Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Giving a Voice to the Mona Lisa

I've always been fascinated by forensics. TV shows about forensic scientists, facial reconstruction and the like captured my imagination when I was still a kid, and the intrigue hasn't let up yet.

I've always wondered what historical figures really looked like and sounded like. I'm sure we've all had the conversation about who we would talk to if we had the chance; I just took it a step further and really tried to imagine it.

Now, a Japanese scientist has made that a very real possibility.

"The Mona Lisa's smile may always remain a mystery, but it is now possible to hear what her voice would have sounded like, thanks to a Japanese acoustics expert.

Dr Matsumi Suzuki, who generally uses his skills to help with criminal investigations, measured the face and hands of Leonardo da Vinci's famous 16th century portrait to estimate her height and create a model of her skull.

"Once we have that, we can create a voice very similar to that of the person concerned," Suzuki told Reuters in an interview at his Tokyo office last week. "We have recreated the voices of a lot of famous people that were very close to the real thing and have been used in film dubbing."

The chart of any individual's voice, known as a voice print, is unique to that person and Suzuki says he believes he has achieved 90 percent accuracy in recreating the quality of the enigmatic woman's speaking tone."

Pretty amazing stuff. Listen to her here.

(Source: Reuters More: Physorg.com and Dailymail.co.uk)

Technorati Tags: / / / / / / / / / / /

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Beltway Sniper Is Guilty - Again

In October, 2002, I lived about 30 miles north of Montgomery County, Maryland where the sniper attacks were taking place. I remember watching people duck behind things while gassing up their cars, and seeing people holding placards at gas stations proclaiming 'Don't Be Afraid, We'll Pump For You!' People were mortified to be out in public. Stores and malls were virtually empty, and I can remember getting cold chills as I stood filling my car.

I also remember hearing a tremendous number of police cars screaming down the highway near my house late one night with sirens blaring; half an hour later, it was announced that the snipers had been arrested. Their next target would have been my hometown, and taken place less than a mile from my home. They planned to hit the local Outback Steakhouse.

Suffice it to say, I'm relieved to hear that yet another jury made the right decision.

Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad was convicted of six more of the killings Tuesday after a trial in which he acted as his own attorney and the prosecution's star witness was his young protege and partner in crime, Lee Boyd Malvo.

Muhammad, 45, is already under a death sentence in Virginia for a killing there. The most he can get for the six Maryland slayings is life in prison without parole.

(Source: AP/Breitbart)


Iranian Super-Drone Power

Iran claims today to have sent an unmanned drone out over the Persian Gulf and managed to have it circle the USS Ronald Reagan for nearly half an hour. It's amazing how magically advanced and omnipotent Iranian technology seems to be. Not to be outdone by merely remaining undetected, the 'senior Iranian official' making this statement hinted that the drone was somehow able to mysteriously transform the Ronald Reagan from a Naval vessel to an asset of the U.S. Air Force.

"Our pilotless reconnaissance plane flew over the USS Ronald Reagan in the Persian Gulf unnoticed to the Americans for 25 minutes," the official said, according to Iran's Fars agency.

He did not say when the flight took place, but added that U.S. radars picked up the unmanned aerial vehicle after 25 minutes, and that four USAF fighters and two helicopters were scrambled to intercept it. However, the Iranian plane had already crossed the border back into Iran and landed at its base.
Apparently the U.S. Navy has begun to convert its carrier fleet into timeshares. Of course, the article ends with the ubiquitous statement that this event points out flaws in the U.S. military's capabilities. Another day, more meaningless Islamoganda.

(Source: RIA Novosti)

What, no Amnesty?

Not every government is as conciliatory toward illegal immigrants as that of the United States. While our elected representatives are bending over backwards to appease criminals who aren't even citizens as well as the governments of their home countries, at least one European nation is working hard to stop the problem. Ironically, it's Spain.

Nine EU nations have pledged to provide aircraft and patrol boats to support Spain in its effort to stem the flood of illegal migrants from Africa.

Spain says it needs additional five patrol boats, five helicopters and a surveillance plane to track refugees arriving to the Canary Islands.

Austria, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal are backing the request.

Madrid has recently launched a diplomatic offensive, trying to persuade African governments to sign deals making it easier to deport migrants.

(Source: BBC)

Monday, May 29, 2006

Happy Memorial Day

Right Back At You, Iran.

I'm starting to get really pissed off about the 'Iran' crisis and the issue of Islam in general. I'm going to apologize in advance; my emotions are running high on this topic, and there's going to be some "language."

Day after day, it seems like all that gets reported in the media is Adolf Ahmadinejad blowing off at the mouth with more of his Islamofascist crap, or some blowhard 'cleric' (read as: terrorist) issues a 'fatwa' in the name of Islam justifying the murder of their infidel enemies (read as: non-muslim civilians) although the non-muslim part itself seems to have been granted some sort of a waiver.

Apparently, due to a lack of suitable entertainment, all there is to do for fun in the middle east is protest the West, threaten Israel, blow shit up and kill innocent people in innovative and grotesque ways. To top it off, after these acts take place, we're told that we just don't understand Islam. It's a religion of peace. It's been hijacked (appropriate term, eh?) by extremists. Well, I'm calling bullshit on this once and for all.

