Iran Figures It Out

This is a "must read" for anyone who desires international stability.

'The Last Helicopter'

Hassan Abbasi has a dream--a helicopter doing an arabesque in cloudy skies to avoid being shot at from the ground. On board are the last of the "fleeing Americans," forced out of the Dar al-Islam (The Abode of Islam) by "the Army of Muhammad." Presented by his friends as "The Dr. Kissinger of Islam," Mr. Abbasi is "professor of strategy" at the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard Corps University and, according to Tehran sources, the principal foreign policy voice in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's new radical administration.

And here is what he has to say;

To hear Mr. Abbasi tell it the entire recent history of the U.S. could be narrated with the help of the image of "the last helicopter." It was that image in Saigon that concluded the Vietnam War under Gerald Ford. Jimmy Carter had five helicopters fleeing from the Iranian desert, leaving behind the charred corpses of eight American soldiers. Under Ronald Reagan the helicopters carried the corpses of 241 Marines murdered in their sleep in a Hezbollah suicide attack. Under the first President Bush, the helicopter flew from Safwan, in southern Iraq, with Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf aboard, leaving behind Saddam Hussein's generals, who could not believe why they had been allowed live to fight their domestic foes, and America, another day. Bill Clinton's helicopter was a Black Hawk, downed in Mogadishu and delivering 16 American soldiers into the hands of a murderous crowd.

According to this theory, President George W. Bush is an "aberration," a leader out of sync with his nation's character and no more than a brief nightmare for those who oppose the creation of an "American Middle East." Messrs. Abbasi and Ahmadinejad have concluded that there will be no helicopter as long as George W. Bush is in the White House. But they believe that whoever succeeds him, Democrat or Republican, will revive the helicopter image to extricate the U.S. from a complex situation that few Americans appear to understand.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's defiant rhetoric is based on a strategy known in Middle Eastern capitals as "waiting Bush out." "We are sure the U.S. will return to saner policies," says Manuchehr Motakki, Iran's new Foreign Minister.

Mr. Ahmadinejad believes that the world is heading for a clash of civilizations with the Middle East as the main battlefield. In that clash Iran will lead the Muslim world against the "Crusader-Zionist camp" led by America. Mr. Bush might have led the U.S. into "a brief moment of triumph." But the U.S. is a "sunset" (ofuli) power while Iran is a sunrise (tolu'ee) one and, once Mr. Bush is gone, a future president would admit defeat and order a retreat as all of Mr. Bush's predecessors have done since Jimmy Carter.

Mr. Ahmadinejad also notes that Iran has just "reached the Mediterranean" thanks to its strong presence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. He used that message to convince Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to adopt a defiant position vis-à-vis the U.N. investigation of the murder of Rafiq Hariri, a former prime minister of Lebanon. His argument was that once Mr. Bush is gone, the U.N., too, will revert to its traditional lethargy. "They can pass resolutions until they are blue in the face," Mr. Ahmadinejad told a gathering of Hezbollah, Hamas and other radical Arab leaders in Tehran last month.

Read the whole thing. There is a lot more here, like this;

It is not only in Tehran and Damascus that the game of "waiting Bush out" is played with determination. In recent visits to several regional capitals, this writer was struck by the popularity of this new game from Islamabad to Rabat. The general assumption is that Mr. Bush's plan to help democratize the heartland of Islam is fading under an avalanche of partisan attacks inside the U.S. The effect of this assumption can be witnessed everywhere.

We can kid ourselves all day long and Liberals can tell all of the lies that they wish about how they are really patriotic and how they are not harming our national security, that will not help. The Democrats want a strategic redeployment, and the enemy knows exactly what that is. We kid ourselves, but they understand.

The enemy sees our weakness and is ready to act.

You Just Can't Make This Up

The primitives of Islam are having trouble with a "problem" that we would not think twice about.

Uttering 'talaq' in sleep lands couple in soup

Siliguri: A Muslim couple in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal have been ordered by local religious leaders to separate as the husband allegedly uttered 'talaq' three times in his sleep.

While the couple, who have three children, refused to obey the order as there was no discord between them, the community leaders are adamant that they must separate or face a "social boycott."

Aftab Ansari and Sohela have been married for the past 11 years.

However, on the night of December 20 last, Aftab allegedly uttered 'talaq' three times in his sleep after a tiff with his wife.

The matter came to light when Sohela discussed it with her close friends and soon it reached the ears of the Muslim leaders.

A quote of a Press Trust of India article by the same name (I cannot find a link) in its entirety;

A Muslim couple in Jalpaiguri district have been ordered by local
religious leaders to separate as the husband allegedly uttered talaq
three times in his sleep.

While the couple, who have three children, refused to obey the order
since there was no discord between them, the community leaders are
adamant that they must separate or face a "social boycott".

Aftab Ansari and Sohela have been married for the past 11 years.
However, on the night of December 20 last year, Aftab allegedly uttered
talaq three times in his sleep after a tiff with his wife.

The matter came to light when Sohela discussed it with her close
friends and soon it reached the ears of the Muslim leaders.

The leaders, quoting the Shariyat, ruled that the talaq has to be
implemented and if it is not acceptable, the only alternative was
temporary separation for 100 days during which the wife will live at
her father's house and spend a night with another man. [Now there are some family values for you. Does she then get to be stoned for adultery? - ed.]

She can remarry her husband only after the man has given her talaq.

As the couple was unwilling to accept the verdict, the matter went to
the family counselling centre at Falakata police station in Jalpaiguri
district.

The counselling centre, attended by judges of the Alipurduar
sub-divisional court, discussed the problem in detail on Saturday, but
failed to find a solution.

The additional district session judge (second track), Muhammad Abdul
Jalil, has directed the general secretary of the Anjuman Committee,
Muhammad Abul, to settle the issue, sources in the counselling centre
said.

I wonder if they will be able to sort out this very difficult problem

Liberal Judenhass Watch - Jimmy Carter

JOSHUAPUNDIT fisks the recent pronouncement of Jimmy Carter in support of HAMAS, the group that still wants to kill every Jew in the Middle East.

