael Douglass leaving her for Catherine Zeta-Jones doesn't fit the profile........ but, with no luck for Dowd in Riyadh, Moyers must surely think he is smart enough for the role. Somebody give him her number!

:: michael Tuesday, November 12, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Saturday, November 9 ::

MONDAY IS VETERANS' DAY

Canadian blogger Damian Penny beat me to an excellent reflection on the importance of what the veterans have done and do, writing, "Were it not for our veterans, I wouldn't be writing this, and you wouldn't be reading it."

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

-Colonel John McCrae


:: michael Saturday, November 09, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Friday, November 8 ::

NOT THE RIGHT KIND OF BLACK

That's what they said about Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice. They have said nothing about the first black woman lieutenant governor.
- ...oh, wrong party.

:: michael Friday, November 08, 2002 [+] ::
...

CARTOONISTS FOR KERRY

Tina Brown, writing a scratchy little essay for the Times UK, defines the obvious but can only offer John Kerry as a solution for what happened to the Democrats on Tuesday.

"Bush has charisma," she writes, which is something the Democrats "need an injection of."

In other words, Tina, they lack G-R-A-V-I-T-A-S

:: michael Friday, November 08, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Thursday, November 7 ::

ANOTHER STUPID QUOTE

James Taranto's Best of the Web highlights:
A story in the Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, warns that "even those who applauded Sunday's strike said in interviews Tuesday that it is sure to inflame militant Muslims." Well yeah, that's the whole idea!

Well, not exactly. memo to Taranto: read my memo to Blumhorst

AND ANOTHER

Taranto's previous page , as noted by alarmingnews.com reports an amazing sense of Minnesotan justice based on a complete inability to understand history:
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has an editorial in defense of Yaser Hamdi, the Baton Rouge, La.-born Saudi man captured as an enemy combatant in Afghanistan. "Hamdi's plight recalls the days of the Japanese internment camps--the shame of World War II," opines the Strib. "Back then, having the wrong ethnicity was enough to justify indefinite lockup. These days, it seems, being caught on the wrong battlefield is enough to scotch due process." You better believe it is.

...How about the wrong side of the battlefield? And it would help to remember that it was FDR who ordered the lock-up of American citizens with Japanese heritage under the adamant protest of J. Edgar Hoover (but he liked to wear ladies' clothing so nevermind).

:: michael Thursday, November 07, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Wednesday, November 6 ::

GOOD MORNING TO YOU TOO

Good morning, America. Nice to see you woke up earlier than expected.
:: michael Wednesday, November 06, 2002 [+] ::
...

BANG!

No grandma, that wasn't a gunshot, it was a backfire. A really really big backfire.
:: michael Wednesday, November 06, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Sunday, November 3 ::

ISLAMIC GRADE INFLATION

A bomb exploded while being made in Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi told reporters, "It may have been an internal explosion... we don't have accurate information on what caused it. We have three martyrs and two of the wounded are in critical condition."

Now there's hope, if you don't have to actually kill Jews to be a martyr, you can spare everyone the trouble and just blow yourself up in the comfort of your own explosives lab.

Better there than in Russia, where the dead terrorists are reported to be wrapped in pigskin before burial. ....whoa. The Russians are known for dealing harshly with terrorists, who may be more strongly persuaded to retreat by this new tactic than when their families' homes are bulldozed after suicide bombings.

:: michael Sunday, November 03, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Saturday, November 2 ::

IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES

Tonight's dinner table seated a lone conservative. The conversation started early with a remark about someone being so right-wing his bumper sticker reads, "Deport Peter Jennings". This person was described as being "way over there." Then the blessing was augmented by calls for peace and denouncements of war. It was assumed by the people who started this that I think as they do. In such situations I choose to listen more than talk (which I should do more often anyway), especially when my mother is involved and concerned that I may be controversial, lest I end up like Bill Paxton's character in The Last Supper.

After the talk followed that lead, I began to hear how the Bush Administration, going along with the military-industrial complex, has a specific goal of world conquest. (This agenda was discussed without question while the absence of a second equal superpower (like the Soviet Union) was bemoaned.) This is a theory I have not heard since a year ago when a Rastafarian lectured me on the Bush family being the "seed of /shay-tahn/".

