Uncle Meat

Unclemeat Moving

2006-05-19T20:11:00.000-06:00

I am moving the old Blog over to Wordpress as of today. Please come by for a look see when you can.

New Link is here...

Congressional Morons Vote For Oil Dependency

2006-05-18T21:39:00.000-06:00

House Votes to Keep Offshore Drilling Ban

The House rejected an attempt late Thursday to end a quarter-century ban on oil and natural gas drilling in 85 percent of the country's coastal waters despite arguments that the new supplies are needed to lower energy costs.

Lawmakers from Florida and California led the fight to maintain the long-standing drilling moratorium, contending that energy development as close as three miles from shore would jeopardize multibillion-dollar tourism industries.

"It's a grievous assault on Florida and other (coastal) states," declared Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., of attempts to end the drilling prohibitions that Congress first imposed in 1981 and has reaffirmed every year since.

The moratorium bars oil and gas development in virtually all coastal waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico, where most of the country's offshore oil and gas wells are concentrated. More @ AP

Meanwhile in Havana:
Cuba Plans Offshore Wells Banned in U.S. Waters -
NYT

Maybe these dummies would rather buy oil from Fidel.

Female Captain Latest Casualty

2006-05-18T12:59:00.000-06:00

Proud to lead 'her guys'
In the middle of the night, lurching across the Afghan desert, it was her voice on the radio that served as an audible beacon, so calming, assured and assuring.

Mellifluous, almost like the intimate tones of a midnight DJ, except that Capt. Nichola Goddard was relaying streams of data about what was happening out there, in the dark: An unidentified car approaching from the left, somebody crossing a wadi by foot to the right, Apache helicopters circling overhead.

She wasn't the only commander contributing to radio chatter as this long military column zigged and zagged over hostile terrain — penetrating deep into Taliban territory — but her voice was the most distinctive, the most soothing, to troops huddled in their Bisons and LAVs, including those in vehicles that had gone astray and had to be lassoed back. - More @ Toronto Star

Prayers to the family of this Canadian hero.

Soldier's husband will miss his 'best friend' - Sun News

Clinton Program Bites Bush

2006-05-13T09:08:00.000-06:00

Dialing and the Democrats - New York Sun

No sooner had the man who ran the National Security Agency for years been nominated to head the CIA than USA Today rushed out details of our efforts to use technical means to find terrorists using the phones. And no sooner had USA Today disclosed details of an apparent attempt by the National Security Agency to defend Americans from terrorists than the Democratic Party and its leading politicians and interest groups went on the attack. Not against the terrorists but against President Bush. "This is another example of the Bush Administration misleading the American people," said a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, Stacie Paxton.

[...]

It was President Clinton who signed into law the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, after it was passed in both the House and Senate by a voice vote.

[...]

The law that President Clinton signed into law and that was approved by voice votes in 1994 by a Democrat-majority House and a Democrat-majority Senate not only made clear the phone companies' "duty" to cooperate, it authorized $500 million in taxpayer funds to reimburse the phone companies for equipment "enabling the government, pursuant to a court order or other lawful authorization, to access call-identifying information that is reasonably available to the carrier."

Bet you won't hear that on CNN.

News To Good For The MSM

2006-05-13T08:47:00.000-06:00

All Things Coservative has the numbers that are too positive for the MSM to bother with. Via Michael Barone

Liberal Final Solution

2006-05-13T01:24:00.000-06:00

Roe attorney: Use abortion to 'eliminate poor'
In unearthed letter urged President-elect Clinton to 'reform' country

A letter to Bill Clinton written by the co-counsel who successfully argued the Roe v. Wade decision urged the then-president-elect to "eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country" by liberalizing abortion laws.

[...]

He said the new leader can "start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country."

[...]

Weddington then argued that with 30 million abortions up to that point since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, America is a much better place.

More @ WND

Penn & Teller On 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

2006-05-11T18:56:00.000-06:00

Damien Penny has the video here...

Frum On Difficult Choices

2006-05-10T20:42:00.000-06:00

It's not easy to be an enlightened liberal internationalist these days.

An enlightened liberal internationalist wants to send troops to the Sudanese region of Darfur to protect a majority Muslim population against murderous Islamic extremist militias.

On the other hand, he or she must oppose keeping troops in Iraq to protect a majority Muslim population against murderous Islamic extremist militias.

The enlightened liberal internationalist wants to use U.S. airpower to stop Osama bin Laden's allies in Khartoum from committing terrorist atrocities.

On the other hand, he or she must condemn the use of U.S. airpower to stop Osama bin Laden's allies in Iraq from committing terrorist atrocities.

NDP Leader Jack Layton summed up the two required points of view superbly in a pair of speeches he delivered last week. At a rally at Queen's Park in Toronto on April 30, timed to coincide with rallies in Washington, D.C. and across North America, Mr. Layton joined in a "scream" for Darfur. He declared: "Sometimes, there's a little too much thumb-twiddling." In a debate in the House of Commons the next day, he argued that it was immoral to stand by and do nothing as innocents are murdered.

On May 5, U.S. war protestor Cindy Sheehan passed through Ottawa--and afterward, Mr. Layton urged the Harper government to accede to Ms. Sheehan's request that Canada accept U.S. military deserters as refugees: "We should be looking at it. These young people are courageous individuals. They've made a decision of conscience."

But what if the U.S. deserter were running away from an assignment to Darfur? Would that be a "decision of conscience"? Or would that be standing by as innocents are murdered? More @ AEI

He Didn't Mention Iran But...

2006-05-07T00:41:00.000-06:00

The Moral Lesson of Hiroshima - J. David Lewis
On August 6, 1945 the American Air Force incinerated Hiroshima, Japan with an atomic bomb. On August 9 Nagasaki was obliterated. The fireballs killed some 175,000 people. They followed months of horror, when American airplanes firebombed civilians and reduced cities to rubble. Facing extermination, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. The invasion of Japan was cancelled, and countless American lives were saved. The Japanese accepted military occupation, embraced a constitutional government, and renounced war permanently. The effects were so beneficent, so wide-ranging and so long-term, that the bombings must be ranked among the most moral acts ever committed.

[...]

President Truman demonstrated his willingness to bomb the Japanese out of existence if they did not surrender. The Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945 is stark: "The result of the futile and senseless German resistance to the might of the aroused free peoples of the world stands forth in awful clarity as an example to the people of Japan . . . Following are our terms.

We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay . . . We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces . . . The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction."

The approach worked brilliantly. After the bombs, the Japanese chose wisely. More @ Capitalism Magazine

Never Again?

2006-05-07T00:22:00.000-06:00

Charles Krauthammer on crazy Mullahs and the future of Israel:

When something happens for the first time in 1,871 years, it is worth noting. In A.D. 70, and again in 135, the Roman Empire brutally put down Jewish revolts in Judea, destroying Jerusalem, killing hundreds of thousands of Jews and sending hundreds of thousands more into slavery and exile. For nearly two millennia, the Jews wandered the world. And now, in 2006, for the first time since then, there are once again more Jews living in Israel -- the successor state to Judea -- than in any other place on earth. More @ TownHall.com

Injured Soldier Conscious & Joking

2006-04-27T21:54:00.000-06:00

Canadian Press:
A Canadian soldier who suffered severe head wounds in an axe attack in Afghanistan has gone from a drug-induced coma to quipping with nurses about his beer-drinking skills, according to his wife.

The recovery of Capt. Trevor Greene, a civil-military co-operation officer, after the incident on March 4 is detailed in a blog by Debbie.

She responded by telephone to an e-mail request for an interview and confirmed she wrote the entry, but she declined to provide any more details or give her last name.

"Some would say it is a miracle he has made it this far," she said in the entry, dated Wednesday.

She said Greene began physiotherapy this week at Vancouver General Hospital, where he was transferred after a brief stay at a U.S. military facility in Landstuhl, Germany.

Greene, 41, was attacked while he was sitting down for what he thought would be a friendly gathering of elders in an Afghanistan village. More...