In Jimmy Carter soils himself in print Freedom Fighter finds both the lies...

"With Israel's approval, the Carter Center has monitored all three Palestinian elections. They have all been honest and peaceful, with the results accepted by winners and losers."

Which elections are you talking about. Mr. Carter? The Stalin-like one where Arafat ran unopposed except for an 80 year old woman who told everybody to vote for Arafat? Or the most recent one that featured gun battles between Hamas and Fatah supporters, and had the Palestinian 'security' forces voting in their barracks under the eyes of their officers?

and the stupidities;

"The pre-eminent obstacle to peace is Israel's colonisation of Palestine."

No, Mr. Carter. The pre-eminent obstacle to peace, as you put it, is the Arab refusal to live next to Jews in peace and equality.That's the central issue, and if it weren't, where the borders were wouldn't be important.

There are almost a million Arabs who live in Israel as citizens, with the right to vote and the full protection of law. Care to show me a similar community of Jews with those rights in the Arab world?

Freedom Fighter nails it, go read the whole thing.

Sodom Officially Condemns Christians

The City of San Francisco, always willing to tolerate speech with which it agrees, has issued an official condemnation of a rally of peaceful, evangelical Christians.

Evangelical teens rally in S.F.;

More than 25,000 evangelical Christian youth landed Friday in San Francisco for a two-day rally at AT&T Park against "the virtue terrorism" of popular culture, and they were greeted by an official city condemnation and a clutch of protesters who said their event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally."

This is not their first rally. They made stops in Detroit and Philadelphia.

Luce said it was the first time one of his events has been officially condemned.

A Battle Cry invitation to teenagers made plain the symbolism of gathering in San Francisco for a pre-event rally at "the very City Hall steps where several months ago, gay marriages were celebrated for all the world to see."

The idea of normal, healthy families leading normal healthy lives is too much for the people of Sodom.

On one side of the barricade was girl carrying a sign that said, "Instead of porn, show us Godly relationships." On the other, a woman held one that said, "I moved here to get away from people like you."

South Koreans Warm to U.S.

Poll: S. Koreans warming to U.S., see China as longterm threat;

Some 38 percent of South Koreans think China could emerge as their country'’s biggest security threat in a decade, according to a recent poll by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a state-run think tank.

The March 19 survey indicated that South Koreans are increasingly concerned about China's rapidly growing influence while Seoul's anti-U.S. sentiment appears to be slowly easing.

Also, 81.7 percent of respondents described the United States as the most helpful to South Korea, followed by distant runners-up China with 6.1 percent and Japan 4.5 percent. 5.4 percent cited North Korea as the most helpful country to South Korea.

Perhaps, but for the reasons that I stated here, I still think that we should remove our armed forces and use them elsewhere.

Write Your Congressman

Congress Must Block White House From Cutting Military Health Care

But this year, the Bush administration decided it was time to make major cuts in the TRICARE retiree program to help pay for the war in Iraq. The administration has proposed a defense budget which would triple the annual TRICARE Prime enrollment fee for retired officers under 65, double the annual enrollment fee for senior enlisted retirees under 65 and increase the annual enrollment fee by 41 percent for enlisted retirees E-6 and below under the age of 65.

Anyone who opts for TRICARE Standard would have to pay an annual enrollment fee for the first time, though it would not be as high as the TRICARE Prime enrollment fee. At the same time, the administration also proposed raising deductibles for everyone covered under TRICARE Standard.

Let’s be very specific. Retired officers under TRICARE Prime will see their annual enrollment fee for an individual go up from the current level of $230 to $700 in two years. Family enrollment fees for retired officers will go up from the current level of $460 to $1,400 in two years.

For senior enlisted retirees under TRICARE Prime the annual fee would increase from the current individual level of $230 to $475 in two years and the family enrollment fee would go up from $460 to $950 in two years.

Those military retiree families who elect TRICARE Standard could expect new enrollment fees ranging from $280 to $560 plus higher deductibles.

In a move that can only be described as cynical, the Bush administration is trying to create savings by raising fees, deductibles and co-pays to such a level that many retirees will abandon TRICARE in favor of health insurance provided by their post-military employers (for those who have second career jobs). The assumption is that employed retirees currently sign up for TRICARE rather than health insurance through their new employer because TRICARE is so much cheaper and since many employers require the employee to pay a hefty portion of their health insurance premiums.

One of the reasons we stick-out 20 of active duty service with lousy pay is because the lack of pay is made up for with other benefits, medical care after retirement being the most important. When I joined the Navy, the promise was of free medical for life. Then under the Clintons we got TRICARE and the fees mentioned in the article linked above. OK, I have no problem with that.

This goes too far.

Physical Defects in North Korea

No one in North Korea has a physical defect. How can that be? Simple. If a child is born with a physical defect he is immediately killed.

N.Korean defector says disabled newborns are killed

"There are no people with physical defects in North Korea," Ri told members of the New Right Union, which groups local activists and North Korean refugees.

He said babies born with physical disabilities were killed in infancy in hospitals or in homes and were quickly buried.

The practice is encouraged by the state, Ri said, as a way of purifying the masses and eliminating people who might be considered "different."

The group urged the South Korean government to change course away from "silent diplomacy" and immediately begin taking action to pressure the North to improve its human rights record.

The South Korean government has refused to join international condemnation of human rights abuses in the North out of concern that such a move could rattle ties with Pyongyang, which considers any criticism of its human rights as deeply offensive.

"The government should stop trying to avoid upsetting Kim Jong-il," said another defector, Kim Young-sun, 67, referring to the North Korean leader. "It should try to upset Kim Jong-il," she said, adding it would be the best way to change the North.

Kim Young-sun is a survivor of the North's Yodok prison camp, [more on North Korea's Gulag here, - ed.] notorious for its forced labor and life-sentences for people charged with conspiring against the Kim Jong-il leadership.

Mun Hyon-ok said women from her hometown in the northern region of North Korea bordering China were taken by a ring of human traffickers and probably ended up in China.

"And there are women who are selling themselves for a handful of rice," she told the forum.