Now before I give in to temptation and categorize these fine people as left-wing and "way over there" I have to deal with the far right-wing theory that it is in fact the Jews who want to dominate and control the world. then there is that gray area of ideology that preaches the existence of an Illuminati, like we saw in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider".

Well, I stayed quiet and waited for Israel to come up. It didn't. However, talk blaming the Roman Catholic Church for complete failure to help Europe's Jews in WWII was discussed until we got to Martin Luther and the awful things he wrote of the Jews. It struck me how a man blessed with the wisdom and the guts to face Rome and spearhead the Protestant Reformation missed the blessings of additional wisdom of knowing how to regard a people as special to God as the Jews. Further, the Apostles were Jews and observed the Sabbath as they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. How did the Church miss this?

But it did occur to me exactly how to defend Israel without saying the "I" word: by defending the Jews. Now for all these people who say they like Jews but not Israel, how do they deal with the wisdom of another great reformer by the name of Martin Luther ......... King, Jr.

:: michael Saturday, November 02, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Thursday, October 31 ::

APPROPRIATE

Perhaps Wellstone's memorial service was. (click)
:: michael Thursday, October 31, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Wednesday, October 30 ::

WATER SUPPLY THREAT IN TEXAS?

I was sent this article about an alarming incident in north Texas.

I found this page more encouraging. The "Final Thought", however doesn't give numbers that match what I remember about Asahara's Tokyo sarin gas attack. Some other remarks, particularly about crop dusters, seem very naive. Still, the Stimson Center is no Lovenstein Institute.

Plus, I am aware of Palestinian attacks and attempts on Israeli water supplies and produce. The attempt in Rome is so far the scariest I know of. Check out these other links:

1. false alarm: fertilizer seepage
2. disruptions and attempted disruptions
3. cyanide bust
4. cutting off instead of poisoning
5. garbage

:: michael Wednesday, October 30, 2002 [+] ::
...

TOLD YOU SO

While I have been thinking for some time that Republicans taking the high road should be happening less and less, they did the right thing by doing so over Senator Wellstone. I just wish the pundits and radio talkers had called it as it could have been called and predicted the political hijacking of his death, so poor in taste that some leaders walked out of the service.

...as I called it below.



:: michael Wednesday, October 30, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Tuesday, October 29 ::

T-BONES FOR VAJPAYEE

It's one thing for a nation to have a policy of denial, but I think Germany may actually be in denial. The country seems more schizophrenic than Al Gore.

The German embassy in Tel Aviv is going to have a ceremony next month to honor German war dead at a WWI cemetery - in Tel Aviv. Additionally weird, they invited some Israelis.

Let's examine this, shall we? Recently Germany's leadership put our friendship at great risk by comparing the President to Hitler. That followed former German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping's remark that Bush wanted to overthrow Saddam to please "a powerful - perhaps overly powerful - Jewish lobby.''

It is a crime in Germany to deny the Holocaust, but evidently not to honor SS and Wehrmacht. They were, after all, just following orders.

The Arab-language press continues, ad nauseum, to refer to the Jews as Nazis, so what is going to happen if the Germans invite the Palestinians? They will have to sort the good Nazis from the bad Nazis, but not "the good dead from the bad dead", while having to consider the immoral alcohol-swilling of the German infidels while honoring the German participants of Hitler's final solution and at the same time celebrate the most recent suicide bombing.

It was so much simpler when they could dance in the streets and pass out candy as they did in the West Bank on September 11 , 2001.

:: michael Tuesday, October 29, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Monday, October 28 ::

QUALIFIED

This morning I wrote, "If only I could turn off cable without losing my modem."

Tonight I read, "BUSH BANS CABLE NEWS FROM AIR FORCE ONE"

:: michael Monday, October 28, 2002 [+] ::
...

GESTATING ARGUMENT

George Will's analysis of a fatal defense in Michigan, where a mother in her 16th week of pregnancy killed a man who had already punched her stomach twice, makes one wonder when this "viable fetus" argument is ever going to be settled by minds as smart as the judges'.