Atlas Shrugged On The Big Screen?

2006-04-27T21:36:00.000-06:00

Interesting if true. This was one of my favorite books back in the 70's.

Variety:
Ayn Rand's most ambitious novel may finally be brought to the bigscreen after years of false starts.

Lionsgate has picked up worldwide distribution rights to "Atlas Shrugged" from Howard and Karen Baldwin ("Ray"), who will produce with John Aglialoro.

As for stars, book provides an ideal role for an actress in lead character Dagny Taggart, so it's not a stretch to assume Rand enthusiast Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie's name has been brought up. Brad PittBrad Pitt, also a fan, is rumored to be among the names suggested for lead male character John Galt.

"Atlas Shrugged," which runs more than 1,100 pages, has faced a lengthy and circuitous journey to a film adaptation.

The Russian-born author's seminal tome, published in 1957, revolves around the economic collapse of the U.S. sometime in the future and espouses her individualistic philosophy of objectivism. The violent, apocalyptic ending has always posed a challenge but could prove especially so in the post-9/11 climate. More...

Frank At IMAO Wants War

2006-04-24T11:45:00.000-06:00

We Need a War for Oil
An Editorial by Frank J.

I filled up my SUV this weekend, and, after seeing the bill, my immediate reaction was, "Someone must die for this!" After a little thought, I knew who should die: foreigners. Foreigners with oil.

We need a war for oil. - More @ IMAO

Via Pajamas Media

Fallen Soldiers Returning Home

2006-04-23T23:11:00.000-06:00

IED explosion April 22 2006
Scene of the roadside bomb incident of the 22 April 2006 where four Canadian Forces soldiers were killed while travelling in an armoured G-Wagon near the Gumbad platoon house at about 7:30 a.m. Kandahar Time. - Combat Camera

Fallen soldiers get sendoff at ramp ceremony - CTV

New Endangered Species

2006-04-23T23:01:00.000-06:00

Men hallucinate after eating fish

Two men have suffered terrifying visual and auditory hallucinations after eating a popular local seafish in Mediterranean restaurants.

According to a clinical study on the patients, which is due to be published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, the men started seeing and hearing things after contracting a rare form of hallucinogenic poisoning from the Salema fish they were dining on.

The species is a popular food fish and is not normally hallucinogenic.

Ichthyoallyeinotoxism, or hallucinogenic fish poisoning, is caused by eating the heads or body parts of certain species of herbivorous fish and has previously only been recorded from the Indo Pacific.

The effects of eating ichthyoallyeinotoxic fishes, such as certain mullet, goatfish, tangs, damsels and rabbitfish, are believed to be similar to LSD, and may include vivid and terrifying auditory and visual hallucinations. This has given rise to the collective common name for ichthyoallyeinotoxic fishes of "dream fish". More @ Practical Fishkeeping

Via Daily Grail

Junk Science Watch

2006-04-23T22:57:00.000-06:00

Error strikes 'BBC climate model'

A "major error" has been discovered in the world's biggest online climate prediction project, backed by the BBC.

The fault in a Climateprediction.net model launched in February causes temperatures in past climates to rise quicker than seen in real observations.

The program, which runs on users' computers when they are idle, aims to generate forecasts of climate change.

The project scientists have now fixed the fault and say the data collected so far is still useful. More @ BBC

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-04-23T22:36:00.000-06:00

Humble Pie
Rockin' The Fillmore

1971 commercial breakthrough for band which featured Steve Marriott (Small Faces), Greg Ridley (Spooky Tooth) & Peter Framton who left soon after to pursue a solo career.

Steyn On Global Warming, Cooling, & Whatever

2006-04-23T22:20:00.000-06:00

Nothing to fear but the climate change alarmists
Mark Steyn - Chicago Sun-Times

...Back then it was just crazies like Reagan and Thatcher who had nukes, so you can understand why everyone was terrified. But now Kim Jong-Il and the ayatollahs have them, so we're all sophisticated and relaxed about it, like the French hearing that their president's acquired a couple more mistresses...

So what should we worry about? How about -- stop me if you've heard this one before -- "climate change"? That's the subject of Al Gore's new movie, ''An Inconvenient Truth.'' Like the trailer says: "If you love your planet -- if you love your children -- you have to see this movie." Even if you were planning to kill your children because you don't want them to live in a nuclear wasteland, see this movie. The mullahs won't get a chance to nuke us because, thanks to rising sea levels, Tehran will be under water. The editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick, says the Earth will "likely be an uninhabitable planet." The archbishop of Canterbury, in a desperate attempt to cut the Anglican Communion a slice of the Gaia-worship self-flagellation action, demands government "coercion" on everything from reduced speed limits to ending cheap air travel "if we want the global economy not to collapse and millions, billions of people to die." - More

Savages

2006-04-19T21:32:00.000-06:00

The mother of 18-year-old suicide bomber Sami Salim Hamad holds a poster proclaiming Hamad as a martyr at their family's house in the West Bank village of Arakah near Jenin April 18, 2006. Hamad killed nine people and wounded 60 others in a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

“Even though I am suffering, my suicide bomber son was a hero”. - TimesOnline Via LGF

List of the Murdered - Michelle Malkin
David Shaulov, 29, from Holon
Philip Balhasan, 45, from Ashdod
Victor Erez, 60, from Givataim
Binyamin Chafuta, 47, from Lod
Lily Yunes, 42, from Oranit
Rosalia Basnia, 48, a Romanian foreign worker
Bodha Piroshka, 50, a Romanian foreign worker
Ariel Darhi, 31 from Bat Yam
Marcel Cohen, 73, from Nice, France

Rogerism Updated

2006-04-12T22:22:00.000-06:00

I finally got around to updating the site I made to showcase the artwork created by Roger Ing of The Utopia Cafe in Regina. I have added a few new pics and will add some more links later. I took care of this tonight after my nephew Vinnie told me that the documentary "Roger Ing's Utopia" by Judith Silverthorne is recommended viewing in the Asian Studies Program at Cornell. If anyone has any Rogerism pics, send them by and I will put them up.

Stupidity Reigns At NBC

2006-04-05T21:03:00.000-06:00

As Michelle Malkin reported here Dateline NBC was planning to manufacture a news story on Americans exibiting racist attitudes towards muslims. Their target... Nascar fans. In todays update on the story Nascar is plenty pissed at NBC stating "This is outrageous for a news organization with the reputation of NBC to stoop to the level of attempting to create news instead of reporting it. Any legitimate journalist should be ashamed."

The money quote is from a Nascar fan though:
Chris S. was also at the Martinsville race last weekend. He didn't see the ringers, but he did share this:

My wife and I attended last weekend's NASCAR race in Martinsville, and had a wonderful time. But if NBC wants to guarantee they get a negative reaction to their "plant", all they need to do is put him in a Jeff Gordon t-shirt. The Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fans will be sure to give him a rough time! His fans are definitely the most vocal of them all.

Too funny.

The Other Side Of The Saskatchewan Exodus

2006-04-04T10:01:00.000-06:00

Polygamist group 'not welcome here'
Saskatchewan officials oppose migration of fundamentalist Mormon splinter sect

The possibility of Saskatchewan becoming a second Canadian stronghold for a fundamentalist Mormon splinter group that practices polygamy isn't something government officials here are about to welcome with open arms.

"Polygamy is against the law in Canada and, perhaps more importantly, there are laws against the sexual exploitation of children and minors," Frank Quennell, Saskatchewan's Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, said yesterday.

"Those laws will be enforced in Saskatchewan and we certainly don't have the welcome mat out for anybody who would break them," he added.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is led by fugitive Warren Jeffs and teaches polygamy as its central tenet. It is based in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where about 10,000 church members live.

Mr. Jeffs is wanted on a U.S. federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution after allegations he arranged a plural marriage between a 16-year-old girl and an older man. - Globe & Mail

Deportation or jail are just two possible solutions to this crap.