Depending on who you believe (and this is somewhat of an issue given that your choices are Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Mohammad Ali Samadi (the head of Iran's 'suicide forces') Iran has anywhere from 25,000 to 50,o00 trained and willing suicide operatives ready to strike Western interests at home and abroad.

Samadi said Israel is a target of the group along with the US and European Union countries where the group has allegedly recruited militants. "We have brothers who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the triumph of Islam in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and also the United States..."

What these ignorant brainwashed morons don't realize is that we also have brothers and sisters ready to sacrifice their lives for the triumph of freedom and civilization over their backward, stone age ideology. And we have nukes; but I digress.

"...aspiring organisation members must fill in forms asking them, among other things, which enemy they want to fight against. The options ain the form are three: "Americans who desacrated the sites of Shiite Islam occupying Iraq and Afghanistan"; "Jews who occupy Jerusalem"; and the "British who gave protection to [Indian writer] Salman Rushdie" against whom Iranian clerics have issued a fatwa for his 1988 book Satanic Verses.

However, Samadi said his group is thinking to "widen the list" of targets in the membership forms and include the Netherlands, Italy and France.

"We have learnt that they want to make a follow up to the trash movie 'Submission'," by Theo Van Gogh, who was killed in 2004 by a Dutch-Moroccan Islamic militant, he said. Submission highlighted the repression of women in some Islamic cultures.

France will reportedly be a target "for greatly offending Islam after it prohibited to young women to go to school with the hijab."

Italy was included in the potential list of new entries for granting political asylum in March to an Afghan man who risked the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam.

"Giving political asylum to an idiot who defied Islam is a very serious offense which cannot be ignored," said Samadi. "We will make Italians pay for this offence."

The man who is believed to be the group's strategist is Hassan Abbasi, a professor at the University Imam Hossein in Tehran and an advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Essentially this is state-condoned, if not directly sponsored threats of terrorist attacks directed against the United States and most of our allies, including, of course, Israel. ('Radical' Muslims have made it abundantly clear that they really, really, REALLY don't like Jews. They also don't like getting compared to Nazis, but that's just tough shit, considering that's pretty much what their rhetoric amounts to.)

There's only so much of this two-faced juvenility the world can take before it stands up and collectively bitch-slaps these people back to the stone-age they seem to hold so dear.

(Source: AKI)

A Few of My Least Favorite Things, Vol. 1

With this post, I'm taking a momentary breather from all things news and politics. There are quite a few things in this world I love, and just as many things I totally and absolutely do not like at all. Number one on the list?



Sharks. Yes, they're cool looking. As long as you are looking at them on TV. Somehow, I think that seeing this is as close I really need to get to my inner Jacques Cousteau.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Possession With Intent?

The horror of youth gone mad on caffeine induced binges! Imagine the panic in the streets as teenagers overdose on Pepsi and Mountain Dew! Evidently, this terror was very, very real to one school in Pennsylvania where a middle school student was suspended for giving 'Jolt' chewing gum to another student on the grounds that the gum contains caffeine, and caffeine is a stimulant and is therefore not permissable.
The gum is "a stimulant that has no other redeeming quality," said Amy Palermo, schools superintendent.
Wow, that is seriously profound. Let's forget the whole 'kids bringing drugs, knives and guns to school' thing and go after the real threat to America's youth: Jolt gum.

Perhaps an investigation should be launched to determine whether the teachers these girls shared were so dull that they actually needed an energy kick in the first place. If the school district is this anal-retentive (and starved for attention) my guess would be yes.

In all honesty, it's better to stop these budding young druggies now before they grow up and spend their lives wasting away in dark alleys forced to resort to a life of prostitution to pay for their soft drink habit.

(Source: AccessNorthGa.com)



Spam, It's What's For Dinner

As I fired up my trusty demo copy of MarsEdit to get my latest post finished, all seemed well with the world. It's when I pushed 'Send to Weblog' that things went sour. Blogger apparently now thinks my little slice of the pie is a spam blog.

I get railroaded by those junk blogs all the time, and it IS a real pain, to be sure. I have to admit, I was a little bummed to find out now that I need word verification in order to post. That prohibits me from using ME to post, which is a major hiccup since I've become rather fond of it.

I guess I've really got no choice but to wait and hope that the powers that be at Blogger get around to me and see that I'm just a harmless guy with a big mouth and fast fingers. Until then, I'll continue to 'type the characters I see in the picture above.'

Update: Checking my Technorati page, I see that I've gotten two recent links by this guy, who is using MY post titles on a REAL spam blog. Thanks, you moron.

Lawmakers Afraid of Armed Confrontations On Border

Law enforcement officials are becoming increasingly fearful of armed clashes along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Officials said the clashes could be the result of a plethora of forces along the southern U.S. border. They cited thousands of fresh troops, state police, border patrol and volunteers.

I don't see that happening," said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard bureau. "If we do our coordination properly, and as I said, we're building this on a long, enduring relationship for over 25 years. That's why the Guard was selected for this. We know how to do this so that we don't have skirmishes with the Mexican army."

But law enforcement agents familiar with the Mexican border remain skeptical. They said the federal authorities plan to inform Mexico of U.S. troop movements to ensure border cooperation.

Such information, the agents said, could be relayed by corrupt Mexican commanders to drug dealers and smugglers who send illegal immigrants and cocaine into such states as Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. They said this could facilitate attacks on U.S. border personnel.