Additionally, it made me recall a Muslim traditional belief in the possibility of a two-year pregnancy, since one of Mohammed's wives is said to have carried a child for that long. That is the reasoning behind the two-year divorce in parts where Islam is the law, and the reason behind the death sentence of Nigerian mother Amina Lawal, who has been convicted of adultery by a Shariah Islamic law court. (It had been longer than nine months, but not two years, since she and her husband's divorce commenced. The Man who impregnated her, by the way, was found not guilty.)

After the stay of execution ends in 2004, she will be buried up to her neck and then the Muslims will throw rocks at her head yelling "Allahu Akbar!"

So on one end we have fanatics who support abortion on demand, no matter how late in pregnancy, actually prompting the amazing need for laws protecting babies born alive and punishing those who kill the unborn with unlawful violence. On the other hand, we have fanatics who will enjoy murder in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful because they haven't noticed that a pregnancy longer than nine months has not taken place since that of the rumored wife of Mohammed over thirteen hundred years ago.

:: michael Monday, October 28, 2002 [+] ::
...

THE OSBORNE

God help us. I just turned on Fox News to see them interviewing the car salesman who sold the sniper's $250 Chevy. "Osborne aspired to be a reggae singer," read the banner at the bottom of the screen.

I just turned off Fox news. If only I could turn off cable without losing my modem.

:: michael Monday, October 28, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Sunday, October 27 ::

STUPID QUOTE OF THE DAY

"If violence fixed the problem, then Israel should be at peace," countered Rick Blumhorst of Kansas, a U.S. Gulf War veteran wearing his Army dress uniform. "Acting unilaterally, we're going to inflame the Muslim community."

News Flash Mr. Blumhorst: The Muslim community is inflamed.

They hate Jews and Christians (Qur'an 98:6) and will always hate the free world. Why do you think they recently hit the French?

And what if we took your remark and said, "If violence fixed the problem, then the Palestinians should be at peace."

Or if we said, "If peace treaties fixed the problem, then Israel should be at peace."

If you think the reason Iraq is not yet nuclear is not because the Israelis hit Osirak in 1981, then please enlighten us more.

You and John McCain should do lunch. Don't forget to wear your medals to the table.

:: michael Sunday, October 27, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Friday, October 25 ::

NOONAN KNOWS

If I need guidance in writing with class, a style different from my last blog (below next), Peggy Noonan sets the example. She clearly defines the differences within the parties and correctly analyzes the dynamics when opinions collide.

I still mean what I say below, as I wrote about the ones she would call cynics instead of true believers.

:: michael Friday, October 25, 2002 [+] ::
...

WELLSTONE

So the Senator is dead, and I just heard Sean Hannity live do the right thing, by rebuking any talk concerning politics and the new strategy that will have to be employed in the Minnesota Senate race. Agreed, for anyone in politics who is high profile.

I am far from that, so here: With the wife dead as well, I can almost hear the g.d.'s from the Democrats in that state as well as in D.C. No unqualified widow sympathy victory here. Will they throw up a grieving friend or brother?

Should I be sensitive? Like they were when they ransacked Vince Foster's office before his body cooled?

:: michael Friday, October 25, 2002 [+] ::
...

FOLLOW UPS

Eve Hibbits, the subject of my very first blog, arrested for letting her children get sunburned, is not going to face trial. She still spent eight days in jail, because of a sheriff who uses such descriptions as "dipped in red paint" to describe sunburn and a prosecutor's $15,000 bond. Will Sheriff Abdalla face any discipline for gross exaggeration? If you can't ID sunburn, what can you do that qualifies you for law enforcement? AFRA has a lot to say about this.

The Montana Republican Senate Candidate is back in the race, and is setting a good example of positive campaigning. He had dropped out after his Democrat opponent ran an ad that made him look gay, demonstrating the left's true sentiment toward the constituencies it takes for granted. No one explains that better than Dennis Prager.

And if only I had blogged it, rather than just said I did not think the sniper was in a white van. Of course any shooter would be watching the news, and would be in any other car, in position, and, I think, waiting for both a person to enter the crosshairs at the same time a white vehicle is nearby.

Too late for him to conceal that his last name is Muhammad. And isn't it amazing how, this time, the press isn't referring to him as his "Richard Reid" name?