Evil Conservatives Spoil Sharon's New Flick

2006-04-03T11:14:00.000-06:00

Hollywood Elites Blame “Basic Instinct 2” Failure on Christianity and Conservatism

This one wasn’t hard to predict: With the box office failure of newly released “erotic thriller” called “Basic Instinct 2,” Hollywood elites are blaming the slumping interest in such films on Conservatives and the recent return to Christian values rather than the poor quality of the movies. According to Reuters (hat tip to Drudge):

“Paul Verhoeven, director of the first ‘Basic Instinct’ (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed ‘Showgirls’ (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.

"‘Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States,’ said the Dutch native. “‘Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends.’"

Let me clue you in, Paul: People didn’t go to see “Showgirls” because it was a derivative piece of tripe with a bad script, bad acting, bad directing, and bad editing. Other than that, the film was absolutely fabulous. More @ News Busters

Conservatives Need Not Apply

2006-04-03T11:07:00.000-06:00

Michael Barone on the 9 to 1 ratio of liberals to conservatives in the MSM.

When Cartoons Are Not Enough

2006-04-03T10:56:00.000-06:00

Drinking From Home: First they came for the Buddhas...

This shouldn't surprise anyone.

Fallen Canadian Coming Home

2006-03-29T20:18:00.000-06:00

Ramp Ceremony held for Pte Robert Costall 1st Battlion of the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (1PPCLI). DND

CP - Dead Canadian soldier remembered as a brave 'young kid' with a dream

Write The Troops - Here
Let our troops know they have support at home.

Canada & US Cut Off Hamas

2006-03-29T19:47:00.000-06:00

CTV - Canada Cuts Relations With Palestinian Authority
SDA - Hear No Evil, Fund No Evil
Reuters - US cuts off contacts with Hamas-led government
CP - Canada severs relations with 'terrorist' Palestinian government

No Connection Right?

2006-03-26T20:46:00.000-06:00

Camp Saddam
What we've learned about Iraq's terrorist training camps.
Stephen F. Hayes - Weekly Standard
REPRESENTATIVE John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, March 19, to evaluate the war in Iraq on its third anniversary. Murtha, a decorated veteran and longtime hawk, has become a leading spokesman for his party on the war. And on the show, he spoke of what "probably worries me the most" about the U.S. effort in Iraq. The war, said Murtha, is a diversion from the global war on terror.

"There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went there," said Murtha. "None. There was no connection with al Qaeda, there was no connection with, with terrorism in Iraq itself." This is now the conventional wisdom on Iraq and terrorism. It is wrong.

A new study from the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia, paints quite a different picture. According to captured documents cited in the study and first reported in THE WEEKLY STANDARD in January, the former Iraqi regime was training non-Iraqi Arabs in terrorist techniques. More @ Weekly Standard

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-03-26T20:11:00.000-06:00

Todd Rundgren - Todd

Listened to this for the first time at 15. Great album.

Discography

Soldier On The Mend

2006-03-23T21:45:00.000-06:00

Soldier who lost legs in Afghanistan bomb attack recovering in Edmonton

Master Cpl. Paul Franklin credits a plastic hula-girl good-luck charm, hard training and a promise to his wife to come home alive for helping him survive a suicide bomb explosion in Afghanistan that cost him both his legs.

In his first interview since the Jan. 15 attack, a remarkably upbeat Franklin recounted the nightmarish blast that caused him indescribable pain and put his wife and young son on an emotional roller-coaster.

Franklin, a medic with 1 Field Ambulance, remembers watching a taxi hit the armoured jeep he was driving that day near Kandahar and then flying through the air after it exploded.

When he landed, he began rubbing his upper body to extinguish flames that were burning his face and hair.

Then Franklin looked down and noticed one of his legs was missing and his lifeblood was gushing away.

"My buddy all of sudden showed up and put his hands on my shoulder, Cpl. Jake Petton," Franklin said as he calmly sat in a wheelchair at Edmonton Garrison with his wife Audra looking on.

"He placed a tourniquet on my leg. The funny thing is three days earlier I had given him a brand-new tourniquet and trained him on it.

'It is kind of funny that nearly three days later there he is, putting it on me to save my life." More @ CP

Watch That Knife Son

2006-03-20T21:40:00.000-06:00

Shiites Observe Ashoura

Fun

No Pilots Required

2006-03-18T22:17:00.000-06:00

Canada's air force to establish first all pilotless formation in Afghanistan
Canada's air force will cross a technological threshhold this month with the establishment in Afghanistan of its first organized flight of pilotless aircraft.

An entire flight of Sperwer tactical uninhabited aerial vehicles will soon be fully operational for reconnaissance missions over the windswept desert and craggy mountains passes in the vicinity of Kandahar.

A few of the remote-controlled aircraft are already deployed, but more are on the way.

Using real-time video and a host of infrared and other specialized sensors, the drones are sent aloft to monitor the surrounding countryside and to track down insurgents, hopefully before they become a threat to Canada's 2,200 troops on the ground. - CP

TV Stupidity Kills 7, Maims Others

2006-03-18T21:59:00.000-06:00

Seven Killed In Uruguay TV Stunt

A runaway train killed seven people and injured at least 11, severing some of their limbs, during the filming of a TV show in Uruguay, police said.

The accident occurred during a "test of strength" challenge to raise money for a hospital in Young, 380km (235 miles) west of the capital, Montevideo.

Contestants were pushing and pulling a train and two carriages when the vehicle gained speed and ran them over.

Local authorities have declared three days of mourning. - BBC

Video Aftermath

New Iraq Reading List

2006-03-18T08:31:00.000-06:00

Post-Haste - The first batch of captured documents from pre-war Iraq and Afghanistan are now available online.
Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard on the new batch of released docs on pre-war Iraq and its WMD program and connections to terrorism.

Sir Paul Blows It

2006-03-15T21:12:00.000-06:00

Seal hunt quota raised

Just two weeks after megastar Paul McCartney made a high-profile appeal to end the slaughter of seal pups, the federal government has announced new, higher quotas for this year's hunt off the East Coast.

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said Canada's harp seal population is thriving and can easily support a catch limit of 325,000 seals, plus 10,000 more for aboriginal communities.

The limit last year was 320,000 seals. More @ Globe & Mail

My only question is where do we get us some seal meat and some trendy seal skin mitties?

Civil War Found - On The Left

2006-03-15T20:32:00.000-06:00

Anti-War Movement Casualty of In-Fighting
CNSNews.com

With new polls showing that more than half of Americans believe the war in Iraq is going badly and that Iraq will never become a stable democracy, you might think that anti-war groups in the U.S. would be trumpeting their influence.

Instead, the groups appear to be caught in their own brand of civil war, criticizing each other for management styles, sympathizing with Communist dictators and pandering to the media. They have bickered over alleged racism and even over issues like who would get more microphone time and pay for the portable toilets at anti-war rallies.

The feuding appears to have precluded any kind of nationally coordinated anti-war rallies from happening on March 19, the third-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Small, local protests are planned by various anti-war groups around the country.

Tamils Need A Round Of Deportations

2006-03-14T20:39:00.000-06:00

Tamil Tigers feeding off Toronto kinsmen, rights group says
Tamil families in Toronto are faced with extortion from Tamil Tigers of up to $10,000 apiece, and Tamil entrepreneurs up to $100,000 each, according to a new report released by Human Rights Watch.

The New-York-based group says that Tamil Tiger fundraisers are increasingly strong-arming the Toronto Tamil community -- the largest Diaspora group outside of war-torn Sri Lanka — as their island nation once again girds for civil war.

Canadian Tamils who don't give money to the separatist cause, according to Human Rights Watch, face the prospect of being beaten or having family members being abused abroad. “Canada is not actually a democracy because we can't open our mouths against the LTTE,” one Toronto Tamil told Human Rights Watch. More @ The Globe & Mail

Lets hope that the extortion victims help with the rounding up and deportation of these guys.