Officials said the U.S. Border Patrol has already been relaying to Mexico the whereabouts of American anti-illegal immigration volunteers. They said the Mexican government, which regards the volunteers as vigilantes, has demanded such information as a condition for cooperation.


When, exactly, did we start taking orders from another country's government? Somebody in DC needs to scan the entire Legislative and Executive branches for a spine. We've gone from the tough kid on the playground to the one who gives up his milk money to the big hispanic bully. If I were on the receiving end when that demand came over the line, the response would have been a polite 'hacete cojer.'

(Source: Insight)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Saturday, May 27, 2006

Bush Authorizes Negroponte to Disregard The Law

President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.

The timing of Bush's move is intriguing. On the same day the President signed the memo, Porter Goss resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency amid criticism of ineffectiveness and poor morale at the agency. Only six days later, on May 11, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had obtained millions of calling records of ordinary citizens provided by three major U.S. phone companies. Negroponte oversees both the CIA and NSA in his role as the administration's top intelligence official.

...[T]he statute books showed that the amended version of the 1934 act states that "with respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States," the President or the head of an Executive Branch agency may exempt companies from certain critical legal obligations. These obligations include keeping accurate "books, records, and accounts" and maintaining "a system of internal accounting controls sufficient" to ensure the propriety of financial transactions and the preparation of financial statements in compliance with "generally accepted accounting principles."


Between the NSA wiretaps, Bush's extensive use of signing statements and this development, I'm starting to get that nice warm fuzzy Stasi feeling. National Security is turning into the all purpose 'insanity plea' of the 21st Century as apparently just about anything can be done in its name.

(Source: MSNBC)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Death from Above Gets A Whole New Meaning

This is just plain cool.

A new military parachute system which fits wings on soldiers could enable them to travel to 200 kilometres after jumping, Jane's Defence Weekly reports.

The system, which involves the development of new modular carbon-fibre wings, will mean that aircraft can drop parachutists from 9,150 metres into an area of operations without flying into a danger zone.
Peter Felstead, the editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, says the new system has been in use with the German Army since 2003.

But he says the development of the new wing means soldiers can travel much further than the current 48 kilometres.


(Source: abc.net.au)


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , ,


Vicente Fox Gets Mixed Reception

In an echo of the debate on immigration under way in Washington, the California Legislature gave visiting President Vicente Fox of Mexico a two-edged welcome on Thursday.

Democratic and Latino members, including the Assembly speaker, Fabian Núñez, embraced Mr. Fox, while some Republicans boycotted his evening address to a joint session of the Legislature. Other Republicans attended the speech, but wore yellow buttons reading "No más!" to protest Mr. Fox's support for liberalizing American policies on immigration.

In his address, Mr. Fox praised the immigration bill passed by the Senate on Thursday as a "historic step" and as a "moment that millions of families have been hoping for."

Providing a dose of logic,
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Republican of Orange County, refused to attend Mr. Fox's speech because, he said in an interview, a foreign leader has no right to come to the United States to lobby openly on a piece of domestic legislation.

"I do not at all appreciate a foreign head of state telling my nation how to deal with its own sovereignty and the issue of immigration," said Mr. DeVore, an aerospace executive and a lieutenant colonel in the California Army National Guard.

Fox stated during his address
"Comprehensive reform will help both countries to concentrate on efforts and resources on addressing our shared security and prosperity concerns. We are your partners in security against terrorism. We are your allies in the war on drugs and crime. Let us work together as neighbors, as partners, as friends."

Mexico calling itself a partner in the war on drugs is like Dr. Kevorkian calling himself a partner in the war on death. It's not only a load of crap, it's an insult to Americans.

"Mr. [Fabian] Núñez, who invited Mr. Fox to address the California Legislature, said lawmakers who boycotted the speech were showing disrespect to an important neighbor and trading partner."

They were just returning the favor.

(Source: New York Times More: Penraker)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Friday, May 26, 2006

An Urban Legend Bites the Dust

I'm definitely not what you would consider a conspiracy theorist, but having grown up in the same town as Fort Detrick, the home of USAMRIID, the Army's infectious disease nerve center (which was a focal point in the movie Outbreak) I've certainly heard my fair share of scary urban legend - type stories about it.

When I was a kid, I can remember my grandfather telling me how he helped install all of the fencing on the base when it was converted from 'Camp Detrick' to 'Fort Detrick' and how he always mentioned that several people stationed there at the time told him something along the lines of 'If you knew what went on and wwas buried over here, you wouldn't want to live within 50 miles.'

Somewhere around my middle school years, there was talk about how AIDS might have been developed there, and there were also rumors about shipments of HIV went missing and so on. I definitely never ascribed to them, though I have heard some interesting theories over the years concerning why AIDS seemed like it might be artificial.

In the past few days, some very interesting material has emerged about the real nature of the disease. Yesterday, it was announced that researchers have determined that HIV leapt from primates to humans, with the first known case occurring in Cameroon.




"The first human known to be infected with HIV was a man from Kinshasa in the nearby country of Congo who had his blood stored in 1959 as part of a medical study, decades before scientists knew the AIDS virus existed.

Presumably, someone in rural Cameroon was bitten by a chimp or was cut while butchering one and became infected with the ape virus. That person passed it to someone else."

Even more interesting, this article dug up by an industrious Digg.com user:

"...evidence that a St. Louis teen-ager died of AIDS in 1969 suggests that the AIDS virus may have been introduced into the United States several times before touching off the current epidemic, according to experts in disease transmission.