North Korea has called itself a people's paradise and said criticism of its human rights was motivated by a goal of toppling the leadership of Kim Jong-il.

North Korea still calls itself a worker's and a people's paradise. Kim Jong-Il would like to give this gift of "paradise" to South Korea as well.

Liberal Judenhass Watch - Dershowitz Answers Harvard

I posted a piece about the excreble "study" by anti-semites at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. That post included a link to the paper. That document has now been altered to remove the logos of the J.F.K. School and Harvard University. Also, a disclaimer has been added that wasn't there before. I have not done a paragraph by paragraph comparison, but the disclaimer on the original document says that it has been "reworked". Here is the disclaimer;

The two authors of this Working Paper are solely responsible for the views expressed in it. As academic institutions, Harvard University and the University of Chicago do not take positions on the scholarship of individual faculty, and this article should not be interpreted or portrayed as reflecting the official position of either institution.

An edited and reworked version of this paper was published in the London Review of Books Vol. 28, No. 6 (March 23, 2006), and is available online at www.lrb.co.uk

Here is the link to the "reworked" version; The Israel Lobby, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. At first glance it seems that the only changes involve the removal of footnoting. All of the other vile lies are still there. This is the most filthy judenhass.

One would expect that Dr. Alan Dershowitz, having been criticized as an "apologist" for Israel in this piece, would have something to say. He does.

'AIPAC study is ignorant propaganda'

Dershowitz slammed the authors - Stephan Walt, from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago - and challenged them to a public debate at the Kennedy School.

"You have to counter this article", Dershowitz told The Jerusalem Post, "These are two serious scholars and you need to expose what they have done as ignorant propaganda".

Dershowitz, who is now working on a paper which will refute the claims in the Walt-Mearsheimer article, argues that there is no original material in it and that "the challenge is to find a single idea in the piece that does not already appear in hate websites. There is no scholarship here what so ever".

Another famous person has a somewht different opinion of the "study";

The paper won praise from David Duke, a white supremacist and former Klan leader. Duke told the New York Sun he was surprised "how excellent" the paper is and said that it "validates every major point" he has made during the past years.

CAMERA has something to say about it as well, Study Decrying “Israel Lobby” Marred by Numerous Errors. This is a first-rate fisking and deserves its own post (which, when I have the time, it will get). Don't wait, read it now.

CAMERA has also preserved the original front page with the original logos. See it here, Harvard Backs Away from "Israel Lobby" Professors; Removes Logo from Controversial Paper

Islam - "Religion of Tolerance"

This speaks for itself.

From Mere Comments at Touchstone Magazine, Tolerance Muslim Style

Read the comments.

North Korea Threatens Strike

The maniacs who rule the inmates of the DPRK now say that they have the right to launch a pre-emptive strike againt South Korea.

North Korea Threatens Pre-emptive Attack

Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - North Korea official national media says the communist state has the right to launch a pre-emptive attack against U.S.-backed South Korean forces because the two Koreas are technically still at war.

While that may sound reasonable on its face, it is not. They signed this;

THE ARMISTICE AGREEMENT

Read it. They do NOT have a right to a pre-emptive strike.

Liberal Judenhass Watch - Support for Israel

My friend evariste over at Discarded Lies has a post on a lie that liberals just will not discard. This is the lie that the United States should end support for Israel because it is not in our best interest to give them support and that Israel is no better than her neighbors.

1. Liberals say that our support for Israel is the reason that we are a prime target for terrorists, and the reason why so much of the world hates us (another lie - why does everybody want to come here?). If we did not support Israel, we would be safe from global terrorism. These are the same people who used to say, "If there were no Jews, there would be no problem." Of course Muslims never attack other Muslims; and France, who has a huge Muslim population and is no fan of Israel, never has a terrorism problem.

2. Liberals love to say that Israel is no better than here neighbors. That this is a lie is obvious to anyone who can read. Please name the last Jewish suicide bomber who blew up a bus in Amman.

Study: AIPAC works against US interests

Have I set up a straw man? Read the "study".

Right at the start we see the evil Jewish Cabal controlling and subverting the Government.

Instead, the overall thrust of U.S. policy in the region is due almost entirely to U.S. domestic politics, and especially to the activities of the “Israel Lobby.” Other special interest groups have managed to skew U.S. foreign policy in directions they favored, but no lobby has managed to divert U.S. foreign policy as far from what the American national interest would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially identical.

The writers are unwilling to call terrorists what they are and need quotes to use the word at all,

To begin with, "terrorism" is a tactic employed by a wide array of political groups; it is not a single unified adversary. The terrorist organizations that threaten Israel (e.g., Hamas or Hezbollah) do not threaten the United States, except when it intervenes against them (as in Lebanon in 1982). Moreover, Palestinian terrorism is not random violence directed against Israel or "the West"; it is largely a response to Israel’s prolonged campaign to colonize the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [Israel has three times offered to give the West Bank and Gaza back to the local Arabs, and has now left the Gaza Strip completely. Hardly colonization. - ed.]

And where do they get an idea like this?

Neither America nor Israel could be blackmailed by a nuclear‐armed rogue, because the blackmailer could not carry out the threat without receiving overwhelming retaliation. The danger of a "nuclear handoff" to terrorists is equally remote, because a rogue state could not be sure the transfer would be undetected or that it would not be blamed and punished afterwards.

What do they think a "rogue state" is?

As for Israeli moral superiority,

The final moral argument portrays Israel as a country that has sought peace at every turn and showed great restraint even when provoked. The Arabs, by contrast, are said to have acted with great wickedness. This narrative-which is endlessly repeated by Israeli leaders and American apologists such as Alan Dershowitz-is yet another myth. In terms of actual behavior, Israel’s conduct is not morally distinguishable from the actions of its opponents.

So, what was it that Yitzhak Rabin tried to accomplish in Oslo, and how did that end? Of course the Harvard "intellectuals" do not what to answer that question.

They even want you to believe that the Israelis target peace activists and that Rachel Corrie was killed intentionally - more lies.

Israeli forces have also killed several foreign peace activists, including a 23 year‐old American woman crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in March 2003.

Read the entire filthy thing. Read about the Jews who control the American Government. Read about how the Jews control the American press. It is the same old anti-semitic evil, only this time it comes from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Read the footnotes. The sources include Ha'aretz, B'Tselem, our old friend Noam Chomsky (who lies every time he opens his mouth) and other far Left™ writers and activists. They did everything but quote The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The Chinese and the Panama Canal

The Culebra Cut with the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks in the background

I often hear my military friends talk about how the Chinese own the Panama Canal. I have tried to tell them that this is not possible, but they always argue vehemently that they know it is so.

I have been through the Panama Canal 4 times and, for the last trip, I was the guy who coordinated with our Naval organizations (SUBPAC, SUBLANT, and others) for the arrangements with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). I also developed the training materials used to train on navigation, ship handling, and line handling issues for the crew. Some of these materials are still being used in the Navy by other ships a year and a half later.

I know what I'm talkin' about. BTW: that picture of me in my profile was taken in the Culebra (Gaillard) Cut during that last transit.

The rumor of Chinese ownership has spread far and wide, and ended up in a NewsMax.com story quoting HRH Hillary saying, "There are those who say we can't [prevent foreign governments from operating U.S. ports] because look what happened in the last 20 years ... You know, we have the Chinese running the Panama Canal. We have other government-controlled entities controlling our ports." The question of port operations at the two ports at either end of the Canal being run by Hutchison Whampoa has ballooned into ownership of the Canal by "the Chinese". This rumor then develops into the Canal being run by the Chinese government. Hutchison Whampoa is a company based in Hong Kong and is a private firm.


That NewsMax.com story has angered the ACP, and they replied.

Panama Canal: Hillary Clinton Wrong on Chinese Control

I hope that clears it up.

I had some cool pictures and a map to post, but Blogger isn't letting me upload any images today. It has been funky for the last week or so.

UPDATE:
Finally got Blogger to upload my images.

Interview with Feminist Biblical Scholar

Read the comments as well as this post from the excellent Touchstone Magazine:

Interview with a Feminist Biblical Scholar

Phyllis Trible does not even acknowledge that a belief in a triune God, or of Jesus the Christ as Messiah and Son of God - fully God and fully Man, or of the Divine inspiration of the Holy scriptures (note; Shakespeare work, although very good, was not Divinely inspired) is necessary for Christians. She does not even go so far as to say that one need believe that anything written in the Holy Gospels even occurred, or that Holy Scripture is anything but just another book.

Saint Zosimus with Saint Mary of Egypt at the Jordan River

What Christians believe.

UPDATE:
Just in case it is not already obvious, liberal "Christianity" eventually gets to this;
Canaanite Lutheranism.

This is stunning.

The Student Ummah

Chip, over at Politics and Religion has a story of dhimmitude at UCF.

"SJS," but aggressive da'wa at UCF (public school) where he links to a story from Daniel Pipes, Sudden Jihad Syndrome

In brief, Taheri-azar represents the ultimate Islamist nightmare: a seemingly well-adjusted Muslim whose religion inspires him, out of the blue, to murder non-Muslims. Taheri-azar acknowledged planning his jihad for over two years, or during his university sojourn. It's not hard to imagine how his ideas developed, given the coherence of Islamist ideology, its immense reach (including a Muslim Student Association at UNC), and its resonance among many Muslims.

Were Taheri-azar unique in his surreptitious adoption of radical Islam, one could ignore his case, but he fits into a widespread pattern of Muslims who lead quiet lives before turning to terrorism. Their number includes the 9/11 hijackers, the London transport bombers, and Maher Hawash, the Intel engineer arrested before he could join the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Mohammed Ali Alayed, the Saudi living in Houston fits, the pattern because he stabbed and murdered Ariel Sellouk, a Jewish man who was his one-time friend. So do some converts to Islam; who suspected Muriel Degauque, a 38-year-old Belgian woman, would turn up in Iraq as a suicide bomber throwing herself against an American military base?

This is what I have dubbed the Sudden Jihad Syndrome, whereby normal-appearing Muslims abruptly become violent. It has the awful but legitimate consequence of casting suspicion on all Muslims. Who knows whence the next jihadi? How can one be confident a law-abiding Muslim will not suddenly erupt in a homicidal rage? Yes, of course, their numbers are very small, but they are disproportionately much higher than among non-Muslims.

Mohammed Taheri-azar plans to use his trial for da'wa - an effort to get people to convert to Islam. Da'wa is such a marvelous idea that the University of Central Florida is allowing its Student Union to be changed into the Student Ummah so that the Muslim Student Association can perform da'wa on campus, using University property funded with Student Government funds. If a Christian group should ever try this there would be universal outrage and lawsuits, but for Islam it's ok.

March 8, 2006 - Philadelphia, PA - PipeLineNews.org - On March 17th 2006 the Student Union of the University of Central Florida Student Union will be transformed into the Student Ummah, as it will be the venue for a Da'wa [Muslim proselytizing] event entitled "Returning to Our Rabb" [Lord] and supported by university funding

According to the posters on the Muslim Student Association website, the event aims to "teach Muslims the correct beliefs in relationship to our Lord, and also his (s.w.t.) relationship towards us. With this new information not only can we strengthen our faith- but also our Da'wah." [aggressive faith spreading]

This brazen exercise in jihad through conversion is being funding by the Student Government Organization.

No one at the administrative office, could say whether a Muslim effort to convert Christians and Jews was entitled to university funding, but one can easily imagine the protests which would have ensued had a Christian evangelical group announced an event at the university hosting Jerry Falwell. Yet the silence is this case is deafening.

The Muslim Student seminar will be presented by three "preachers of fundamentalism." - Ibrahim Dremali, Radwan Koualti and Yahya Abdulbary.

Dremali is the former Imam of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton whose present Imam, Muneer Arafat, admitted to being a member of a jihad organization while testifying during the al-Arian trial.

Dremali's ICBR has openly done fundraising for Hamas - a U.S. designated terrorist organization - via the Health Resource Center of Palestine which listed his brother as the "“Gaza coordinator."