Canadian Troops In Action

2006-03-12T09:33:00.000-06:00

Check out this embed story on our forces in Afghanistan. Above is a picture of now Captain Trevor Greene, of Vancouver, who was featured in the story. Greene was seriously injured in an axe attack and remains in a coma.

Update: Axe-attacked Canadian soldier opens his eyes - CTV

War: Canadian-style - Toronto Star

UPDATE: Canadians return to axe attack village - Toronto Star

Then the Prime Minister shows up in Afghanistan - Toronto Star

Civil War Declared By MSM

2006-03-08T21:10:00.000-06:00

Dude, Where's My Civil War?

Ralph Peters is in Iraq reporting from the Forward Operating Base Loyalty. He says he's tried hard to find the Iraqi civil war he keeps hearing about, and is still unsuccessful.

I'm trying. I've been trying all week. The other day, I drove another 30 miles or so on the streets and alleys of Baghdad. I'm looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it.

Maybe actually being on the ground in Iraq prevents me from seeing it. Perhaps the view's clearer from Manhattan. It could be that my background as an intelligence officer didn't give me the right skills....

In place of the civil war that elements in our media declared, I saw full streets, open shops, traffic jams, donkey carts, Muslim holiday flags - and children everywhere, waving as our Humvees passed. Even the clouds of dust we stirred up didn't deter them. And the presence of children in the streets is the best possible indicator of a low threat level. More @ NewsBusters & NY Post

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-03-05T22:54:00.000-06:00

Damned Damned Damned - 1977

70's Punk at its best.

And of course they have a website.

Terrorist Enablers

2006-03-03T20:15:00.000-06:00

Suicide Bombing Endorsed In Kids Book Recommended By Canadian Libraries

The Ontario Library Association of Canada refused to drop from its recommended list a book that includes Palestinian children endorsing suicide bombing.

Palestinian and Israeli children speak about suicide bombings, anti-Semitism, guns and soldiers in “Three Wishes,” by Deborah Ellis.

“In our eyes, the book is perfectly good and we stand by our selection committee and the rights of children to read this book,” said Larry Moore, the association’s executive director. The Canadian Jewish Congress asked for the book to be removed from a list of recommending reading for 8-11 year-olds, saying it does not provide young readers with enough context.

“They speak about suicide bombing and killing Israelis as suitable choices to make and as acts worthy of emulating,” said Len Rudner, the CJC’s national director of community relations. A Palestinian girl discusses her sister, a suicide bomber, as a martyr in paradise and suggests she will follow in her footsteps.

A Palestinian boy says, “Killing an Israeli will make me feel glad. It will make me feel strong.”

Only one school board, the York District board just north of Toronto, has pulled the book from the list, while many others have declined to do so. - Jihad Watch

When Do We Start?

2006-03-01T18:54:00.000-06:00

Make immigrants take oath of loyalty
report: If newcomers breach Canada's values, they should be deported, ex-diplomat declares

The federal government should require new immigrants to take an oath of loyalty to Canada and its values -- and deport them if they breach it, a former diplomat says in a study of counter-terrorism policies released yesterday.

The Fraser Institute report, authored by former senior Foreign Affairs official Martin Collacott, also says the government must give special attention to working with the Muslim community since radical Islamic terrorists are currently the greatest danger to Canada's security.

While Canadians are committed to welcoming diverse immigrants from around the world, newcomers must understand that they are expected to accept core Canadian values, the report says.

"If they find such acceptance difficult, they should not come here in the first place," Mr. Collacott writes in Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform. - More @ Ottawa Citizen
Via Neale News

Savages

2006-02-28T20:25:00.000-06:00

Mother sad daughter didn't carry out bombing
21-year-old Palestinian arrested on way to suicide attack at hospital

The mother of a woman arrested in a suicide-bombing attempt told a Palestinian TV interviewer she was upset by her daughter's capture, but only because it meant the 21-year-old wouldn't be able to kill Israelis targeted for attack, including children.

The mother of Wafa Al-Bas – arrested at the Erez border crossing last June concealing a 20-pound bomb under her clothing – spoke to official Palestinian Authority television in a segment translated by Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch. - More @ WND - LGF

Yahoo! Joins The Police State

2006-02-27T22:02:00.000-06:00

Yahoo! link confirmed in second Chinese dissident case
Court papers about cyberdissident Li Zhi confirm that Yahoo! collaborated with the Chinese authorities, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Yahoo! and local competitor Sina both provided evidence that allowed the Chinese to imprison Li.

Li, a 35-year-old ex-civil servant from Dazhou in south west China, was given an eight-year jail sentence in December 2003 for "inciting subversion" over comments criticising official corruption posted on online discussion groups. He was also accused of mixing with the banned China Democracy Party online. More @ The Register

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-02-26T23:10:00.000-06:00

Madness - One Step Beyond - 1979

Just Another Day?

2006-02-26T20:21:00.000-06:00

Palestinian mourners carry bodies during a funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus on February 24, 2006. Israeli occupation troops killed five Palestinians on Thursday in Nablus and Balata Refugee Camp. ... Early Friday, the IOF killed two Palestinians it said were planting bomb - Palestinian Information Centre

Reading the articles linked above and below I was blown away by the matter of fact tone. I have seen more sensational articles in our local paper about resort parties on the May long weekend. We have no idea do we?

4 Armed Palestinians Killed In Weekend Violence In Gaza - Haaretz

Don't Piss Him Off

2006-02-25T23:00:00.000-06:00

Stewart Ready To Move On After Daytona Drama

Between the warm breeze that blew through the Nextel Cup garage, the scenic mountains in the background and having a fast car in practice, Tony Stewart was feeling good.

"I'm calm, cool and collected,'' Stewart told a cluster of reporters on Saturday from the back of his hauler at California Speedway. "You're going to have to work real hard to tick me off today.''

Several tried. - More @ Nascar

A Call To Action

2006-02-25T22:33:00.000-06:00

The cartoon wars took a turn for the worse today when a fatwa was issued against beloved cartoon characters Tom & Jerry. It's getting serious now folks, they're not just after the cartoonists but now they want to destroy our cartoon characters as well. Its on thing for the Iranians to have nukes, but when they go after Tom & Jerry, its WAR!

Tom and Jerry – a Jewish makeover?
Iranian official says cartoon is conspiracy to improve image of mice, Jews. - WND & Memri

Pretty Vacant Still

2006-02-25T22:07:00.000-06:00

Sex Pistols Spit On Hall Of Fame Honor
The Sex Pistols have opted out on appearing at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The groundbreaking English punk rock group officially declined the honor -- to be handed out March 13 at a dinner and performance at the Waldorf Astoria in New York -- in a crudely scrawled, mispunctuated handwritten message posted on the band's Web site Friday. - More @
Hollywood Reporter

Olympic Highlights

2006-02-25T21:41:00.000-06:00

Hughes wins 5,000, Klassen 3rd
Canada's Clara Hughes poured on the speed over the final lap to snatch the gold medal from teammate Cindy Klassen in the women's 5,000 metres at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. - CBC

Klassen Finishes With 5 Medals

Canadian Men Take Silver
The men's relay team won silver in the short-track 5,000-metre relay race. South Korea won gold and the United States took the bronze.

Eric Bedard of Ste-Thecle, Que., Francois-Louis Tremblay of Alma, Que., Charles Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., and Mathieu Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que., had a time of 6:43.707. - CTV

Canadian Medals Listing Here

Medal Count By Country Here

Well done Canadians!

Mr Chicken Bites It

2006-02-25T21:27:00.000-06:00

Veteran TV actor Don Knotts dead at age 81

Don Knotts, who kept generations of TV audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show and would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on Three's Company, has died.

He was 81.

Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, said Sherwin Bash, his friend and manager. - CTV

See ya funny guy, thanks for all the laughs.

Not Worth Helping

2006-02-25T08:37:00.000-06:00

Michelle Malkin: THE THANKS WE GET

Despite millions in aid and a massive relief effort these people still hate the West.