Until now, many experts have assumed that the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome first appeared in the country sometime in the mid-1970's. Evidence indicates to many experts that the disease originated before then in Africa, although this has not been proved.

The patient, identified only as Robert R., died in 1969 of an illness that baffled his doctors at Washington University in St. Louis. They published a paper in 1984 suggesting that, with hindsight, his symptoms resembled those of AIDS. About two months ago, molecular biologists at Tulane University in New Orleans examined stored specimens of Robert R.'s tissues for signs of the AIDS virus and found that the 15-year-old was apparently infected with it.

An autopsy showed that the Robert R. had Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer that is almost a hallmark of AIDS infections in gay men. The youth had just one outward sign of the cancer, a tiny purple spot on his thigh, Dr. Drake said. But when Dr. Drake performed an autopsy, he found other Kaposi sarcoma lesions throughout the soft tissues of the youth's body."


Although it's not conclusive, it definitely seems to put this conspiracy theory to rest.

Source: AP/Myway
More: New York Times

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 25, 2006

It's In the Jeans

A company in Italy has begun selling "Islamic Jeans" made especially for Muslims who need greater comfort and flexibility during prayer sessions, according to a report.

The Italian company, based in the city of Udine, has been marketing the trousers as "the jeans of choice for Islam," according to the Al Quds Web site.

Al Quds Jeans, manufactured in Pakistan, are baggy and have a high waist to allow freedom of movement during the repeated kneeling for Islamic worship.

Next up in the product line, Jihad Jeans, with extra large pockets to accommodate grenades and ammo clips; also featuring kevlar padding and a heavy dose of fabric sealant to keep out those nasty bloodstains.

(Source: local6.com)


Technorati Tags:
, , , ,


Spare the Trial and Pass the Bullets

The sheer number of depraved and outright disturbed people in the world never ceases to amaze me. Sure, in any given group of animals you're going to find aberrant behavior but sometimes I wonder if humanity's ability to think (or lack thereof depending on your viewpoint) aggravates the situation by several orders of magnitude. Case in point, the man who drove his car into a small group of people outside a Georgia McDonalds on Tuesday, intentionally targeting a group that included several small children.

Of all the lowlife wastes of flesh and bone not worthy of bearing the title human, those who prey on children are by far the most worthless. Mental health issues aside, something has to be inherently wrong with someone in order for this to even begin to formulate itself as a potential plan of action.

“There was clear intent to injure the people. It was obvious,” Police Chief Stacey Cotton said. “This was absolutely not an accident.”

Sadly,

Avery Nicole King, 2, who had been in critical condition, died Wednesday afternoon at an Atlanta hospital, said her uncle, Paul Casola, said.

Of course, there is now a full investigation underway which also aims to look into the perpetrator's mental capacity and prior mental health treatment.

Public defender Anthony Carter, who represented Barnes at Wednesday’s hearing, indicated his mental health could be a factor in the case.

Naturally, the insanity plea will almost certainly be entered when and if this actually makes it as far as a trial, since our legal system has a particular affinity for it. I'm inclined however to argue that mental state should not be weighted as heavily as it is in our system. Whether or not a person understands the gravity of what they have done does not magically change the fact that they committed the act. If treatment can be worked into the rehabilitation and incarceration, that's one thing, but it should not prevent a trial or conviction solely in and of itself.

As the saying goes, 'Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.' Nor should ignorance of one's actions be. The death of an innocent child occurred at the hands of this man, yet according to one witness:

"...the driver was “smiling the whole time.”

There this monster sat, smiling and laughing, meanwhile:

Anita King, 36, of Asheville, N.C., was treated at a hospital and released Tuesday. Stephanie Casola, 33, of Covington, was hospitalized in fair condition Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Casola’s children, Jacob, 4, and Isaac 3, were hospitalized in serious condition.


(Source: MSNBC)


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , ,


Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Tehran Students Protest

Up to 40 Iranian police officers have been injured in clashes with demonstrating students in Tehran.

Students were demonstrating about the appointment of a new college head at Tehran University and the forced retirement of some professors.

There were also protests at Tehran's Amirkabir University about activities of the hardline Basij militia.

The militia had "interfered in elections" for the Islamic Students Association, a pro-reform group.

Iran's student news agency INSA said protestors shouted "Death to reactionaries and dictatorship!" and "We don't want the Islam of the Taleban".

Amirkabir University is one of Iran's most prestigious technical colleges and research centres.


(Source: BBC News More: Topix.net)



Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


CAIR: Stop Associating Islam With Terrorism

The goal of propaganda, simply put, is to obfuscate and re-educate. The easiest means to achieve that end is to redefine the vocabulary of public discourse, shaping it ever so subtly in the propagandist's favor, thus letting the tone of discussion change progressively more toward the likings of the propagandist. If you're still with me, keep reading.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has criticised the position often taken by news reports and editorials that link Islam with terrorism or militancy. In an article entitled "A Sensible Way to Describe Terrorists," CAIR chairman, Parvez Ahmed, said that this is a result of a misnterpretation of Islam. He also refers appreciatively to the European Union's decision to distribute soon new guidelines to its 25-member nations that recommend using a "non-emotive lexicon for discussing radicalisation."