Under Dremali's leadership the ICBR has hosted fundraisers and speakers such as the now jailed Rafil Dhafir, whose Help the Needy 'charity' was closed down for illegally funneling money to Iraq, and Khalid Smaili, the director of Kind Hearts, a "terror charity" which was closed down last month by the U.S. Treasury.

Dremali is a documented radical Islamist, who completed his Islamic studies at the fundamentalist Al Azhar University.

Al Azhar U is probably best known for being the alma mater of Abdullah Azzam - bin-Laden's mentor.

It also serves as a headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

There can be no reasonable justification for this outrage.

North Korea Advances Missile Technology

General B. B. Bell has informed the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that the North Koreans have greatly improved their missile technoogy, and that they are also moving ahead with the development of longer-range ballistic missiles that could hit Alaska and targets in the continental United States. This in reference to the recent test launch by North Korea of two short-range missile that apparently fell into the Sea of Japan.


North Korea missiles tested are quantum leap

North Korea's testing of two short-range missiles on Wednesday came during a stalemate in six-country talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programmes.

Pyongyang says it has nuclear weapons but proliferation experts have questioned its ability to mount them on missiles.

"(They) are, in fact, a quantum leap forward from the kind of missiles that they have produced in the past," Bell told the hearing, referring to the short-range missiles tested this week.

The missiles were boosted by solid fuel, rather than liquid fuel, providing greater reliability, mobility and precision, he said.

"They are routinely testing these," Bell told the hearing, according to an audio recording made available on Friday on the U.S. House committee's Web site.

North Korea test-fired a similar missile in May last year. A senior Bush administration official said the missiles tested this week did not leave North Korean territory.

South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo said North Korea fired the two missiles from its east coast and they probably dropped into the sea about 100 km (60 miles) away, citing a government source.

The have been launching long-range missiles too;

`NK Missile Warhead Found in Alaska’

The warhead of a long-range missile test-fired by North Korea was found in the U.S. state of Alaska, a report to the National Assembly revealed yesterday.

"According to a U.S. document, the last piece of a missile warhead fired by North Korea was found in Alaska," former Japanese foreign minister Taro Nakayama was quoted as saying in the report. "Washington, as well as Tokyo, has so far underrated Pyongyang’s missile capabilities."

North Korea has made effective use of lying and delaying in order to continue nuclear weapons developement. They openly defy the UN and the IAEA (like anyone would pay attention to them anyway) by breaking the seals on their reactors and openly refine uranium to weapons grade. Diplomacy is not working on the North Koreans any better than it is with the Iranians. Still that does not disuade some appeasers for calling for more diplomacy.

Doves, such as Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-chairman of the Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, called for a peaceful settlement of the current confrontation, by offering food, energy and other humanitarian aid to the poverty-stricken country, while urging the North to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Rep. Markey also said the North should return to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the U.S. should make a nonaggression pact with the communist North.

Unbelievable. Only an idiot can believe that North Korea can be begged into abandoning her weapons program.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Today is the Sunday of Orthodoxy. One can gain a lot of understanding about the Holy Orthodox Faith by understanding why we celebrate this day.

A news release;
Eastern Orthodox leaders call for fresh appreciation of icons as an aid to, not object of, worship

An explanation from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America;
First Sunday of Lent: The Sunday of Orthodoxy

We believe that in becoming incarnate and allowing us to see and hear and touch Him, God allows us to remember Him with an image, and use that image to aid in the proper worship of Himself. We do not worship the image, it is merely paint and wood, we venerate the Saint that is depicted and worship God in His three persons, the Holy Trinity.

Rev. David F. Abramtsov explains The Veneration of Icons

U.S. Suceeds Despite the Press

Despite the best efforts of the Fifth Column Fourth Estate, we are winning the war in Iraq. Not only that, we are doing good things for the Iraqi people, and they are grateful.

'Job Is Getting Done' in Iraq, Despite US Press, Veterans Say

However, "we were not there as conquerors but as liberators," Gibson stated. "That was our mission."

Gibson also pointed to what he called two "tipping points" in the ongoing conflict that took place during 2005. "These junctures are decisive indicators of coalition victories over the insurgency," he said. "Most Iraqis understand them, but most Americans do not."

The first "tipping point" occurred last March, when the number of Iraqi security forces on the ground surpassed those of coalition troops, he said. Then on Dec. 15, Iraqis elected their first national four-year legislature with a turnout that was impressive even in the central and western areas of the country, where rebels are the strongest.

"This obviously strengthened the government, but more subtly, it splintered the insurgency," Gibson asserted, noting that the two primary insurgent groups - leftovers from the Baathist Party of former dictator Saddam Hussein and members of the terrorist al Qaeda network -- have different political goals.

"The Baathist diehards simply want power. They hope to wait the coalition out; then re-assert their traditional dominance over the Shi'a and the Kurds," he said. "But al Qaeda in Iraq wants an Islamic theocracy.

"As long as the coalition remained the primary target, the Baathists and al Qaeda could operate together, but that has changed with the growth in the numbers and confidence of Iraqi security forces," Gibson added. "The insurgents are no longer dealing with an occupation army but with the forces of an elected government -- and these forces are extremely popular."

When liberals refer to the "catastrophe in Iraq", they lie.

"A lousy day under the coalition yields a body count far under the Baathists," Gibson stated. "In Baghdad today, terrorists may kill you with an ill-timed IED (Improvised Explosive Device), but the Baathist secret police no longer comes to your door, takes your relatives, puts them in a cell, tortures them, kills them and then bills you for the bullets."

But John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha and others would have you believe that we are destroying Iraq, terrorizing women and children in their beds at night, and "summarily executing and killing tens of thousands of people". They lie, and lie, and lie.

To see the "evil" that we really are doing in Iraq see Defend America News - Rebuilding Iraq.

Remember, no major press outlet wants you to know what we are really doing in Iraq. They deceive using disingenous headlines and only a few carefully selected events. They quote only the enemy or liberals like themselves who lie, and then present that as news. They will forge documents if they have to. They have an agenda, and that agenda is not served by letting you know that we are winning the war or that we are helping a grateful Iraq.