More Gold For Canada

2006-02-24T20:05:00.000-06:00

Gushue Wins Curling Gold - CBC

Medal Standings by Country

Martyr Of The Week

2006-02-21T19:53:00.000-06:00

Fresh from the Hamas website, The Martyr Of The Week.

...After Ahmad carried out the operation in Be’r Al-Saba, his father said, "I didn't imagine that my son would be a martyr, and the one to avenge the Zionist aggression against us. Even if he told me that he is going to carry out an operation against the Zionist forces, I will tell him to go and do it.”

Ahmad’s father added that Zionist forces are responsible for the violence since they did not release more than 7000 prisoners; and they were responsible for killing thousands of Palestinians. He stated, “We have the right to defend ourselves since our children and women are killed daily.”

On 31-08-2004, Ahmad and Nasim Al-Jabari entered two Zionist buses and blew up the two buses. 16 Zionists were killed and 100 were injured. - Ezzedeen AL-Qassam Brigades

You can't negotiate with this type of phsycotic mentality.

Clinton On Free Speech

2006-02-20T21:36:00.000-06:00

Former US president Bill Clinton on Friday condemned the publication of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) caricatures by European newspapers and urged countries concerned to convict the publishers.

Talking to reporters after meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad, Clinton said he disagreed with the caricatures and that the publication was against religious and ethical norms. Clinton said he had no objection to peaceful demonstrations being held worldwide, but this was not the time for violence. He said it was the time to promote inter-faith harmony and stand together on the issue.

He said the people’s religious convictions should be respected at all costs and the media should be disallowed to play with the religious sentiments of other faiths. He said the media could criticise any issue including governments and people, but nobody had the right to play with the sentiments of other faiths.

Daily Times Via NewsBusters

Oh really?

Landslide Devastation

2006-02-20T20:04:00.000-06:00

The devastation in the Philipines and the efforts to find the lost.
Army Times

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-02-19T20:20:00.000-06:00

Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (1976)

Group Incentives At Nascar

2006-02-19T20:02:00.000-06:00

Freakonomics with A Creative NASCAR Incentive

Tolerance To Muslims Is A One Way Street

2006-02-19T19:44:00.000-06:00

Realigning tolerance: Our options in the collision between free speech and Islam

TigerHawk

Evil Tidings From Nascar

2006-02-19T19:18:00.000-06:00

Johnson Captures First Daytona 500 Victory

Top 10
1 #48 Jimmie Johnson
2 #42 Casey Mears
3 #12 Ryan Newman
4 #38 Elliott Sadler
5 #20 Tony Stewart
6 #07 Clint Bowyer
7 #25 Brian Vickers
8 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9 #21 Ken Schrader
10 #88 Dale Jarrett

Nice

2006-02-19T01:28:00.000-06:00

Demonstrators In Germany, Nice.

Via LGF

MSM Cracks Up

2006-02-16T19:31:00.000-06:00

The Question Everyone's Asking
Michelle Malkin on the ongoing lack of any media integrity.

Kate At Small Dead Animals Weighs In With Thanks To The MSM On Reaching A Milestone - 2 Million, Further Thoughts

NewsBusters Has More On the NYT - NYT: Still No Mohammad Cartoons, But Old Abu Ghraib Photo Fit to Print

North American Patriot - A Tale of Two Images

Looks A Bit Like Mac OS X?

2006-02-16T19:10:00.000-06:00

Ten Reasons to Buy Windows Vista
And 5 Reasons Not To

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you probably know that the latest version of Windows--called Vista--is due to hit store shelves later this year (in time for the holidays, Microsoft tells us). The successor to
Windows XP offers a little something for everyone, from eye-catching graphics and new bundled applications to more-rigorous security. In fact, there is so much in the new operating system that it can be tough to get a handle on it all. More @ Yahoo

Hackers Fight Back

2006-02-15T21:23:00.000-06:00

Cracks In the Wall
By Richard C. Morais
Hacker dissidents are chipping away at Chinese censorship.

In a windowless room in New York City, a computer engineer with owlish glasses--call her “Jenny Chen”--peers at a color-coded bar graph on her PC screen. Her group is launching attacks on the Chinese wall of censorship that blocks access to sites discussing verboten topics like civil rights and democracy. The graph displays how many Chinese that month evaded the country’s censorship to condemn the Chinese Communist Party.

Chen, a Beijing-born woman of about 40, runs her own it businesses. Her group, and like-minded “hacktivists” (as they call themselves) spread around the globe, are chipping away at the Golden Shield, the term that describes the filtering system that censors the Internet and e-mail of China’s 110 million Internet users. The invaders slip contraband words and ideas in and out of the country via such means as mass e-mails, proxy servers that aren’t yet blacked out and code words that aren’t yet on government blacklists.

Arrayed in battle against the hackers are the Chinese Communist Party and an assortment of Western firms that provide the hardware, software and search services that make the Chinese Internet run: Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, Sun Microsystems and Yahoo. These companies are in a bind. They cannot do business in China except on terms dictated by the Chinese authorities, and that means zapping Web traffic that strays too far from the party line. But if they comply they become, in the eyes of Chinese dissidents, collaborators with an oppressive regime. More @ FrontPageMag

Steyn On Gutless Europe

2006-02-13T18:52:00.000-06:00

Toon-deaf Europe is taking the wrong stand
From Europe's biggest-selling newspaper, the Sun: ''Furious Muslims have blasted adult shop [i.e., sex shop] Ann Summers for selling a blowup male doll called Mustafa Shag."

Not literally "blasted" in the Danish Embassy sense, or at least not yet. Quite how Britain's Muslim Association found out about Mustafa Shag in order to be offended by him is not clear. It may be that there was some confusion: given that "blowup males" are one of Islam's leading exports, perhaps some believers went along expecting to find Ahmed and Walid modeling the new line of Semtex belts. Instead, they were confronted by just another filthy infidel sex gag. The Muslim Association's complaint, needless to say, is that the sex toy "insults the Prophet Muhammad -- who also has the title al-Mustapha.''

In a world in which Danish cartoons insult the prophet and Disney Piglet mugs insult the prophet and Burger King chocolate ice-cream swirl designs insult the prophet, maybe it would just be easier to make a list of things that don't insult him. Nonetheless, the Muslim Association wrote to the Ann Summers sex-shop chain, "We are asking you to have our Most Revered Prophet's name 'Mustafa' and the afflicted word 'shag' removed."

If I were a Muslim, I'd be "hurt" and "humiliated" that the revered prophet's name is given not to latex blowup males but to so many real blowup males: The leader of the 9/11 plotters? Mohammed Atta. The British Muslim who self-detonated in a Tel Aviv bar? Asif Mohammed Hanif. The gunman who shot up the El Al counter at LAX? Heshamed Mohamed Hedayet. The former U.S. Army sergeant who masterminded the slaughter at the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania? Ali Mohamed. The murderer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh? Mohammed Bouyeri. The notorious Sydney gang rapist? Mohammed Skaf. The Washington sniper? John Allen Muhammed. If I were a Muslim, I would be deeply offended that the prophet's name is the preferred appellation of so many killers and suicide bombers on every corner of the earth. More @ Chicago Sun-Times

Pull Out, Stay Home

2006-02-12T19:45:00.000-06:00

Danes in Indonesia 'Under Threat'
Danish nationals have been urged to leave Indonesia over fears they may be targeted in the row over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. - BBC

Indonesia Laments Danish Pullout
Indonesia says Denmark's decision to withdraw its diplomats was "hasty". - BBC

Captain Ed has an English tranlation of an editorial from Per Nyholm of Jyllands-Posten in Denmark

...Perhaps it's time we started mopping up this mess. Perhaps Editor-in-Chief Carsten Juste ought to remove his apology which has gone stale sitting so long on the front page of our internet edition and which does not seem to interest madmen. Perhaps our government ought to announce to Mona Omar Attia, the strange Ambassador of Egypt, that she is persona non grata.

Perhaps it ought to be announced to the ambassadors that have been called home to fictive consultations in the Middle East that they may spare themselves the cost of the return ticket.