Other than that, I think this sniper is going to turn out to be, disciplines aside, just another idiot who tried to be bigger than he would ever be... like Wen Ho Lee.

:: michael Friday, October 25, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Thursday, October 24 ::

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

Here is a good theory of the real sniper's identity.

:: michael Thursday, October 24, 2002 [+] ::
...

FBI - FEDERAL BEIJING OF INVESTIGATION

An office has opened in the Chinese capital to join forces in the fight against terrorism. I saw the photo of John Ashcroft standing between the flags of the US and the oppressive atheist, communist regime.

This old photo came to mind, and I wondered which of the two he dislikes more.

:: michael Thursday, October 24, 2002 [+] ::
...

THEY LAUGHED AT EDISON

American ingenuity triumphed this month amid speculation it would never work.

I wonder if they are now going to rush to get those parachutes in the skyscrapers.

I wonder, too, if the FDA is ever going to speed up the process of getting new drugs to market.

:: michael Thursday, October 24, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Wednesday, October 23 ::

THE DENNIS DEFENSE

People could very sensibly ask why would an atheist waste his time fighting religious expression, when he should be enjoying his life and appreciating that religion and a fear of hell can keep the masses largely under control.

Jewish Dennis Prager writes a common sense defense of Evangelical Christians.

:: michael Wednesday, October 23, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Tuesday, October 22 ::

MEMO TO SNOOPY – GOT MET? DOES IT PAY?

Reading about the crash of MetLife’s blimp, Snoopy One, has me wondering about how long Snoopy’s career will last, just as I wonder the same about Maureen Dowd’s.

A sucker for good advertising, I called Met four years ago about property insurance. They refused me because I own a pit bull terrier. I informed them of a recent AKC listing of the fifty breeds of dog not compatible with children where pits were not mentioned, and assured them I had broken the dog of smoking in bed. They still stood firm, facts notwithstanding, like Maureen Dowd.

It also never added up that they were concerned about my dog when they have a beagle who flies amok on an unapproved flying fighter doghouse while hallucinating about fighting the Red Baron. It’s no wonder they have had their second crash.

:: michael Tuesday, October 22, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Sunday, October 20 ::

DOWDY

When I finished reading the disrespectful and misinforming column, “A Babysitter for Junior,” I realized that New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was another one of those to be written off, except to be checked on every now and then to see if her quality gets any worse. It did, with the September 18 column, “Lemon Fizzes on the Banks of the Euphrates.”

But today’s column has me wondering if the end is near for her. With nothing but trite jokes and borrowed language, she writes so utterly disrespectful of the President that her readers may consider subscribing to the opposite opinion, or at least turning to Doonesbury for more balanced opinion.

Memo to Dowd: R. Emmett Tyrrell beat you to the Boy five years ago. And notice how his work is based on research and reporting, rather than inspired by big words in cookbooks. It was good of your thesaurus to provide you with "epicene, " which I have not seen in use since Camille Paglia described Al Gore.

:: michael Sunday, October 20, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Thursday, October 17 ::

MEMORIES OF CENTRAL PARK

I am in a legal mood this morning. Ann Coulter dissects the alarming attitude again and unsurprisingly, of the New York Times toward the 1989 gang rape case. I remember at that time, a full-page ad purchased by Donald Trump that read BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY, and as a ten year-old, I thought about it for the first time, and have been mostly supportive of it since.

She also refers to the 1930's Scottsboro Boys case, which I had long forgotten about, and claims the media are hungry for another. I agree, just as this year they were hungry to ignite more LA riots with their sentimental 10th anniversary reporting, and just as they are hungry now for a young white male sniper with a boyhood photo of him hunting with daddy.

Coulter's style opens my eyes better than coffee:
The public got a glimpse of what the jurors saw when Yusef Salaam was interviewed by Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" in 1992. Salaam said he suspected the jogger – the one declared DOA at the hospital – was "faking." He also said that even though he lied in his confession, people should believe he was telling the truth about the confession being a lie because he was a Muslim. "That's all a Muslim has," he said, explaining why he lied, "his word."


:: michael Thursday, October 17, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Wednesday, October 16 ::

KILLING THE MESSENGER

So I wondered today as I listened to the President's speech outlining his conditions for Iraq (or is it Iran?, ask Barbra Streisand) about the translation that is given to Saddam Hussein.

Since we are all familiar with the idea of killing the messenger, and since we know that Hussein and his sons enjoy the spectacle of the torture chamber, I wonder if his translator gives him a true translation of the speech. I'm betting that Saddam never hears the real thing, but instead a version that makes Bush look like a wimp, or, more likely, under the control of a Jewish Lobby.

:: michael Wednesday, October 16, 2002 [+] ::
...

IT JUST OCCURRED TO ME

Right after the September 11 terrorist attacks, many voices in the media and from elsewhere on the left repeated that the time had come for us to consider giving up some of our freedoms for better security.

Then those same voices kept complaining when certain round-ups occurred, especially concerning the hundreds of Al-Qaeda at Guantanamo and the other suspects detained inside our borders.

Then the left, in the form of ACLU lawsuits, wins an Arab-blooded man’s right to sue United Airlines for rejecting him from a flight right after the attacks.

I need clarification, whose freedoms are we supposed to be diminishing?

:: michael Wednesday, October 16, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Tuesday, October 15 ::

ANITAVERSARY

Eleven years ago today Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed.

:: michael Tuesday, October 15, 2002 [+] ::
...

REPORT BLAMING JEWS PULLED

Dean Bates' "report" (referred to in the blog below) that the Mossad bombed the Bali nightclub is suddenly nowhere to be found at the IndyMedia website. They must have been worried about their credibility. I am sure their coverage of what they call the "Bush Coronation" would restore anyone's faith in the integrity behind their reporting. Here is the article below:

Mossad Bombs Kill Almost 200 in Bali Tourist Nightspot
by Dean Bates 6:39am Sun Oct 13 '02 (Modified on 5:56pm Mon Oct 14 '02)

BALI, Indonesia (Sun Oct 13, 2002) – Mossad Bombs ripped through a packed nightspot on Indonesia's traditionally tranquil tourist island of Bali overnight in a Israeli staged terror attack, killing at least 182 people, many of them Australians.

The Saturday night blasts, which where a mossad terror operation followed persistent reports that mossad was operating in the area. After the massive peace rally in Australia yesterday these mossad operations where put into high gear in a deadly way. Mossad terror network operations are trying to draw the western world into war for Israeli and U.S conquest.
Police said the dead included nationals from Australia, Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, but declined to speculate on who might be responsible.

It was one of the world's most devastating attacks against tourists in one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

Indonesia's president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, said the latest information showed 182 people, mostly foreigners, had been killed in the mainly Hindu corner of the country.

"According to the last report, 182 people were killed and 132 were injured in Bali," she told reporters after an emergency cabinet meeting, adding that some were still missing.


:: michael Tuesday, October 15, 2002 [+] ::
...

:: Monday, October 14 ::

THE JEWS DID IT

With a home page sporting the Statue of Liberty, the Independent Media Center describes itself as "a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, objective, and passionate tellings of the truth." Find out here about the bombing in Bali from reporter Dean Bates.

Mister Bates:
There's a preacher in Kodak, Tennessee who knows
the Jews' ultimate plan, I think it would interest you:

"Their intent is to mongrelize God's people to genocidal
death, and claiming that Noah was a mongrel is another
step in their diabolical plan."

I never heard of Indymedia until now, and WOW what a
first impression you made. Join forces with the Christian
Separatist Church Society and save us from the Jews!

:: michael Monday, October 14, 2002 [+] ::
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DICTATOR RE-ELECTED

My friend Dr. Johnson beat me to it. Today he writes:

Another reason why I always turn CNN off…

Stupidity Watch
Here's a promo for CNN's "American Morning With Paula Zahn": "Will Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's future be determined at the ballot box rather than the battlefield? Iraqi citizens are preparing to go to the polls to decide whether Hussein stays in office. We bring you the story in part one of our week-long series, 'Iraq, You Decide.' "

If Paula or anyone else at CNN thinks that this is a legitimate election should be sent to a civics and history class. No wonder their ratings are in the tank.
You know it’s sad when you’re beaten in the ratings by the vapid “Fox & Friends.”
Above from WSJ best of the web.