The Presbyterian Church is Off of the Rails

The Presbyterian "Church" has disregarded its own Constitution and By-Laws in the current popular fad of homosexual marriage. This is the church that I grew up in. As it is today, it bears little resemblance to the church that I knew. Like the National Council of Churches, of which they are one of the two most prominent members they have adopted all manner of immorality and call those of use who do not support abortion, homosexual clergy and gay marriage, and other abominations racists and fascist.

Presbyterian lesbian minister acquitted for marrying homosexual couples

A lesbian Presbyterian minister in California has been found not guilty of misconduct for performing weddings for two lesbian couples.

The Permanent Judicial Commission of Redwoods Presbytery said in a written ruling late last week that the marriage of same-sex couples is not "outside of, or contrary to, the essentials of the Reformed faith as understood" by the presbytery.

The Rev. Jane Adams Spahr of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) had faced sanctions ranging from a reprimand to removal from ministry, and she was exultant after her victory.

"Today the church recognized that God's love is for all, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people," Spahr said. "This historic ruling means that as a minister I can exercise my conscience to marry two people who have demonstrated their commitment to love, honor and cherish one another."

The presbytery's judicial commission ruled 6-1 that Spahr was acting within her "right of conscience" in 2004 and 2005 when she performed same-sex unions for the couples.

The PJC added, in its majority opinion: "We also find that the accused acted within the normative standards of Redwoods Presbytery, faithfully reporting to it her activities at reasonable intervals."

In a minority opinion, PJC member Janet Moor, an elder from Benicia, Calif., said that a minister who has pledged in her ordination vows to be governed by the church's polity and discipline should not be allowed to perform same-sex marriages. The church's Book of Order clearly states that marriage is between a man and a woman.

"I agree with the prosecution that the beliefs of the accused are to be respected, but (believe) that the actions of the accused must still be constrained by what is prohibited by the Constitution," Moor wrote.

They need to read the whole Bible, especially St. Paul's Letter to the Romans

Space Plane Shelved?

Did we have an operational two-stage space plane?

Two-Stage-to-Orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved at Groom Lake?

For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon officials have hinted that it's "out there," but iron-clad confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological breakthrough vanish into "black world" history, known to only a few insiders. U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery. It could be a victim of shrinking federal budgets strained by war costs, or it may not have met performance or operational goals.

This two-vehicle "Blackstar" carrier/orbiter system may have been declared operational during the 1990s.

Hollywood Then, and Now

Charles (the Blogfather) Johnson has the story. Go read and be amazed.

Hollywood, Now and Then

Texas Attorney Hunting Guide

I work with a number of people who enjoy hunting and are scrupulous about the regulations and the licensing process. Now that the Fifth Column's Fourth Estate's inflation of the non-story about the Vice President's hunting accident is over, I thought that I'd try to keep it alive just a little longer.

I received this in my email. The Texas Attorney Hunting Guide:

BULLETIN:

TEXAS ATTORNEY HUNTING GUIDE

1. Any person with a valid Texas hunting license may harvest attorneys.

2. The taking of attorneys with traps or deadfalls is permitted. The use of currency as bait is prohibited.

3. The killing of attorneys with a vehicle is prohibited. If accidentally struck, remove roadkill to roadside, then proceed to nearest car wash.

4. It is unlawful to chase, herd, or harvest attorneys from a helicopter or other aircraft.

5. It shall be unlawful to shout, "whiplash," "ambulance!" or, "Free Liquor!" for the purposes of trapping attorneys.

6. It shall be unlawful to use controlled substances, single malt scotch, $100 bills, prostitutes, or vehicle accidents to attract attorneys.

7. It shall be unlawful to hunt attorneys within 200 yards of whorehouses, cardiac rehab centers, ambulances, hospitals or bars across from the courthouse.

8. If an attorney is elected to government office, there will be a $500 bounty on the pelt.

9. Stuffed or mounted attorneys must have a state health department inspection for rabies, vermin and contagious diseases.

10. It shall be illegal for a hunter to disguise himself as a reporter, drug dealer, pimp, female law clerk, sheep, accident victim, bookie, or tax accountant for the purposes of hunting attorneys.

Attorney Bag Limits:
Silverbacked Texas Millionaire = 1 (in possession)
Yellow-Bellied Sidewinder = 5
Hairless Civil Libertarian = 7
Skinny-Assed Ambulance Chaser = 12
Horse or Cattle Rustler Defender = 20
Silver-Tongued Murderer Defender = 50
Jack-Legged Divorce Litigator = No limit
Intellectual Property or intellectual anything = (rare) protected species
Honest Attorney = Extinct

Remember, enjoy your hunting, but hunt responsibly and follow the rules.

Big Boost to Home Schooling

Universities are well know as leftist™ indoctrination centers. Now the graduates of the "education" programs of those centers are "teaching" our children how to hate the United State, lying and twisting facts and history to do so.

I'm sure that you have heard of the case of Jay Bennish by now, I admit that it is old news. Still, read this carefully:

But what did Bush say in the beginning of his State Of The Union addresss? Indulge me ...

Abroad, our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal – we seek the end of tyranny in our world. Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future security of America depends on it. On September the 11th, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country. Dictatorships shelter terrorists, and feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destruction. Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terror. Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer – so we will act boldly in freedom's cause.

Far from being a hopeless dream, the advance of freedom is the great story of our time. In 1945, there were about two dozen lonely democracies in the world. Today, there are 122. And we're writing a new chapter in the story of self-government – with women lining up to vote in Afghanistan, and millions of Iraqis marking their liberty with purple ink, and men and women from Lebanon to Egypt debating the rights of individuals and the necessity of freedom. At the start of 2006, more than half the people of our world live in democratic nations. And we do not forget the other half – in places like Syria and Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran – because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom, as well.

No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it.

And, according to Bennish, this kind of language is directly comparable to Adolph Hitler:

If at the beginning of the War and during the War 12 or 15,000 of these Hebrew corrupters of the people had been held under poison gas, as happened to hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers in the field, the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.

These tactics are based on an accurate estimation of human weakness and must lead to success, with almost mathematical certainty, unless the other side also learns how to fight poison gas with poison gas. The weaker natures must be told that here it is a case of to be or not to be.

We should all applaud Sean Allen for standing up to a lying liberal teacher.

I hope and expect that stories like this will give a big boost to homeschooling. Liberals hate homeschooling, largely because it removes students from their ideological programming and indoctrination. Such a student could grow up to be (horror) politically and socially conservative. We should all applaud parents who care enough to homeschool their children in order to ensure that they get a good education and are not corrupted with mindless Leftist™ propaganda like this.

Chicken Crossing Road - Navy SOP

I received this in an email. It comes from The Goatlocker.

BTW: The Goat Locker is, in the Navy, the place where the old goats are stored - the Chief Petty Officer's Quarters.

The US Navy answers the question: Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Naval Education and Training Command (NAVEDTRA): The purpose is to familiarize the chicken with road-crossing procedures. Road-crossing should be performed only between the hours of sunset and sunrise. Solo chickens must have at least three miles of visibility and a safety observer.

Special Forces Command (SEALS): The chicken crossed at a 90 degree angle to avoid prolonged exposure to a line of communication. To achieve maximum surprise, the chicken should have performed this maneuver at night, using NVGs, preferably near a road bend in a valley.

Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS): Due to the needs of the Navy, the chicken was involuntarily reassigned to the other side of the road. This will be a 3-year unaccompanied tour and we promise to give the chicken a good-deal assignment afterwards. Every chicken will be required to do one road-crossing during its career, and this will not affect its opportunities for future promotion.

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA): Despite what you see on CNN, I can neither confirm nor deny any fowl performing acts of transit. Questions? Please see the SSO.

Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC): This event will need confirmation; we need to repeat it using varied chicken breeds, road types, and weather conditions to confirm whether it can actually happen within the parameters specified for chickens and the remote possibility that they might cross thruways designated by some as "roads".

Naval Surface Reserve Force (NAVSURFRESFOR): The chicken should log this as a GCC sortie only if road-crossing qualified. The crossing updates the chicken's 60-day road-crossing currency only if performed on a Monday or Thursday. Instructor chickens may update currency any time they observe another chicken cross the road.

Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe (CINCUSNAVEUR): The purpose is not important. What is important is that the chicken remained under the OPCON of COMSIXTHFLEET and did not CHOP to the theater on the other side of the road. Without CHOPing, the chicken was able to achieve a seamless road- crossing with near perfect, real-time in-transit visibility.

Theater Air Control Center (TACC): We need the road-crossing time and the time the chicken becomes available for another crossing.

Naval Intelligence: What chicken?

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIRSYSCOM): The chicken was instructed to hold short of the road. This road incursion incident was reported in a Hazardous Chicken Road-Crossing Report (HCRCR). Please re-emphasize that chickens are required to read back all hold short instructions.

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWARSYSCOM): The "stovepipe" chickens of today will be replaced with a multi-function, supported, affordable, integrated, and interoperable world-class chicken to warriors and supporting elements, enabling them to dominate the roads of today and tomorrow, as we move "Forward...From the Sea." Comptroller holds and corporate taxes, however, will require delay fielding for two years, unless Congressional plus-ups are approved.

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEASYSCOM): Recent changes in technology, coupled with today's multipolar strategic environment, have created new challenges in the chicken's ability to cross the road. The chicken was also faced with significant challenges to create and develop core competencies required for this new environment.

NAVSEASYSCOM's Chicken Systems Program Office (PMS400CSPO): In a partnering relationship with the client, helped the chicken by rethinking its physical distribution strategy and implementation processes. Using the Poultry Integration Model (PIM), CSPO helped the chicken use its skills, methodologies, knowledge capital and experiences to align the chicken's people, processes and technology in support of its overall strategy within a Program Management framework. The CSPO convened a diverse cross-spectrum of road analysts and retired chickens along with MITRE consultants with deep skills in the transportation industry to engage in a two-day itinerary of meetings in order to leverage their personal Knowledge and capital, both tacit and explicit, and to enable them to synergize with each other in order to achieve the implicit goals of delivering and successfully architecting and implementing an enterprise-wide value framework across the continuum of poultry cross-median processes. The meeting was held in a park-like setting enabling and creating an impactful environment which was strategically based, mission-focused, and built upon a consistent, clear, and unified Mission Need Statement and aligned with the chicken's mission, vision, and core values. This was conducive towards the creation of a total business integration solution. The Chicken Systems Program Office helped the chicken change to continue meeting its mission. The actual crossing of the road has not occurred, however, due to the number of actions items still open from the meeting.

Orthodox Out of the National Council of Churches

The National Council of Churches has long been active in liberal politics. They support a homosexual clergy, gay marriage, Cuba, they supported the Soviet Union (responsible for the murder of 10 million Orthodox Christians), they equate conservatives who support the President with those same Stalinist communists and with German National Socialists (Nazis) preparing the Holocaust. They support all manner of immorality and corruption.

As a result, the Antiochian Archdiocese did what all Orthodox Churches should (obviously) do, they quit the NCC. Good for them.

From the excellent Touchstone Magazine, NCC Exit Poll:

The NCC’s politicization and defense of immoral causes was a frequent complaint that the AOA had considered for quite some time. Last summer, however, a line was crossed with the release of a fundraising letter written by Edgar, a United Methodist minister and former Democratic congressman. The letter identified the NCC with the political left and characterized his opponents—mostly religious conservatives—in terms that were at best unbecoming to an ecumenical organization like the NCC, and at worst crass party politics.

The letter compared President Bush and his supporters to “committed Communists” who had “liquidated” millions, “convinced National Socialists” who had prepared the way for the Holocaust, and “Islamic fundamentalist suicide bombers.” It also boasted that the NCC “worked closely” with the leftist groups MoveOn.org and TrueMajority.org.

At its Archdiocesan Assembly in Dearborn, Michigan, last summer, the archdiocese decided it was time to pull out.

And all of the other achdiocese should make the same decision, but they won't. They've been bribed.

Among the other Orthodox jurisdictions in America, the Greek Orthodox Church is still active in the NCC and resistant to calls for withdrawal. One reason is that the Greek Church’s ties to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople elevate international politics over the moral divide in American culture. Its hierarchy has been criticized for their support of Greek Orthodox Senators Paul Sarbannes and Olympia Snowe despite their advocacy of partial-birth abortion and other culture-of-death positions.

The NCC remains useful to the Greek Orthodox Church, but in return it remains vulnerable to the politicized agendas of the NCC. Recently the NCC authored a curriculum that highlights “peace-making” and other shibboleths of the political left, intended for use in Orthodox Sunday schools. The NCC has a public record of coddling totalitarian regimes (Cuba in particular, North Korea more recently) and lays the lion’s share of the blame for international conflicts on America’s doorstep. Whether Greek Orthodox priests will use the curriculum as the political orientation of the NCC is clarified remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the debate in the Orthodox Church in America remains out of sight, although insiders report increasing support for withdrawal from the NCC. Prominent OCA clergy have been involved in the NCC and support continued participation (Kishkovsky led the search committee that appointed Edgar).

Some Antiochian observers believe that if the Antiochian withdrawal had preceded the OCA’s national convention, the OCA would have withdrawn as well. The puzzle to outsiders is how the OCA—with members who experienced Communist tyranny first-hand—could support the NCC, given its history as an apologist for Marxism.

Too many compromises where there should be none. Good for the Antiochian Archdiocese. Now the rest should follow them.

Go read the entire article, there is a lot more there than what I have discussed above like, who are the NCC's biggest donors, for instance.

Border with Mexico More Dangerous than Iraq

This seems to be a little known fact, it is not ok to surreptitiously cross an international border. That is illegal in every country in the world, yet when we say that we try to control the borders of the United States we are accused of international human rights abuse.

Our border with Mexico is out of control. More Americans abducted along Mexico border than in Iraq:

LAREDO, Texas – This border area is one of the least publicized international crisis zones. More Americans have been kidnapped just in this area than in all of Iraq by Islamic terrorists.

Twenty-six Americans are now officially listed as missing in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo region of the U.S.-Mexico border—in addition to the more than 400 Mexicans reported to be suffering a similar fate.

The number of American civilians missing or kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of the war is 23 as of last September, the latest figure released by the State Department.

And then there are the executions.

Unlike Muslim jihadists, enforcers from the feuding Gulf and Sinaloa Mexican drug cartels favor off-camera basement executions and oil-drum burials.

"I’ve seen these barrels with bodies stuffed into them," said a U.S. law enforcement official, who, like most here, spoke on condition of anonymity. "It’s horrible, but it is really happening."

First acid is poured in to break up flesh and bone. Then the drum is filled with diesel fuel.

A match—that’s all it takes to turn a life into a heap of ashes.

And then there are Los Zetas.

We must get contol of OUR border and close it, ensuring that only those who have gone through the legal process can cross.

New Generation of Russian SLBM

New generation submarines to be armed with Bulava missiles:

MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) - New generation submarines will be armed with Bulava missiles, a submarine-launched version of the country's most advanced ballistic missile, the deputy commander of the Russian navy said Wednesday.

"We have started the final stage of building the promising nuclear missile system, which will include the new Bulava naval strategic missile complex," Admiral Mikhail Zakharenko said. "Fourth generation submarines will be armed with this complex."

Last year Russia conducted successful launch tests of the Bulava, which is adapted from the Topol-M (SS-27). The first in-flight test launch was conducted September 27, 2005 from the Dmitry Donskoi, a Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine. On December 21, 2005 another Bulava was launched from the Dmitry Donskoi in the White Sea before traveling thousands of miles to hit a dummy target on the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula. It was the first time a Bulava had been launched from a submerged position.

Russia's Borey-class nuclear submarines will be equipped with Bulava missiles. Two submarines are being built at the Sevmash plant in the Arkhangelsk Region. The first submarine, the Yury Dolgoruky, will be commissioned in 2006 and the second, the Alexander Nevsky, in 2007.

More on the Bulava missile.

More of the 935 Borei class ballistic missile submarine.

George Clooney - Right Side of History?

George Clooney, a Hollywood actor and, therefore an Expert in All Things™ is proud to be "on the right side of history":

Clooney relishes 'traitor' attacks

US actor and director George Clooney said this morning he was proud to be denounced as unpatriotic for questioning US policy because he wanted to be on "the right side of history."

Interviewed on BBC television's Newsnight about his latest films Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck Clooney said that not only did he accept the right to be attacked for his views but he even relished them.

Clooney, who has weathered attacks since opposing the 2003 Iraq invasion, said at one point that it was "frustrating" to be listed as a "traitor" on a set of playing cards, but he also accepted people's right to free speech.

He later admitted he relished the attacks.

"I think it's important to be on the right side of history," Clooney said.

Of course, this is the side of history that denounces everything that the U.S. and our Coalition partners are doing in Iraq, such as;

1. Building new water treatment plants in Iraqi villages.
2. Building and renovating schools.
3. Building and renovating hospitals.
4. Train Iraqi police (although I recognize that liberals do not like police and so would probably not count that as a good thing).
5. Build systems to monitor and control power production and distribution.

And much more, that was just for the month of February and is not a complete list at that.

Mr. Clooney is proud to be on the side of history that would have Saddam Hussein murdering tens of thousands of people every year, terrorizing and torturing his own population.

Mr. Clooney is proud to be on the side of history that would leave the middle east and Central Asia a cesspit of totalitarian governments ruled by nothing more that the word of a single man, not of law.

Mr. Clooney is proud to be on the side of history were lawless governments support terror. Saddam paid $25,000.00 to the families of terrorists who blew themselves up on city buses, pizzarias, and bar mitzvahs in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel. Mr. Clooney no doubt sees that as the "right side of history".

Why, oh why, are my favorite actors all such political idiots? I love watching Johnny Depp too, but as for his politics, WOW. Ths is very distressing, but I still feel like watching "Secret Window".

And, if you would like to see just what we (by way of the U.S. Army) are doing in Iraq, go here, Defend America.