To the degree it is possible, The Lying Imams ought probably to be expelled. And then we ought to make an effort for the Moslems who in a difficult situation have proven themselves to be true Citizens.

We, for our part, have no wish to be a burden for the arab governments. We will happily withdraw our soldiers, policemen and diplomats. If they think our money smells, we will stop our aid. Our trade must make do as well as it can. We promise to not bear a grudge and, in time, we will be glad to return, but we are through with the hypocrisy. We have better things to do than being pissed upon at our own expense.

Turn down our activity in the Middle East. This world holds other opportunities...

Two Faced

2006-02-12T01:35:00.000-06:00

British imam praises London Tube bombers

A LEADING imam in the mosque where the July 7 bombers worshipped has hailed their terrorist attack on London as a “good” act in a secretly taped conversation with an undercover reporter.

Hamid Ali, spiritual leader of the mosque in West Yorkshire, said it had forced people to take notice when peaceful meetings and conferences had no impact.

He also praised the bombers as the “children” of Abdullah al-Faisal, a firebrand Muslim cleric, who was convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred in 2003.

Ali revealed that the leader of the London suicide bombers had attended sermons in Yorkshire by al-Faisal and tapes of al-Faisal’s teachings were still circulating within his mosque.

Al-Faisal, who has branded non-Muslims as “cockroaches” ripe for extermination, is serving a seven-year prison sentence but is eligible for early release next week. More @ The Times

The Home Front

2006-02-11T22:46:00.000-06:00

Indianapolis Star
Via Instapundit & Tigerhawk

Cartoon Wars Go Local - Medpundit Via Michelle Malkin

Round 2

2006-02-11T22:19:00.000-06:00

US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites
Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation, the Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

They are reporting to the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions. Teheran claims that it is developing only a civilian energy programme. - More @ Telegraph

Iran 'could quit nuclear treaty' - BBC
Iran rejects call to freeze nuclear program - CTV
Ahmadinejad: Israel 'Will Be Removed' - Jihad Watch
Iran's Manhattan Project Gaining Speed - LGF

Gratuitous Fishing Picture

2006-02-10T22:38:00.000-06:00

Wishin' I was fishin'

Thanks Guys

2006-02-09T20:32:00.000-06:00

“2-2-Bravo” gives a thumbs up after returning from their final mission on the busy streets of Kandahar City. After six months of patrols supporting the Provincial Reconstruction Team, at Camp Nathan Smith in Afghanistan, they will leave shortly to return home to Canada to join their families. (L-R) are Master Corporal Jason Keen, Corporal Chance Fiessel, Master Corporal Gillis, Private Steve Price, Section Commander Sergeant Ken Lockie, Pte. Jason Taylor, Pte Chris Berube and Pte. Shane Iverson.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is composed of about 250 soldiers mainly from Land Force Western Area (LFWA) and 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG), located in Edmonton Alberta. The PRT brings together Canadian military personnel, civilian police, diplomats and aid workers in an integrated effort to reinforce the authority of the Afghan government in and around Kandahar, and to help stabilize the region. To achieve these goals, the PRT conducts security patrols, contributes labour and resources to local reconstruction efforts, supports local governance institutions, and facilitates reforms in the security sector. - DND

Four Canadian soldiers slightly wounded in roadside bombing in Afghanistan

Four Canadian soldiers escaped with bumps, bruises and a concussion after a roadside bomb exploded next to their light armoured vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, part of an escalating campaign by insurgents resisting U.S.-and NATO-led forces.

The unidentified soldiers were riding in a 21-tonne LAV-3 armoured vehicle when the explosion occurred 50 kilometres north of Kandahar. They did not require hospitalization, said a Canadian military spokesman. The attack came less than a month after a Canadian diplomat was killed and three soldiers seriously wounded by a suicide bomber in Kandahar.

The troops wounded in the Thursday evening attack are part of a 2,200-member Canadian force known as Task Force Orion that is gearing up to take over patrols in the volatile, ultra-conservative region. - CP

Assholes

2006-02-09T19:55:00.000-06:00

Iran to hang teenage girl attacked by rapists

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.

Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girls’ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.

She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.

The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death. More @ Iran Focus

Books Banned In Cuba

2006-02-09T19:36:00.000-06:00

Since this is a list of books banned in Cuba, it should serve as a list of required reading for us. Happy Reading!

1. Amnesty International. Amnesty International Report, 1999.
2. Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern.
3. Cabrera Infante, Guillermo. View of Dawn in the Tropics.
4. Constitution of the United States of America.
5. Courtois, Stephane, et al. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression.
6.Cumerlato, Corinne and Denis Rousseau. La Isla del Doctor Castro: La Transición Secuestrado.
7. Diamond, Larry and Marc F. Plattner, eds. The Global Resurgence of Democracy.
8. Díaz-Briquets, Sergio and Jorge F. Pérez-López. Conquering Nature: The Environmental Legacy of Socialism in Cuba.
9. Edwards, Jorge. Persona Non Grata: A Memoir of Disenchantment with the Cuban Revolution.
10. Fernández Revuelta, Alina. Castro’s Daughter: An Exile’s Memoir of Cuba.
11. Franqui, Carlos. Diary of the Cuban Revolution.
12. Franqui, Carlos. Family Portrait with Fidel: A Memoir.
13. Furet, Francois. The Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century.
14. Geyer, Georgie Anne. Guerrilla Prince.
15. Gutiérrez Boronat, Orland. Hacia la gran nación.
16. Harrison, Lawrence E. Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind: The Latin American Case.
17. Havel, Vaclav. Living in Truth.
18. --. The Art of the Impossible.
19. --. Toward a Civil Society: Selected Speeches and Writings, 1990 – 1994.
20. --. The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe.
21. Human Rights Watch. Cuba’s Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution.
22. King, Martin Luther Jr. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
23. Matos, Húber. Cómo Llegó La Noche.
24. McDowell, Josh. Evidence that Demands a Verdict.
25. Mesa-Lago; Carmelo, Alberto Arenas; and Malena Barro. Market, Socialist, and Mixed Economies : Comparative Policy and Performance--Chile, Cuba, and Costa Rica.
26. Michnik, Adam. Letters from Prison.
27. Muller, Alberto and Oswaldo Payá. El Proyecto Varela.
28. Oppenheimer, Andrés. Castro’s Final Hour: An Eyewitness Account of the Disintegration of Castro’s Cuba.
29. Orwell, George. 1984.
30. --. Animal Farm.
31. Rojas, Rafael. José Martí: La Invención de Cuba.
32. Roosevelt, Eleanor, et al. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
33. Sakharov, Andrei. Sakharov Speaks.
34. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. Letters to the Soviet Leaders.
35.Walensa, Lech. A Way of Hope.

More @ Babalublog

There is also more info there on the evil American Library Association's support for Castro's book burning. Strange bedfellows indeed.

h/t Pajamas Media

Are They Rioting In Egypt?

2006-02-08T19:14:00.000-06:00

Rantings of a Sandmonkey sez that the evil cartoons were printed in Egypt last fall. Check the newspaper scans.

h/t Malkin & LGF

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-02-06T19:24:00.000-06:00

Original Cover
So Long, Bannatyne/ # 10 [Best of] [Original recording remastered]
The Guess Who

Another Dead Terrorist

2006-02-05T23:11:00.000-06:00

Islamic Jihad's top bombmaker killed by Israeli missile

The senior explosives expert for Islamic Jihad and another Palestinian militant died when Israeli missiles hit two cars in Gaza City on Sunday night, the group says.

Islamic Jihad confirmed that the attack killed Adnan Bustan, 28.

The group said Bustan was in charge of Islamic Jihad's engineering and manufacturing unit, which produces rockets and explosives.

Islamic Jihad officials identified the other dead militant as Jihad al-Sawafiri, 31, who was believed to have led an Islamic Jihad rocket firing squad.