Noticing the resentment among Muslims to the juxtaposition of "Islam" and "terrorism," the European Union (EU) is reportedly developing the list which is expected to be adopted in June.

According to the CAIR chairman, EU officials say that the guidelines, which are not legally binding, would ask European governments to shun the phrase "Islamic terrorism" in favor of "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam." Other terms being considered by the review include "Islamist," "fundamentalist" and "jihad."

Ahmed said, this "first of its kind effort" to separate terrorism from its perceived roots was "laudable."


There is no effort to separate terrorism from its perceived roots. What 'perceived' roots? Unless of course you mean the perception gleaned from seeing dozens of attacks celebrated by masked cowards screaming 'Allahu Akhbar' which, at least as far as I've been able to verify, is an Islamic sentiment. Or maybe it's the perception that the Qur'an is cited by Muslim 'cleric' after 'cleric' as justification for the slaughter of innocent civilians?

The notion that Islam is the 'perceived' root of the recent spate of global terrorism and the focus of the U.S. led war on terror is analogous to saying that the engine is the 'perceived' powerplant of a car.


"Associating the criminal enterprise of terrorism with the faith of 1.4 billion Muslims, 99.99 percent of whom will never come near any act of terrorism, much less use Islam as a justification for their crimes, is just plain wrong..."


All well and good except for the fact that the terrorists we are fighting are composed of groups like Al-Qaeda, which is...drum roll please...led by people who are Muslim (surprise!), making it an organization based, however loosely some might claim, on Islam. Facts are facts. We don't see Bin Laden reaching for a copy of the New Testament on his sporadic videos, do we?

A word search on news stories published in major newspapers over the past decade shows that reporters are hundred times more likely to associate Islam with terrorism or militancy than all other faiths combined.


Wow, I wonder why that might be?

"Today, we all live in fear of terrorism. Equating terrorism with Islam makes the mainstream Muslim community doubly vulnerable to both the random acts of terror and the ensuing backlash. Muslims worldwide are the primary victims of terror."

Tell that to the families affected by the Cole bombing, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, commuters in Madrid and London, the families of Nick Berg and the families of every coalition soldier lost in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They are the primary perpetrators of terror, and we're supposed to have a pity-party for them because it's unfair to characterize the Islamic faith with a link to terrorism.

Yes the vast majority of Muslims probably disagree with the ideology of terror spread by these groups but that simply does not change the fact that the groups operate under the banner of Islam. I feel sorry for rank and file Muslims who simply don't have the courage to stand up. If your religion is so peaceful, take it back. Don't sit around on your asses and wait for CAIR of all groups to come around and try to mandate a redefinition of the term terrorist in order to make you seem like a much more affable bunch.

That just makes it look a lot worse.

(Source: adnki.com)


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Pence Plan for Immigration

[Mike] Pence, a rising star in the House, is suggesting a temporary worker program based on a data base run by private industry. And unlike the leading plan in the Senate and the blueprint sketched by Bush, his “Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act” would require all applicants to leave the country first. Pence tweaks a phrase from Bush’s address to the nation by calling the compromise “a REAL rational middle ground.” Even though Bush has said his preferred solution “ain’t amnesty,” Pence appeals to hard-liners by calling the compromise a “no-amnesty solution.”

The solution is to set up a system that will encourage illegal aliens to self-deport and come back legally as guest workers,” Pence, the grandson of an Irish immigrant, says in prepared remarks. “The visa will be issued only outside of the United States. Outside of the United States. That is a key point because it is the provision that will require the twelve million illegal aliens to leave. Now, some of you are thinking to yourselves that 12 million people aren’t going to pack up and leave just to get a visa to come back legally. But, I believe most will.”

I don't know if I really expect 12 million people to leave the country voluntarily, but I think this is a much better starting point than the measures currently being considered. Pence has proposed a far more reasoned and rational approach to the immigration issue.

As I've said time and time again, the issue is not that we don't want immigrants here, we just want them here legally. It's that simple.

Think about it: would you rather have a burglar or an invited guest?

(Source: Time)


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Baghdad Death Squad Tortures and Kills 12 Year Old Boy

The family of 12-year-old Hani Saadoun has been traumatized by that reality since his tortured body, mutilated by electric drills, was found on Tuesday. They had been in a state of fear since he failed to return home for lunch a day earlier.

It seems gunmen in three cars cornered him as he headed to work, helping out at his father's parking lot, Interior Ministry sources and relatives said.
On a day off from school, eager to earn some pocket money, he set off to work at his father's lot. Normally his father or older brothers would have gone with him but, for the first time, they had pressing business at home and the youngster set off alone.
Saadoun's body was found dumped in southern Baghdad's violent, mostly Sunni Arab, district of Dora. It bore the hallmarks of sectarian tit-for-tat killings that have exploded since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February.

The youngster, with a bullet hole in his head and another through the chest, was blindfold and his hands bound. He had been whipped with cables, tormented by electric drills and his body dragged through the streets behind a car.

What type of backward, stone-age mentality comes up with this? How in the world can people be so depraved as to think of it? More importantly, can we realistically hope that a society riddled with this type of behavior will ever be truly stable?

My heart goes out to the family of this child. No child deserves to be made to suffer because adults decide they can act like thugs in the name of God, revenge, or anything else. Sadly, this is the case for the people of Iraq.