:: michael Monday, October 14, 2002 [+] ::
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SHOOTING THE BYRD

Ann Coulter highlights the too-often forgotten past and current contradictions of West Virginia's Senator Robert Byrd. His political career is worth much study, not just for his Klan membership and all the federal money he's won for his state, but also for the amazing number of WV sites and buildings named after him and for his Senate floor dramatics.

"In addition to the indignity of having to vote in an election year, Byrd said the resolution on Iraq was diverting attention from important issues. Imminent military action to remove a madman with weapons of mass destruction who watches torture videos for fun and longs for a mushroom cloud over the nation's capital is crowding out the big stuff like naming another building in West Virginia after Bob Byrd."

Reading this recalled a recent, very funny essay by Quentin Letts. The laughing begins at paragraph two.

:: michael Monday, October 14, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Sunday, October 13 ::

HELL FREEZES

Bob Novak reports Don King's contributions to Republicans (!):
Federal records reflect only $10,000 in contributions by King in the 1996 and 2000 election cycles, with but $1,000 given Bush (in 1999). He contributed $2,000 each to Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada. He gave $1,000 each to Democratic Reps. Earl Hilliard of Alabama, Corrine Brown of Florida and Robert Brady of Pennsylvania.

Now what will Harry Belafonte say?

:: michael Sunday, October 13, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Friday, October 11 ::

PARTY OF THE PEOPLE

Montana Republicans are anything but, well, gay after the release the incumbent Democrat Senator's latest campaign commercial. The Republican, suffering from a severe drop in the polls as a result, has dropped out of the race after images were chosen to make him look like a gay hairdresser.

The image is typical early eighties, the style of the time was gross, but at least the haircut wasn't a mullet.

He was in fact an entrepreneur, a business owner, hence, an employer and a big, big taxpayer. Democrat Senator Max Baucus will surely deny that his gay-baiting was gay-baiting, but his party's contempt for the typical Republican, the working American, could not be more clear.

I thought the Democrats were the champions of diversity and mutual respect. I thought gays, women, minorities, and muslims were supposed to march lock-step with the Democrats. Like they did when the former President was guilty of sexual misconduct in the workplace (and to this day has not denied Juanita Broaddrick's rape accusation). Like they did when Richard Tafel sent money to Bob Dole. Like they did when they pulled Anita Hill out of the apocrypha. Like they did when muslim extremists stole our planes and flew them into our buildings. Like they did when they yelled "No justice, no peace!"

:: michael Friday, October 11, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Thursday, October 10 ::

PALESTINIAN H-BOMBS

The father of a Palestinian suicide bomber criticises Hamas. This is a good read, serious and sad.

Key quote: Yes, I say 'death,' not 'martyrdom.'

Note the Qu'ran verse he quotes is from early in the book. Mohammed's writings actually evolve with time, but that is another subject.

:: michael Thursday, October 10, 2002 [+] ::
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MISS AMERICA FREE TO SPEAK

Who at pageant headquarters made the First Amendment - (Miss) America connection?
:: michael Thursday, October 10, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, October 9 ::

FREE SPEECH FOR MISS AMERICA

Years ago a stand-up comic impersonated a beauty pageant contestant by saying, “…I have the IQ of a piece of toast. My goals are to establish world peace and become a brain surgeon.” The only two Miss Americas I could name for you are Linda Carter and Vanessa Williams, for being Wonder Woman or just making you wonder.

I know they all work very hard and I respect that… but pageants and their contestants are of no interest to me, until today.

Erika Harold, 2003 title holder, has been preaching abstinence to teenagers and the officials have told her to be silent ( ! ) on the issue. She is resisting them, “I will not be bullied.” Good for her, and finally, a beauty queen breaking the beauty queen mold.

:: michael Wednesday, October 09, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, October 8 ::

IT'S ABOUT TIME

Finally, I see a commercial, the first of its kind, on Fox News Channel, informing the public about what is good about Israel. The American Jewish Committee, publisher of the highly recommended magazine Commentary, also produced this commercial highlighting the rights of Israeli citizens to vote and their religious freedoms. You can view the ad at the AJC site.

If more people knew these and other facts about the freedoms in Israel, we might experience more analytical thinking (and just plain thinking) in this country, and gain an understanding of what the muslims really want.
:: michael Tuesday, October 08, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Sunday, October 6 ::

FRIED FRENCH OIL

The Yemenis say there is no evidence of terrorism. The French have an eyewitness reporting a small craft on a collision course and an explosion following.

Next question: will the French pursue the terrorists at last? Will they do it with more resolve than they did with the Nazis in the spring of 1940, or at least as much as a decade ago when they resisted Disney?

And how often do tankers just explode? As often as 747's just explode, such as, say, TWA Flight 800?

:: michael Sunday, October 06, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Saturday, October 5 ::

HITCHENS’ DIRECT HIT ON CLINTON

This is another instance when pro-Clinton people will say we cannot stop criticizing the former president. However, he invites the continued criticism as he highlights how so many world leaders still respond to his showmanship rather than to the current President’s leadership.

Christopher Hitchens again hits the nail on the head as he dissects the former President’s recent speech to Tony Blair’s Labour Party in England, and repeats, as he should, his condemnation of the August 1998 missile attacks on Khartoum and Afghanistan. Those attacks were the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the news on September 11, 2001.

:: michael Saturday, October 05, 2002 [+] ::
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THEY FORGOT THE DOG FOOD

The website of the Democratic Party currently features a low-end little cartoon that shows the President pushing a wheelchair-bound senior over a bear market cliff. Vote.com is smartly asking the question, “Drop the DNC’s controversial cartoon?” However, the wrong reasons are being presented for answering yes or no, that “it doesn’t belong on the party’s website” versus “it's a creative way to illustrate the dangers of Bush's plan”

I say leave it. It belongs on the party's website.

This is the way the Democratic Party wants to get its message across, so let their true colors show, not with a well-worded and fact-backed argument, but with a silly cartoon that is only a fitting follow-up to the DNC’s commercial where the children asked, “May I please have some more arsenic in my water, Mommy?” and “More salmonella in my cheeseburger, please!”

:: michael Saturday, October 05, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Thursday, October 3 ::

UNIVERSITY STAFFING EXPLAINED

The professor emeritus of physics at Duke University, Lawrence Evans, explains why university faculty is mostly liberal. He wrote the following to the Raleigh News and Observer:

In seeking faculty, universities look for people who can analyze and discuss matters of some complexity, who are unafraid to challenge the wisdom of simple solutions, and who have a sense of social responsibility toward those who cannot buy influence. Such people tend to be put off by a political party dominated by those who believe dogmatically in the infallibility of the marketplace as a solution to all economic problems, or else in the infallibility of scripture as a guide to morality. In short, universities want people of some depth, subtlety and intelligence. People like that usually vote for the Democrats. So what?

In a landmark 2002 Southwestern University commencement address, the depth, subtlety and intelligence of which not felt since Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Evergreen University speech, feminist theorist Bell Hooks gave us another way to understand Lawrence Evans’ insight. Speaking of “life-threatening conservatism,” Bell compared conservatives with “every terrorist regime in the world.”

:: michael Thursday, October 03, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Thursday, September 26 ::

DASCHLE REMARK

I get so tired of politicians incessantly accusing each other of politics or playing politics or politicizing an issue, using the same language, saying the same old thing. Let's examine it, shall we?

This hackneyed slinging of the word "politics" back and forth is as stupid as if corporations accused each other of competition.

Would they be doing their job if they weren't being political? Both sides lose an opportunity to inform their constituents by sticking with the same limited vocabulary. Call exploitation exploitation, but with explanation. Prove your point.

Christopher Hitchens words it perfectly when rebuking the epithet "Bush's Poodle," used to describe Tony Blair. "This glib expression has become a substitute for thought, among people who were never conspicuous for originality in the first place."

There is a trite joke that keeps getting passed around about how "poli-" means many and "-tics" are blood-sucking creatures. While everyone knows this is a joke, (half a joke, really, most politicians really are parasites) they still get it in their heads that "poly" is still part of the word. The word's root is in "polyt", meaning citizen, it has nothing to do with "many" of anything. Would you think the author of this joke has a political agenda?

:: michael Thursday, September 26, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Sunday, September 22 ::

DEUTSCHE REMARK

Headlines have been reporting German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin’s comparison of Bush to Hitler. Let’s examine it, shall we?