The group has claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks on Israel in recent days, including one on Friday that wounded three Israelis, including a baby. More @ CBC

Support Denmark Banners

2006-02-05T22:45:00.000-06:00

the dissident frogman

Trouble In Utopia

2006-02-05T14:30:00.000-06:00

Government drive against Cuba's reviled 'new rich' mainly hits average Cubans

President Fidel Castro is pursuing a campaign against Cuba's "new rich," accusing them of corruption and moral decay in his quest to erase class differences threatening the utopian ideals of his communist regime.

Violators face possible jail time and loss of state jobs as the government tries to eliminate a thriving black market that supplies Cubans and tourists with everything from gasoline and cooking oil to illicit meals of lobster served in small, private restaurants.

Yet "rich" is a mushy term on an island where state pay averages just $12 US a month - a wage virtually impossible to live on even with heavily subsidized government services and mostly free housing. Many of Castro's targets are simply poor Cubans who steal from the state to make ends meet. More @ CP

Sensitivity Or Death

2006-02-05T13:57:00.000-06:00

'Sensitivity' can have brutal consequences
Mark Steyn

I long ago lost count of the number of times I've switched on the TV and seen crazy guys jumping up and down in the street, torching the Stars and Stripes and yelling ''Death to the Great Satan!'' Or torching the Union Jack and yelling ''Death to the Original If Now Somewhat Arthritic And Semi-Retired Satan!'' But I never thought I'd switch on the TV and see the excitable young lads jumping up and down in Jakarta, Lahore, Aden, Hebron, etc., etc., torching the flag of Denmark.

Denmark! Even if you were overcome with a sudden urge to burn the Danish flag, where do you get one in a hurry in Gaza? Well, OK, that's easy: the nearest European Union Humanitarian Aid and Intifada-Funding Branch Office. But where do you get one in an obscure town on the Punjabi plain on a Thursday afternoon? If I had a sudden yen to burn the Yemeni or Sudanese flag on my village green, I haven't a clue how I'd get hold of one in this part of New Hampshire. Say what you like about the Islamic world, but they show tremendous initiative and energy and inventiveness, at least when it comes to threatening death to the infidels every 48 hours for one perceived offense or another. If only it could be channeled into, say, a small software company, what an economy they'd have.

...Thus, NBC is celebrating Easter this year with a special edition of the gay sitcom "Will & Grace," in which a Christian conservative cooking-show host, played by the popular singing slattern Britney Spears, offers seasonal recipes -- "Cruci-fixin's." On the other hand, the same network, in its coverage of the global riots over the Danish cartoons, has declined to show any of the offending artwork out of "respect" for the Muslim faith.

Which means out of respect for their ability to locate the executive vice president's home in the suburbs and firebomb his garage... More @ Chicago Sun-Times

Dickhead

2006-02-05T13:52:00.000-06:00

NAACP chairman compares GOP to Nazis

Civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond delivered a blistering partisan speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last night, equating the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and characterizing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens."

"The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side," he charged.

Calling President Bush a liar, Bond told the audience at the historically black institution that this White House's lies are more serious than the lies of his predecessor's because Clinton's lies didn't kill people. More @ WND

I guess Julian forgot Waco...

Thanks Paul

2006-02-05T13:24:00.000-06:00

Dingwall awarded $417,780
Payout one of Martin's last acts

David Dingwall, former head of the Royal Canadian Mint, has received $417,780 in his now-famous "entitlements," as one of the last acts of Prime Minister Paul Martin's departing Liberal government.

...Stephen Harper, who takes the prime minister's oath tomorrow morning, said yesterday the Liberals had misled the public where Dingwall was concerned.

"After months of evasive answers in the House of Commons, we have now learned that David Dingwall's departure from the Royal Canadian Mint was involuntary," Harper said in a statement. "This is contrary to the information given by the Liberal government. I am very disappointed that Parliament was misled on this matter." More @ Toronto Star

Any Liberals want to reconsider their vote?

Freedom Is Hard To Accept For Some

2006-02-05T12:47:00.000-06:00

Daryl Cagle

U.S. Muslims react with tempered anger
Some in D.C. area say cartoons of Muhammad overstepped liberties

..."I've been getting a lot of e-mails about it, and I'm distributing them all," said Omary, a Damascus native who sells real estate in Northern Virginia. "There is a limit to freedom. There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. Let's have some respect."...

No, there is no limit on freedom of speech. Suck it up.

...The cartoons doubly offended Muslims, because in addition to depicting Muhammad in a pejorative manner, they violated Islam's longtime prohibition on any image of the prophet, his family or early companions.

ADAMS's imam, Mohamed Magid, explained that the ban stems from early Islam, when Muhammad preached monotheism in a culture steeped in the worship of idols.

To discourage such idolatry, he ordered Muslims not to draw, and religious leaders have interpreted this to mean that the prophet was banning images of himself and those close to him so they would never become objects of worship for Muslims, Magid said....

Bullshit apparently. - Zombie

I saw this story back in October here...

No Retreat

2006-02-05T10:50:00.000-06:00

The Mohammed Cartoons
Western governments have nothing to apologize for.
Paul Marshall

...Finally, amid current calls for "toleration" and "respect for belief," we need to be very clear about the distinction between religious toleration and religious freedom.

Religious toleration means not insulting somebody else's religion, and it is a good thing. But religious freedom means being free to reject somebody else's religion and even to insult it. Government should want and encourage its citizens to be tolerant of one another, but its primary responsibility is to protect its citizens' rights and freedoms. The fact that people are sometimes insulted is one cost of freedom. The Jyllands-Posten affair calls us to uphold that principle internationally as well as domestically. - More @ Weekly Standard

This is the best thing that could have happened in Europe. The politicians there have been like jellyfish in dealing with their internal immigration problems. The French were paralyzed by the rampage of muslim youth last fall. Other governments there are just as hesitant to deal with their impending destruction.
Terrorist attacks in Europe are more likely now and will speed up the arrest and deportation of those who hold these extremist views.

The demonstrators in London are already toning down the rhetoric on their signs. They know that their true intentions must be hidden, after all islam is the religion of peace right?

Arrest & Deport

2006-02-05T10:38:00.000-06:00

Muslim protests are incitement to murder, say Tories

The Conservatives last night called on the police to arrest militant Muslims who threatened Westerners with violence during protests in London over newspaper cartoons that mocked the Prophet Mohammed.

As fanatics - some dressed as suicide bombers - staged more protests yesterday, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the police should take action against what were clearly offences of incitement to murder. - More @ The Telegragh

Idiots On The March

2006-02-04T20:23:00.000-06:00

THEIR eyes are full of hate and their banners call for a new 7/7 terror attack.

This is the way a baying Muslim mob reacted to the row over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons on the streets of London yesterday.

More than 400 protesters — including small children — carried placards scrawled with messages of hate. A baby girl even had “I Love al-Qaeda” on her bonnet.

The parents of pretty Farisa Jihad, 20 months, proudly proclaimed she is the youngest member of the terror group.

She was brought to the protest by her father Abu, 38. Next to her was a huge poster exclaiming: “Whoever insults a prophet, kill him.”

Another placard nearby said: “Britain you will pay — 7/7 is on its way.” More @
The Sun UK

Considering that no UK paper has printed the cartoons, these idiots are overplaying their hand a bit. I hope the Brits are going to start deporting this lot.

Danish Queen: "We Have to Show Our Opposition to Islam" - LGF
Protests and calls for vengeance spread across globe - Jihad Watch
Nordic uproar at Syrian protests - BBC

Jawa Report

No Outrage Here

2006-02-03T20:02:00.000-06:00

OUTRAGED MUSLIMS! OH MY!
Neil Boortz

We wake up this morning to see video on CNN showing rampaging Muslims around the world. In Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim ... Muslim Mobs spreading mayhem. It seems that these mighty mad Muslims are rioting and firing their ever-present AK-47s into the air because of cartoons. Yup ... this latest epidemic of Muslim outrage comes to us because some newspapers in Norway and Denmark published some cartoons depicting Mohammed...

...Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims .. no Muslim outrage ... but publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and all hell breaks loose. More @ Boortz.com

Watch Out Osama

2006-02-01T18:32:00.000-06:00

New Canadian commando unit, ready for action by year's end, will help in hunt for Taliban, al-Qaida

A new secret commando unit will begin operating out of CFB Petawawa by year's end and see its ranks swell to 750 strong, according to the force's new commander.

Col. David Barr said the first soldiers vying for a coveted spot on the special regiment will first have to complete a grueling 16-week elite training session beginning this April in Petawawa.

Barr said he expects about 260 soldiers of that first group will meet the "high standard" set during the course and will then participate in some fall training before being deemed ready to conduct operations abroad.

"It will better enable us to counter, fight and defeat the terrorist threat at home and abroad," Barr told reporters yesterday after he was sworn in as the first commander of the Canadian special operations forces command.

Barr said the first pool of soldiers will mostly be plucked from existing units located at CFB Petawawa. More @ TorontoSun.com

Guess They Should Have Stopped

2006-02-01T18:29:00.000-06:00

U.S. troops shoot at Cdn. diplomats' car in Iraq

CTV News has learned Canadian diplomats -- including the charge d'affaires in Iraq -- had a close call in Baghdad on Tuesday, coming under friendly fire from U.S. troops.

The soldiers opened fire on the vehicle after it reportedly wouldn't stop, apparently fearing a suicide car bombing.

None of the four passengers in the car -- which included Stewart Henderson, Canada's charge d'affaires in Iraq -- or its driver were injured.

CTV's Tom Clark, reporting from Washington, said official details from the Canadian government are sketchy.

But it appears from U.S. military and government sources in Washington and Iraq that the Canadian vehicle was travelling alone while a U.S. military convoy was on the road.

The car was travelling from the British residence to the Canadian one, "and as they were going along the road, so we're told, they came across an American military convoy," Clark said.

"They then tried to pass the convoy. This of course gives them the profile to soldiers of being suicide car bombers," he said. - More @ CTV

The Mask Is Off

2006-01-31T21:37:00.000-06:00

Hamas landslide reveals more about left than about Palestinians - Dennis Prager

It is a sad day for humanity when a people choose to elect terrorists as their leaders.

But for those of us who believe that clarity is the prerequisite to moral progress, the landslide victory of the terrorist organization Hamas in Palestine has a silver lining.

First and foremost, it proves what people who perceive reality have been saying for decades: The great majority of Palestinians -- like the majority of Arabs elsewhere and like vast numbers of non-Arab Muslims -- want Israel destroyed. Even granting legitimacy to the argument that the complete moral, financial and political corruption of Fatah was partly responsible for the Hamas victory, those who voted for Hamas did not find that organization's terror, religious celebration of murder or charter calling for Israel's destruction an impediment to their vote.

It is true that in 1933, some Germans who voted for the Nazis did so out of anger at the Versailles Treaty and because of the economic chaos that engulfed their country. Indeed, it is widely agreed among historians that Hitler played down anti-Semitism in the Nazis' electoral campaigning. But every German voter was aware of the ferocity of the Nazis' Jew-hatred. And, whatever the case in 1933 Germany, in 2006 Palestine, Hamas has never played down its anti-Semitism or its support for continuing terrorism. More @ Townhall.com

Hamas rejects 'unfair' aid demand - BBC

Hamas victory is good news - Jeff Jacoby
Hamas Leader: "Why Should We Recognize Condoleezza Rice, or Israel's Right to Exist?" - LGF

Shame Google Shame

2006-01-30T18:56:00.000-06:00

Cowardly bastards.

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-01-29T20:53:00.000-06:00

Eleventh House
Larry Coryell

Back to the summer between Grade 8 & 9 (1973)

Tell Us Its Not So

2006-01-28T19:50:00.000-06:00

Tim Hortons in Afghanistan
Forces want troops to have their double-doubles: Canadian icon wary of store in a war zone

The Canadian Forces want to raise morale among troops deployed here by setting up the furthest flung coffee and doughnut franchise in the world: Tim Hortons Afghanistan.

But the Canadian icon is balking at the idea of opening shop at Kandahar Air Field, where more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers are being deployed this month, saying it "is not part of our business model." - More @ Ottawa Citizen

Come on, it wouldn't kill you guys to set up a little coffee shop for the troops. I'll run it if you want.

Terrorists Get All The Votes

2006-01-26T19:35:00.000-06:00

Hamas Sweeps To Election Victory - BBC

Can Journalists Read the Hamas Charter Before They Go Soft on the T-Word? - News Busters

That Didn't Take Long - LGF

Hamas: We’ll Complete Liberation Of Other Parts Of Palestine - Jihad Watch

Palestinians Split Vote Between Terrorist Organizations - Captain Ed

Dickhead

Carter calls for funding Palestinians - Jerusalem Post

Canadian Military In Action

2006-01-24T19:53:00.000-06:00

Canadian Soldiers with the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Quick Reaction Force (QRF) watch as Afghan Police Inspectors examine the surrounding grounds for physical evidence after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded near a Canadian Convoy. There were no causalities, the G-wagons did not sustain any damage from the blasts. - DOD

Google Caves To Communists

2006-01-24T19:23:00.000-06:00

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China

Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a new version of its search engine bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," on Wednesday. A Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has previously been available through the company's dot-com address in the United States.

By creating a unique address for China, Google hopes to make its search engine more widely available and easier to use in the world's most populous country.

Because of government barriers set up to suppress information, Google's China users previously have been blocked from using the search engine or encountered lengthy delays in response time.

The service troubles have frustrated many Chinese users, hobbling Google's efforts to expand its market share in a country that expected to emerge as an Internet gold mine over the next decade. More @ Breitbart.com

Fecken Pussies

Post Election Wrapup

2006-01-24T18:55:00.000-06:00

Cox & Forkum

Conservatives Win in Canadian Election - ABC News
Michael Moore Can Relax, Canada Isn't A Red State Yet - WSJ
PM Wastes No Time Making Exit Official - Totonto Star
Conservatives Reach Out After Win - Yahoo
Conservative Vows To Change Canada - BBC
Advice for Stephen Harper, as my last entry for the Roundtable. - SDA
Harper Says Transition Team's Work Is Underway - CTV
A Very Canadian Kind Of Revolution - Mark Steyn
Victory - Monte Solberg M.P.
Election Stories - Canada.com
Election Results - Canada.com
Tory Minority - National Post

Recommended Listening For The Week

2006-01-22T22:25:00.000-06:00

Bongo Fury
Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart

Election Wrapup

2006-01-22T09:17:00.000-06:00

218 Reasons NOT To Vote For The Liberals - Toronto Sun
Here's What Tory Cabinet Could Be - Toronto Sun
Grits Already Conceding - Toronto Sun
Harper Reaches Out To Quebec Voters - CBC
Pivotal Campaign Moments Occurred Before The Writ Was Even Dropped - CP
All Parties Optimistic Votes To Be Had - Leader Post
Harper Headed For 24 Sussex Drive - Ipsos
It's Like A Classical Pianist At The Burlesque - Mark Steyn

Nuff Said

2006-01-18T19:27:00.000-06:00

Got A Big Fish In Pakistan - LGF
The Bomb Maker Who Missed Dessert - Captain's Quarters

About Time

2006-01-18T19:18:00.000-06:00

Tories would list tigers as terrorists

A Conservative government would add the Tamil Tigers to Canada's list of outlawed terrorist groups, deputy leader and public safety critic Peter MacKay said yesterday.

"The short answer is yes," he said when asked by the National Post if the Tamil Tigers would be listed if the government changed on Monday. "We would list them."

The Conservative party would also act swiftly to deport accused terrorists such as alleged former Tamil Tiger fundraiser Manickavasagam Suresh.

Mr. Suresh was arrested for deportation 10 years ago, but still lives near Toronto. More @ National Post

Via NealeNews