I'm disgusted to share the same planet with the likes of the people who perpetrate this kind of animalistic savagery. I hope these bastards get 'drilled' by a U.S. sniper's bullet between the eyes, preferably in front of a large crowd of witnesses.

(Source: Reuters)


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Monday, May 22, 2006

Separation of Mosque and State?

It's both ironic and insulting that every time someone mentions the word Christianity within several hundred feet of a school or government facility, liberals and 'activists' jump all over it like anorexic sharks on chum. It's even more ironic and insulting that Christianity seems to be the only victim of this 'separation.' Any other faith or belief system seems to have a free pass, and it makes me wonder if we as a country aren't suffering from some warped variation of the Stockholm Syndrome where we've become over sympathetic to the religion seized upon by fanatics who want to destroy us.

For instance:
In a recent federal decision that got surprisingly little press, even from conservative talk radio, California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it's OK to put public-school kids through Muslim role-playing exercises, including:
Reciting aloud Muslim prayers that begin with "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . ."


Memorizing the Muslim profession of faith: "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger."

Chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.

Professing as "true" the Muslim belief that "The Holy Quran is God's word."

Giving up candy and TV to demonstrate Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Designing prayer rugs, taking an Arabic name and essentially "becoming a Muslim" for two full weeks.


Parents of seventh-graders, who after 9-11 were taught the pro-Islamic lessons as part of California's world history curriculum, sued under the First Amendment ban on religious establishment. They argued, reasonably, that the government was promoting Islam.


Not surprisingly, the overwhelmingly left-wing 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling to allow this, defending the action as teaching children about another culture. Apparently this ruling negates the fact that Islam is actually, get ready for this, a religion.

Thanks to the court's ruling, California is
"...legally in the clear to indoctrinate kids into the "peaceful" and "tolerant" religion of Islam, while continuing to denigrate Judeo-Christian values.

In the California course on world religions, Christianity is not presented equally. It's covered in just two days and doesn't involve kids in any role-playing activities. But kids do get a good dose of skepticism about the Christian faith, including a biting history of its persecution of other peoples. In contrast, Islam gets a pass from critical review. Even jihad is presented as an "internal personal struggle to do one's best to resist temptation," and not holy war."


Who would be behind such a thing?

The ed consultant's name is Susan L. Douglass...She's a devout Muslim activist on the Saudi government payroll..."

And so it continues...

(Source: Investor's Business Daily)


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Saudi Men Board Schoolbus Full of Kids

Two Saudi men were held without bond Sunday after they were arrested for boarding a school bus full of children, authorities said.

Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing and were being held at Orient Road Jail after a judge said Saturday she wanted more background information on them.

The two men arrived in the country six months ago on student visas and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida.

Investigators said they boarded the school bus Friday, sat down and began speaking in Arabic. Their behavior concerned the driver, a substitute, who alerted the school district.

Officials who questioned the men Friday said they at first said they were from Morocco but later admitted being from Saudi Arabia. Both arrived in the country six months ago and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at USF. Their reasons for getting on the bus ranged from wanting to enroll in easier English classes to having some fun.

The pair's lawyer noted:

"They didn't differentiate between a school bus and public transportation"
That little aside could be taken in a rather ominous context if you really think about it.

Of course, since we here in America are all racists and hate middle easterners, the true story, again courtesy of their lawyer is that:
"...the men got on the bus out of a cultural misunderstanding."
What burns me up about this whole issue is the fact that immediately, their lawyer whips out the allmighty race card.
[He] called the court's decision to revoke bond an overreaction and tied to the men being Arabic and Muslim.
Overreaction? I think not. I want to clear up some misconceptions about this amazing amount of 'racism' directed at Muslims. There is no such thing as 'Islamophobia.' That's a nice little convenient catch-all term designed to denigrate anyone who dares speak up against the growing reach of Islamic fundamentalism. We're not phobic of Muslims. We're cautious of them.

Why do we single them out? Let's see, we have daily suicide bombings in Israel, Iraq and pretty much every other country in the middle east. Muslims hijacking airplanes and slamming them into our civilian and military buildings. Muslims beheading and shooting civilians around the world. Car bombings, kidnappings, bombings of Naval vessels and Muslims calling for the destruction of entire countries and cultures all the while hiding their attempt to get nuclear weapons. On top of that, we have them threatening terror attacks if we attempt to even find out if they are working on nuclear weapons.

They've attacked us overseas for years and then in 1993 and 2001 managed to score direct hits here at home. In retaliation, we go over and set off some firecrackers in their sandbox and now WE are the aggressors?

On top of this stupidity, now we're being called racists and cultural bigots because we call shenanigans when two Saudis decide to climb onto a schoolbus loaded with kids and start laughing about it!

Do they really think we're NOT going to find that the least bit suspicious? They can't possibly be that stupid.

(Sources: Fox News, TBO.com
More: Michelle Malkin)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, May 19, 2006

Now That's a Nutty Woman

I can understand someone getting pissed off at their spouse, but this is crazy:

A Philadelphia man is recovering from an attack, allegedly at the hands of his wife. The assault on his private parts has become public knowledge. In an interview with Action News after his release from, the 52-year-old victim spoke of his terrifying ordeal.

The 52-year-old Tioga-Nicetown man, who we are identifying only by his first name of Howard, arrived home late Wednesday, hours after his wife allegedly tore off two parts of his genitalia with her bare hands. Surgeons at Einstein successfully managed to repair the damage.