Amid suggestions that her quote was distorted or taken out of context, it seems she told a small group of labor union members that Bush was planning the Iraq attack to divert attention from domestic problems. "That's a popular method. Even Hitler did that.'' Or, she said, "Bush wants to distract attention from his domestic political problems. That's a favorite method. Hitler did that too."

If the method Daeubler-Gmelin refers to is “popular” or “favorite” then she would have been smart to name an ungenocidal head of state who did what she claims Bush is doing. Invoking our last President’s name would have been a very clever choice.

No matter who she could have named, however, she would have been wrong. America is planning to do what Israel did in 1981 when then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the Israeli air strike on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. In the recent words of another former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “We now know that had the democracies taken pre-emptive action to bring down Hitler’s regime in the 1930’s, the worst horrors in history could have been avoided.”

Her defense could be that she was only comparing a single tactic, not saying that Bush was apt to overrun the entire Middle East with the tanks of America’s 43rd Reich and kill all the Muslims. Perhaps her overconfidence rode the wave of former German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping, who said that Bush wanted to overthrow Saddam to please "a powerful - perhaps overly powerful - Jewish lobby.''

Imagine, Bush pandering to the Jews by acting like Hitler. Al-Jazeera could not have said it better.

I do not believe that anyone, particularly a high-ranking German, would make a Hitler-comparison remark without knowing exactly what he or she was saying. It boils down to two possible things: she is that ignorant of German history, which disqualifies her from her Justice Ministry job, or she is lying about our President, which disqualifies her from her Justice Ministry job.

Ah, the memories of former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala saying, “The nation’s best and brightest did not go to Vietnam” (or as her clarified version read, “best and brightest’s”), and former Army Undersecretary Sara Lister denouncing the Marines as “extremists” and “a little dangerous.” These people know exactly what they are saying.

America, America uber alles!
:: michael Sunday, September 22, 2002 [+] ::
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MOTIVATED
I am so relieved by the news that former cavalry officer James Hewitt is not Prince Harry's father that I can write again after an eleven day absence.
:: michael Sunday, September 22, 2002 [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, September 11 ::

GLOBAL APARTHEID, INDEED

President Mbeki of South Africa spoke at the recent Earth Summit in his country about this “world in which a rich minority enjoys unprecedented levels of consumption, comfort and prosperity. While a poor majority enjoys daily hardship, suffering and de-humanization."

I’m sorry, is the 30 billion dollars in annual foreign aid from the United States not enough? Maybe we shouldn't have cut aid to the Taliban for the year 2001, down from the usual $100 million to 65. In order to give more, he must realize we will have to take more advantage of the freedoms we have to be more productive and successful and generate more money to give. French President Jacques Chirac has proposed a world tax for the same purpose. How about taxing America annually for, say, 30 billion?

Oh, did I use the f-word? Without freedom, his people cannot be productive, but with it, President Mbeki and his ilk lose some of their power. There is little choice in the matter. Mbeki’s victims of this global apartheid are in unstable countries where corrupt leaders seize control of our donations and distribute them in ways to keep their loyal subjects fed and their opponents starving, where the state controls religion, and where foreign investment is unattractive.

The invoking of Apartheid recalls Nelson Mandela, who “may be the world’s most respected statesman” according to Newsweek. To clarify, this is the same Nelson Mandela, Nobel laureate, who thinks the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 should be moved to a prison in a Muslim country. (It seems the Lockerbie bomber is always last pick for hoops among his Scottish fellow inmates.)

Mandela also declares that America is a threat to World Peace. News Flash, Mr. Mandela, we don’t have world peace. We wouldn’t be giving Nobel Peace Prizes otherwise now, would we?

Mandela has sited the recent remarks of Scott Ritter, who has blown my mind with his current benign assessment of Iraq’s war capabilities. Ritter has completely contradicted his past claims on Iraq. (Either he is being blackmailed, or he’s been dating David Brock.)

If one thing is perfectly clear in all this, it is that twenty-seven years as a political prisoner does not qualify a man to be a world statesman any more than six years in the Hanoi Hilton qualifies one to be President of the Untied States.

:: michael Wednesday, September 11, 2002 [+] ::
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