(Source: 6abc.com)

It's always good to know we've got some homegrown psychos to even things out, don't you think?


Technorati Tags:
, , , ,


Iran To Adopt Badges For Non Muslims

I've got nothing to add to this. This speaks for itself.

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."

The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."

Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.

It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.

Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.

The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani.

"We are not here to answer such questions."

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure.

"The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power -- and we were all wrong.
"

Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements.

"There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to start considering how we're going to deal with this person."

Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution."

He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map.
"
(Source: Canada.com, More: National Post)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Ahmadinejad's Threat and Iran's Reality

This little twerp is really starting to get under my skin. Iran's President once again lobbed a veiled threat at the U.S. while rambling on about how unfairly Iran is being treated over its nuclear research.

Ahmadinejad also while referring to his letter to President Bush said, this letter had been intended to show the righteous path, due to the fact that many of the world's problems had originated from forgetting the divine culture.

"Of course they are free to accept the message of this letter or to discard it, but history is full of the examples of those who have been eradicated through rejecting the divine call."

Again and again, Ahmadinejad bases his temper-tantrumesque rants on the assertion that Iran is only seeking nuclear power for peaceful, civilian applications as it is entitled to do under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The problem he continually tries to dodge through name calling and bravado is that there is not only the suspicion that Iran is working on nuclear weapons, but there is also some damning evidence to that end.

Inspectors recently confirmed Iran's claims of having enriched very small quantities of uranium to low levels, and they can continue to monitor those narrow steps. But at Natanz and elsewhere, they have lost their window into the future - for instance, into the factories where Iran has claimed it will build tens of thousands of centrifuges, machines that spin incredibly quickly to enrich, or concentrate, uranium into fuel. Low-enriched uranium can fuel reactors; highly enriched uranium can power bombs.

So, too, they cannot investigate Iran's boasts that it is forging ahead with research on a more advanced centrifuge that could accelerate its efforts to make atomic fuel.

The Iranians have also stopped cooperating with investigations into the possible existence of clandestine work on uranium and plutonium, an alternate bomb fuel. Just last week, diplomats revealed an inquiry into the origin of traces of highly enriched uranium linked to a razed military research base at Lavizan, outside Tehran.
Little by little, the agency pieced together a pattern of deception dating to 1985, proving that Iran had done uranium and plutonium work that could help fuel a bomb.

Over nearly three years of inspections, IAEA reports documented dozens of surprises, including:

Iran was found to have used lasers to purify uranium starting in 1991 and in 2000 established a pilot plant for laser enrichment.

Significant research was uncovered on polonium 210, a rare element that can help trigger an atom bomb.

Many ties emerged to the black market of A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani atomic pioneer who supplied Iran with its centrifuge designs. Inspectors found one Khan document offering to help shape uranium metal into "hemispherical forms" needed for bomb cores.

Even on their best behavior, the Iranians could delay and stonewall. They are still refusing to turn over an important Khan document that inspectors have sought for more than two years.

Sometimes, the excuses bordered on the comical. Keys to a centrifuge hall at the Kalaye Electric Company were lost. The Lavizan-Shian military physics research base on the outskirts of Tehran, recently linked to the discovery of highly enriched uranium, was razed because City Hall said it needed the land for a park.


In a sense, Iran's candor backfired. It always came up with detailed explanations for its omissions, discrepancies and hidden programs. But each new disclosure raised new doubts and demands for better information.

More: International Herald-Tribune

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Thursday, May 18, 2006

Ensign Amendment Killed in Senate

The days of the U.S. are numbered. We're not going to be defeated by Jihadists, we're going to be ripped apart from within by our own leadership, colonized and renamed North Mexico. Ok, admittedly it might not happen exactly like this, but Congress and the Bush Administration sure seem to have it in for the U.S. as we know it. It's no wonder the rest of the world has lost respect for us; we can't even decide if we should enforce our own laws.

The U.S. Senate blocked an effort on Thursday to limit Social Security benefits for illegal immigrants who would become permanent residents under a sweeping immigration overhaul being debated by lawmakers.
The Senate also killed an amendment offered by Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, that would have prevented immigrants who legalize their status from getting Social Security credit for work while they were illegal.
"Social Security was not intended for people who entered our country illegally," Ensign said.
Senator Ted Kennedy responded by saying:

"Their money sits in the Social Security Administration waiting to be matched with an eligible beneficiary, and once those workers establish the eligibility, how in all fairness can we deny them the credit for their past contributions?"

Because they are not here legally, Ted, and are using someone else's STOLEN Social Security number. Though I must admit, I'm not shocked that you don't seem to understand or care about those minor details. My God, the audacity of liberalism is a sight to behold.

John Hinderaker of Power Line adds:

"But, as Senator Ensign pointed out, illegals often misappropriate other people's social security numbers, which has caused nightmarish problems for many citizens whose Social Security work records have been confused or even deleted entirely.

Yesterday there was a lot of discussion...about whether it is fair to say that the Senate bill provides "amnesty" for illegal aliens. (John McCain's "Call it a banana" was one of the low points of that debate.) Under the Senate bill, illegals will get Social Security credit for contributions made when they were working in violation of the law, resulting, in many instances, in their receiving benefits that far exceed those contributions. In view of that fact, it's hard to see how the "amnesty" label can be considered inappropriate."
Mary Katharine Ham weighs in:

"But here's the substance of the debate-- Should ILLEGAL immigrants, once made legal by the McCain legislation, be entitled to receive the Social Security benefits they have paid into the system while ILLEGALLY using FRAUDULENT Social Security numbers STOLEN from actual, legal citizens of the United States of America.

The fact that this is even up for debate is just beyond insane. Everyone knows we will never have enough Social Security funds to serve, you know, actual citizens.


Every single one of those senators knows that, and they're debating whether we should extend such non-existent, unsustainable, budget-busting, generation-saddling benefits to millions of people who fraudulently entered the system by stealing the identities (and sometimes ruining the credit) of legal Americans?!?"
Call your congressman. Now.

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


UK - Ten Years to Deport Illegal Immigrants

Apparently the UK is taking their Illegal Immigration a bit more seriously than we are. Here in the U.S., our chief concern is apparently our 'reliance' on cheap labor and our need to be 'touchy feely' and not violate any illegal immigrant's rights. (I meant migrants, of course.)
An immigration minister has said it could take 10 years to deport all the illegal immigrants living in the UK.
On Wednesday Mr Blair said he believed the vast bulk of foreign prisoners should be deported whatever the dangers in their home nations.

Downing Street later said some prisoners could avoid deportation in "very few exceptional cases" such as a known threat to an individual.

He said: "In the vast bulk of cases, as was explained, there will be an automatic presumption now to deport - and the vast bulk of those people will be deported," he said. "Those people, in my view, should be deported irrespective of any claim that they have that the country to which they are going back may not be safe."

"Too much weight is being given to the possibility of someone suffering when they get home and too little weight is given to risk to British society," he said.

Anybody listening?

(Source: BBC)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pat Robertson Is (Still) An Idiot

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.

Robertson has made the predictions at least four times in the past two weeks on his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded. Robertson said the revelations about this year's weather came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8. Wednesday, he added, "there well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."

Robertson has come under intense criticism in recent months for comments suggesting that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.

This is exactly why people have a low opinion of Christians as a whole and televangelists in particular. He gives me a headache every time he opens his mouth. Maybe he should leave CBN and go get a gig at the weather channel.

(Source: Fox News)

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , ,

U.S. Ambassador Compares Iran Threat to 9/11

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, on Wednesday compared the threat from Iran’s nuclear programs to the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

"Just like September 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that’s the threat. I think that is the threat," Bolton told ABC News’ Nightline program.

"I think it’s just facing reality. It’s not a happy reality, but it’s reality and if you don’t deal with it, it will become even more unpleasant.
"

Of course,
Russia and China are resisting proposals from Britain, France and the United States for a council statement that would express "serious concern" about Iran’s nuclear program and asks it to comply with demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
More: Here

Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The Mandatory Da Vinci Code Post

With all the madness going on around 'The Da Vinci Code' I'd hoped to manage to avoid posting on it, since pretty much everyone else in the civilized world with a blog probably already has. Unfortunately, I caught wind of an article linked on Drudge this morning that forced my hand.

I understand that people always have and likely will mock and denigrate Christianity. As Christians, we expect it. As such, the fact that the 'Da Vinci Code' is the talk of the entertainment world doesn't bother me. It disturbs me that so many people believe it, but I'm not threatened by it in any way. What does bother me is how it is being parlayed into dozens of 'Dissecting the Da Vinci Code' specials and giving it such serious treatment. By bother me, I mean that it makes me wonder if there's really nothing better to plug into the programming schedule. I do understand the motivation though, obviously the networks are trying to capitalize on the hype surrounding the 'Code.'

I haven't read it cover to cover, nor do I plan to do so. I don't plan to see the movie. I've familiarized myself with the concepts in the book. The premise offends me, and having suffered through 'Deception Point', also by Dan Brown, earlier this year, my main justification for not wanting to experience 'the Code' is the fact that my other experience with his writing was slow, plodding, cheesy, and forgettable. I'd rather spend my entertainment dollars on something I have the potential to like and not have my core values and beliefs offended by.

Do I hate Dan Brown and Tom Hanks and call for a boycott of the film? No. I'm not an ignorant reactionary like those who are calling for this. I credit the man with selling a huge number of books and being very successful in his field. I congratulate him on having his book turned into a feature film and all the rewards that come with that. I just disagree with the promotion of the film as factual, and I am also surprised at the ease with which people involved in the entertainment industry take such liberties with people's faith and defend it as 'a jolly good story.'

Ian McKellan who plays a pivotal role in the film was quoted as saying,
"Well, I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction..."


I can understand why 'Sir' McKellen would choose not to respect the Bible or Christianity for that matter, but I think this comment is telling. I think it pretty much neatly sums up the double-standard so prevalent in the media.

Some Christians have chosen to protest 'The Da Vinci Code.' I personally don't think that it's worth the effort, as apparently, it's not that great anyway. What's telling is that protests and calls for boycotts are pretty much the only reaction people are having to the negative.

For comparison, let's take a moment and imagine if the story revolved around Mohammed. We all know that cartoons don't go over terribly well in the Muslim world, so imagine the repercussions. I guess the vilification of Christianity for entertainment purposes is ok because Christians don't typically go on homicidal rampages and call for beheadings?

Interesting how the peaceful faith takes all the flack while the expansionist violent faith is revered.

Such are the times we live in.


Technorati Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , ,