Taep'o dong-2 Judged a Failure

It would not surprise me to learn that a number of North Korean engineers' lives have been ruined or ended over this.

N. Korean long-range missile test ruled a failure

LONDON — North Korea's test launch of its Taepodong-2 intermediate-range ballistic missile has been ruled a failure. Initial speculation included the possibility North Korea had deliberately terminated its flight.

The South Korean military said Pyongyang's Taepodong-2 test on July 5, in a launch attended by Iran, was due to "technical failure." The military said the Taepodong, supplied to Iran, broke up in mid-flight.

"The long-range Taepodong-2 crashed into a beach on the east coast about two kilometers from the launching site after traveling normally for 40 seconds," a spokesman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The South Korean assessment was one of several conducted over the last few weeks. At first, the United States also announced that the Taepodong-2 failed in its first flight, Middle East Newsline reported. Later, U.S. officials said the intelligence community assessed that the launch was meant to test Pyongyang's command and control system.

But the South Korean military, which studied the launch for two months, said Taepodong-2 contained serious technical flaws. Officials said the missile broke up during flight because of a "serious technical disorder."

The nuclear weapons programs of both North Korea and Iran depend on the success of this, or a follow-on missile system. We in the U.S. had many missile test failures before we got on track with a successful program.

This is not a long term setback for the North Koreans.

Soros Says "I Quit Politics"

I really hope that he sticks to this.

ANTI-W. $OROS: I QUIT POLITICS

September 29, 2006 -- Billionaire liberal financier George Soros, who spent millions of his fortune trying to oust President Bush in 2004, yesterday said he hopes to stay out of politics from now on.

"In the future, I'd very much like to get disengaged from politics," Soros said at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting on the Upper East Side. "I'm interested in policy and not in politics."

Leaving South Korea

I have long maintained that if the South Korean people hate us we should leave them to their fate.

It seems that politics is preventing the construction of a new bombing range (off the coast) that has long been promised and is required by our treaty with South Korea. If it is not started within 30 days, the US Air Force is outta there.

Yankee Threatens to Go Home

September 24, 2006: In another example of growing hostility of South Koreans to the presence of American troops in the country, the U.S. Air Force has threatened to move its fighter aircraft out of South Korea if the South Koreans do not, as they agreed to, start construction on a new bombing range (off the coast) within 30 days. The government agreed to this last year, but construction has been delayed by politicians opposed to the deal. As a result, American pilots must leave the country for training. The treaty covering U.S. forces in South Korea, obliges South Korea to provide these training areas. The old one was closed on the condition that a new one would be built. If the Americans go through with their threat, airpower available to defend South Korea will be cut by about twenty percent. In the event of a North Korean attack, the U.S. fighters could return within a week or so.

The South Koreans need to start thinking about what is really important. Stupid anti-American politics or being overrun by the North Koreans.

Democrats and Election Reform

Democrats make a lot of noise about how Republicans stole the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. In 2000 it was the fiasco in Florida with the U.S. Supreme Court having to rule that the Florida election results were valid and that the recounts must stop. This, of course, got Mrs. Clinton to declare that President Bush was selected, not elected.

In 2004 it was the fact of long lines at certain precincts in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. The late delivery of electronic voting machines was apparently for the purpose of disenfranchising voters. How this was is a bit foggy.

Democrats also allege that the electronic voting machine, by Diebold, were fixed by that company to deliver votes for Mr. Bush.

You would think that they would get behind a bill to ensure clean elections. You would be wrong.

Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006

Vote fraud invariably benefits Democrats. Illegal aliens voting, felons, dead people (in Chicago we used to call this "the Riverside vote"), individuals voting several times. Ask anyone from the State of Washington. These are the votes that put Her Majesty into the Governor's Office.

Results of the vote for the Federal Election Integrity Act;
Republican: Yea - 224; Nay - 3; Present - 0; Not Voting - 3
Democrats: Yea - 4; Nay - 192; Present - 0; Not Voting - 5
Independent: Yea - 0; Nay - 1; Present - 0; Not Voting - 0

Guns Cause Crime?

Liberals will tell you that guns cause crime, and that if we took guns away from people, crime would go done. We evil republican conservatives believe that law abiding citizens would give up their guns if the law required it. We also believe that if someone is inclined to commit crime, they would also be inclined to illegally keep their guns. This is an idea that causes severe mental distress to Liberals™.

Also, we believe that if criminals thought that there was a good chance that their victim may be armed, they would be less inclined to commit crimes against such people.

The good folks of Greenleaf Idaho agree.

Proposed Ordinance asks Each Household to Have a Firearm

Greenleaf, Idaho -- All Americans have the right to bear arms. Some towns have even gone as far as to require each household to have a gun. Now a small Idaho town is contemplating a similar idea-- it's called the Civil Emergencies Ordinance. And although gun ownership is just one piece of this ordinance, it's the part that's getting the most attention.

"We've blessed to be a fairly rural area of the state, so we don't have a lot of crime and I think we'd like to keep it that way," said Lee Belt, Greenleaf city clerk.

Drive about 10 minutes west of Caldwell and you'll run into Greenleaf, Idaho, population 860. If city council member Steve Jett has his way, each head of household that can legally own a gun, will. Along with that they're encouraged to have ammunition and appropriate training.

"I think the city council is hoping it will happen and that it will be a deterrent to crime as the city and region increases in population," said Belt.

The proposed ordinance is modeled after a similar plan that went into place in 1982 in Kennesaw, Ga. In that instance there was a dramatic decrease in criminal activity. Although crime isn't a huge problem for residents of Greenleaf, the growth in neighboring counties leads them to believe they too are in for some changes.

There is a study to back this up that Liberals™ do not like because it goes against the leftist faith; Liberal Academics Continue Assault on Pro-Gun Research

A study by economist and University of Chicago professor John Lott and co-researcher David Mustard in 1997 examined crime data from all 3,054 counties in the U.S. for the period between 1977 and 1992 and compared those data to the enactment of concealed carry laws. Based on that research, the pair concluded that "allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths."

Anti-gun researchers challenge pro-gun findings

But anti-gun researcher John Donohue of the Stanford University Law School has challenged the findings of Lott and Mustard in a chapter of the new book Evaluating Gun Policy published by the Brookings Institution.

"There seems to be almost no benefit from concealed handguns," Donohue told CNSNews.com Monday - but he immediately retracted the claim.

"Actually, I can't say that. There may be some benefit, and there may be some costs, and they may offset each other," he said. "But the last argument I would give any credibility to is the idea that you would save lives by passing a law allowing people to carry concealed handguns. It just won't happen."

But Lott and Mustard concluded that, if states without concealed carry laws had adopted them in 1992, "approximately 1,500 murders would have been avoided yearly." They also predicted that 4,000 rapes, 11,000 robberies and 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been thwarted by armed civilians or criminals' fear of encountering armed civilians.

Their work evolved into Lott's book More Guns, Less Crime, which is frequently cited by supporters of concealed carry laws, along with studies by Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck showing that guns are used to stop criminal assaults up to 2.5 million times a year.

So, good for the citizens of Greenleaf Idaho.

Osama Taking a Dirt Nap?

We can hope. I saw this at Little Green Footballs.

From al-Reuters, whose editors are no doubt saddened at the news, France to probe bin Laden death report leak

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Defense Ministry said on Saturday a secret service report saying al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died could not be confirmed but said it would launch an inquiry into the leak of secret documents.

The Defense Ministry issued the statement after a French regional newspaper, L'Est Republicain, published a report quoting a French secret service report as saying Saudi Arabia is convinced al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.

"The information published this morning in the L'Est Republicain newspaper relating to the supposed death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," the Defense Ministry said.

"The Defense Minister (Michele Alliot-Marie) has asked that an inquiry be carried out to determine the origin of the leak that can be punished by criminal charges."

Certainly the French do not want this news to get out.

"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," the document said.

"The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs."

I hope that this is not another false report. If it is true, it sounds like he really suffered a great deal at the end (no doubt sadening MSM editors and publishers worldwide).

But, it gets even better. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report has even bigger news. The leader of Ansar al Sunnah, Muntasir al-Jibouri, has been captured.

Big News: bin Laden dead; Bigger News: Ansar al Sunnah Head Captured!

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta today! First, bin Laden is reportedly dead. Or dying. Or whatever. In any event, I don't believe it. But it's the kind of rumor I dig. Thanks to everyone that e-mailed it to me. The way I read the report, though, was not that bin Laden is dead, but that he is very sick. (knock on wood either way)

But a much bigger story is that the leader of Ansar al Sunnah, Muntasir al-Jibouri, has been captured! This is big news. And unlike the bin Laden 'news', this one seems likely to be true.

We should be shouting for joy that the leader of Ansar al Sunnah has been captured. This should just as big as when we got Zarqawi. It is that important.

Ansar al Sunnah's organizational structure is not as well know as al Qaeda's. It appears, though, that al-Jibouri's voice can be heard on at least two hostage murder videos-and probably many many more (thanks to Mike for the reminder). Like Zarqawi, al Jibouri is said to have personally murdered many of Ansar al Sunna's victims.

For awhile, Abu Musab al Zarqawi and the terrorist bastards at Ansar al Sunna appeared to be in a pissing match over who could behead the most civilians. Just this month the group posted a gruesome video of the beheading of 3 Iraqis.

Who are Ansar al Sunna, you say? I don't blame you for not knowing, I blame the ignorant press. And the Democrats. The press because they speak of insurgents in Iraq, and not terrorists. And the Democrats because they speak as if any one who is not formally within al Qaeda is not a terrorist. Eg., Saddam did not support terrorists because there was no link to al Qaeda. Idiots.

Read all of Rusty's report, it is excellent.

It is a good day for jihadi killin'. Especially on the first day of Ramadan, an Islamic holiday which is celebrated in the Muslim world with an increase in terrorism. It is nice to turn the table just this once.

9mm Ale

Read these results;
2006 North American Beer Awards Medal Winners. Note the results in the Specialty/Experimental category:

Bronze;
1) Boston Beer Co.-- Samuel Adams Utopias MMIII
2) Siletz Brewing—Siletz Chocolate Porter

Silver; Boston Beer Co.-- Samuel Adams Utopias MMV

Gold; Heads Up Brewing—9mm Ale

Today, on eBay, one bottle (22oz. with box) of Samual Adams Utopias MMIII has a bid of $349.00. Utopias MMV is not available. We at Head's Up paid $180 for a bottle of the MMV, but I am sure that a bottle would fetch very much more now.

You can go to Head's Up Brewing in Silverdale, Washington and make a 15 gallon batch of 9mm Ale for yourself.

I just finished bottling six cases of it.

Yum.

Islamic Tolerance - Somalia

The Religion of Peace, Tolerance, and Moon God worship once again gives us an idea of its true love of other people.

Convert from Islam to Christianity killed
Refused to join crowd chanting verses from Quran during lunar eclipse

Somali Christian sources report Ali Mustaf Maka'il, a 22-year-old college student and cloth merchant who converted from Islam to Christianity 11 months ago, was shot and killed in the Manabolyo quarter of Mogadishu.

According to a report from the Barnabas Fund, quoting a Christian source inside Somalia, the gunman was loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts, the Islamist organization that took power in Mogadishu in early June and now controls much of southern Somalia.

The report states the gunman shot Ali in the back Sept. 7 after he refused to join a crowd chanting Quran verses in honor of the lunar eclipse. Solar and lunar eclipses are significant in Islam and are accompanied by special congregational prayers. The Union of Islamic Courts confiscated Ali's body for 24 hours before delivering it to the grieving family, the report said.

The Barnabas Fund comments: "It seems that under the new Islamist rulers, who include hard-line jihadi elements, the tragic history of persecution and martyrdom for Somalia's tiny Christian community is set to continue and most likely to worsen."

The group reports that in July there were unconfirmed reports three Christians had been shot and killed by Islamists as they returned home from a prayer meeting.

In October 2005, an evangelist and house church leader, Osman Sheik Ahmed, was shot dead by Islamist radicals, Barnabas said. Also, children of Christian Somali refugees in Kenya have been kidnapped by Muslim relatives and taken to Islamic institutions in Somalia for 'rehabilitation.'"

The Barnabas Fund pointed out the leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, Hassan Dahir Aweys, promised to implement Sharia, or Islamic law, in all areas he controls.

According to Sharia, the group explained, apostates - those who leave Islam for another religion – must be killed. Union of Islamic Court leaders even have threatened to kill as apostates Muslims who are lax in their prayers, claiming this is commanded by Sharia. Several Muslims have been flogged publicly for drug-related offences since the union took control.

Islam is a fiction created by Mohammed to exercise political control over his tribe, and to establish a military structure for conquest. There is no Abrahamic tradition there. They are Moon God worshipers. I have no problem with that, but it is a fiction to try to connect Islamic beliefs with any form of Judaism or Christianity.

And, there is no tradition of forgiveness or tolerance in that faith. Only hatred and murder.

A Great One is Gone

Oriana Fallaci, 1929 - 2006

And this, IN MEMORIAM: ORIANA FALLACI

Rage & Pride, in a translation by Letizia Grasso, is added to the sidebar.

May she rest in a well deserved peace.

The Happy Prince

Oscar Wilde is a writer that I have neglected in my various studies. My beloved wife pointed me to a very beautiful short story, The Happy Prince.

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

He was very much admired indeed. "He is as beautiful as a weathercock," remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; "only not quite so useful," he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

Whatever Mr. Wilde was during his too brief life, he was a Christian, and on his deathbed converted to the Roman Catholic Church repentant of his sins.

This is about Christian love, and our own reactions to it should be guided by Christian forgiveness and love.

If you haven't read it yet, read it.

RoP Denies Being Evil

Muslims Preaching "Peace"

More

Muslims all over the world are upset that a 14^th Century Byzantine Emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, said that converting people to Islam by the sword is evil. Representatives of the RoP and Muslims the world over are objecting to this, insisting that they are peaceful and telling us that if we do not believe that they are peaceful they will kill us.

An interesting position to take. I suppose that if I were to point out a tiny little problem of logic in their viewpoint they would wish to be "peaceful" with me too.

When was the last time that, having heard a prominent Muslim criticize Christianity, Christians attacked Mosques and threatened murder? That's right, never.

Pope's speech at University of Regensburg (full text)

Muslim leaders demand apology for Pope's 'medieval' remarks

Pope statement not enough: Muslim Brotherhood

The First Casualty of the Pope's Islam Speech

You have to love it when atheists, Muslims, or other non-Christian people tell Christians what a good Christian believes; Islamic world rails against 'Unchristian' Pope

5 churches attacked in Palestinian areas following Pope's comments on Islam

Somali cleric calls for pope's death

Gunmen shoot elderly nun dead

Details of the incident were sketchy and there was no immediate indication of a possible motive for the attack but it came amid fury among Somalia's powerful Islamist movement over comments made by Pope Benedict XVI deemed insulting to Islam.

On Friday, a prominent hardline Mogadishu cleric called for Muslims to "hunt down" and kill the pontiff for his remarks.

"Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim," Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin told worshippers at a mosque in southern Mogadishu.

The despicable New York Times tries to explain why all of this is ok; The Pope's Words

Charles has some pictures; Peaceful Religion Watch

UPDATE: Manuel II Paleologus knew what he was talking about. His capitol city, Constantinople, was besieged by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I.

Hearing of his father's death in February 1391, Manuel II Palaiologos fled the Ottoman court and secured the capital against any potential claim by his nephew John VII. Although relations with John VII improved, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I besieged Constantinople from 1394 to 1402. After some five years of siege, Manuel II entrusted the city to his nephew and embarked on a long trip to western courts (including those of the Kingdom of England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Aragon) to seek assistance against the Ottoman Empire.

The ACLU Loses One

Judge Rules against ACLU in Georgia Prayer Case

ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) - Cobb County commissioners won't have to exclude Jesus Christ from the prayers at their meetings under a new federal court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Richard Story ruled Friday that clergy who pray at the meetings could "identify the deity to whom they direct their prayer." But he also took issue with the way commissioners choose the clergy who appear at the meetings because it was clear that "certain faith were categorically excluded from the list."

The case was filed in August 2005 by the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of seven people who felt the references to Jesus were an unconstitutional government endorsement of Christianity.

Is it possible that judges are just now starting to see through the Left™'s scam? Or, did we just get lucky and get a judge who does not agree that he is part of an oligarchy?

We shall see.

Please Lie Down and Die

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch found this at the Daily Mail, British Muslim leader: don't resist terrorism, or you'll get 2 million more terrorists and notes, "Anti-terror efforts breed terrorists, says Bari. In other words, please lie down and die."

The Daily Mail link is;
Threat of up to two million Muslim terrorists, warns community leader

Britain will face have to deal with up to two million Islamic terrorists unless there is an end to 'demonising' of Muslims, the leader of the most influential Muslim organisation has said.

Treating all Muslims as if they were terrorists will encourage large numbers to become terrorists, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari said.

The warning from the chief of the Muslim Council of Britain - the grouping that Tony Blair's Government has considered the leading voice for Muslims - came amid rising tensions over the increasingly suspicious attitude to Muslims in the rest of society.

Dr Bari declared: "Some police officers and sections of the media are demonising Muslims, treating them as if they are all terrorists, and that encourages other people to do the same.

"If that demonisation continues, then Britain will have to deal with two million Muslim terrorists, 700,000 of them in London. "If you attack a whole community, it becomes despondent and aggressive," he added.

The message from Dr Bari appeared to be aimed at muting criticism from police officers and broadcasters and newspapers who have questioned widely-held Muslim attitudes and at police officers who have called for greater surveillance of Muslims.

Their protestations make them appear ridiculous.

His view appears in particular to mock Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, who declared after the 7 July bombings last year that "Islamic and terrorist are two words that do not go together".

Yes, they do.

Islamic Tolerance - Eritrea

ERITREA: RELIGIOUS PRISONER COUNT TOPS 1,900

September 8 (Compass Direct News) – Newly compiled statistics smuggled out of Eritrea indicate that at least 1,918 Eritrean citizens are imprisoned and being subjected to torture and forced labor because of their religious beliefs.

According to a detailed list obtained by Compass last month, 95 percent of these known religious prisoners of conscience are Christians.

A total of 35 pastors, priests and church elders are confirmed under arrest in Asmara’s Wongel Mermera investigation center. An additional 1,758 Christians of both evangelical Protestant and Orthodox confessions are jailed in 14 other cities and towns.

According to reports compiled by Compass, 163 of these Christian prisoners have been put under arrest since the beginning of 2006. As many as a fourth of all those jailed are believed to have been incarcerated for two years or more.

Additionally, 69 Muslims are being held in Wongel Mermera for opposing the government-appointed mufti. They include Taha Mohammed Noor, a founding member of the Eritrean Liberation Front in 1961 and a member of the Islamic Awqaf (religious foundation).

Arrested in Asmara on November 25, 2005, Noor reportedly has refused under torture to accept government interference with the religious affairs of Eritrean Muslims, who constitute half of the population.

And in accordance with Islamic law, none of those who have been arrested and are being held in jail have received a trial or any kind of hearing. Some of these people have been held for over four years without a trial.

None of those imprisoned for their religious beliefs in the government crackdown begun more than four years ago have been brought before a court of law to be charged or tried.

According to the latest breakdown, 475 Christians are jailed at Wi’a, 250 at Sawa (including 50 students arrested from Mai Nefhee Academy last May), 192 at Dongoloi Ai Ai, 130 at Mai-Serwa, 78 at Adi-Abyto, 55 in Sembel Prison, 155 in various Asmara police stations, 37 in the Keren police station, 22 in the Mendefera police station, 115 at Assab, 97 at Gelalo, 21 in the Dekemhare police station, 56 in the Adi-Kualaa police station, and 75 in the Massawa police station.

During August still another 29 Protestant Christians were arrested in the cities of Asmara, Keren and Massawa, according to the London-based Release Eritrea organization.

Ten evangelicals attending a home prayer meeting in Asmara’s Edaga Arbi district were arrested on August 17, Release Eritrea reported on August 25. In similar raids in the cities of Keren and Massawa earlier in the month, Eritrean police jailed another 15 and 4 people, respectively.

The only known releases in recent weeks occurred in Wi’a, where a reported handful among the hundreds of Christian soldiers in a military jail were set free after signing statements to recant their evangelical beliefs.

Ahhh, the peace, tolerance, and wisdom of Islam.

Read the whole thing to see what else they are doing.

Hindu Tolerance - India Pt. 2

We have been watchng Islam, but Hinduism is no less evil, just less active now. Watch as more and more of these storie come out.

Still, they are not engaged in the large-scale kind of violent terrorism that is a part of Islam. There are very few groups that do not persecute Christians.

India Hindu Militants Attack Church In Tense State

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife) -- Tensions remained high Wednesday, September 6, in an area of India's Jammu and Kashmir state after dozens of Hindu militants stormed a church and attacked Christians, including women and children, as they were attending a Sunday worship service, local Christians said.

The All India Christian Council (AICC), an influential advocacy group, said the militants also attacked seven Christians who are facing charges that include "forcible conversions."

They were earlier identified as the church's Pastors P.R. Anthony and Reji K. Sunny as well as Bible students Umesh Kumar, Tarsan Chand, Samuel Masih, Kamal Jeet and Baldev Raj, who are due to appear in court on September 16. Charges include forcible conversion of a youth belonging to the Sikh religion.

BAJRANG DAL

"Sushil Sooden, a leader of [the Hindu militant group] Bajrang Dal, brought along 40 Hindu activists" to beat up the Christians, Sunday morning, September 3 in church in the Shivagiri area of the state's Kathua district. Bajran Dal is following the ideology of Hindutva, or «Hinduness", a word used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism

"Children, women and their husbands numbering 20 were [also] brutally attacked during the prayer meeting. The incident took place in full daylight as well as in the presence of local media," said the group, which represents this and other churches across India.

Pastor Anthony was reportedly pulled out and beaten and nearly killed by several militants, Christians said.

Click on the picture for a preview of a future post about an attack on a Roman Catholic bishop..

What Modern President am I Most Like?

I just took one of those web quizzes. Here is the result;

You Are Most Like George W. Bush

So what if you're not exactly popular? You still rule the free world. And while you may be quite conservative now, you knew how to party back in the day!

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

Actually, I am a little surprised, but thank God it didn't say that I am most like President Carter or Clinton. I was hoping for President Reagan.

The last sentence is exactly true.

Kiev Schools to Teach Christianity

It is good to see that there is at least one Christian country that is willing to teach its Christian culture to its children. With every other country in the world giving up their moral senses and/or bowing to Islam, it is important to transmit our own culture to our children, and Kiev is going to do it.

Of course there are critics.

Kiev Schools Look to Reinforce Ukraine's Christian Heritage

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Some public schools in the Ukrainian capital will begin teaching Christian ethics this year in an experimental program aimed at reinforcing the country's thousand-year Christian heritage, Kiev city officials said Thursday.

The course, titled "Christian Ethics in Ukrainian Culture: The Path of Good," raised concern among Kiev's minority Jewish population, and among state education officials, who called its introduction premature.

The class for 6-year-olds will be launched in 100 of Kiev's 527 schools, reaching about 6,000 pupils. Any parent can choose to have a child opt out of the lessons. Next year, city officials aim to have the lessons reach all of the capital's 21,100 first-grade students.

Ukraine, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian, has flirted before with the idea of introducing a religion-based ethics class, but earlier plans ran into opposition from the country's Jews and Muslims. This latest project also sparked some concerns, but the Kiev city administration - headed by a mayor who once sent a Bible to every Ukrainian lawmaker - has vowed to go ahead. "There is a path of good and a path of evil, and wherever God acts, the devil also appears," Deputy Mayor Vitaliy Zhuravsky said. "Whoever opposes introducing Christian ethics - for me, that's devilry."

I agree.

They are not forcing anyone to become Christian, they are teaching ethics. And remember, their Constitution is not the same as ours. They can, and should, do this. I wish we could.

Kim Jong-Il Assists U.S. - Japan Military Realignment

Yep, you read the headline correctly. The Dear Murderer Freak-boy's erratic, insane, belligerent, murderous national and foreign policies have cleared away the Liberal™ and Leftist™ political debris in Japan such that major changes in the U.S. - Japan military relationship can occur.

Further, the clearing away of that political debris will also enable the modification or rewriting of the Japanese Constitution in such a way as to permit the creation of a real, offensive-capable military in Japan. This would have been unthinkable a mere ten years ago.

These stories together say a lot.

From the Taipei Times, Kim Jong-il helps accelerate US, Japanese plan to realign forces

The Dear Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, has inadvertently added urgency to US plans to realign its military forces in Japan and to the Japanese intent to make their forces more relevant, as the US and Japan seek to increase their capabilities by cooperating more closely.

In the weeks following the North Korean launch of seven missiles into the sea between Korea and Japan on July 4, Lieutenant General Bruce Wright, the US Air Force officer who commands US forces in Japan, said there had been "a monumental change" in Japanese attitudes toward transitions already underway.

Japanese officers, queried separately, agreed.

Before, negotiations had been moving along but had run into obstacles due largely to political pressures within Japan. Opposition focused on local issues such as noise from aircraft, crowding as residential areas grew up around once-remote US bases and cultural misunderstandings between Japanese and Americans in Japan.

Those issues have not been entirely swept away but, as a staff officer at a US air base west of Tokyo said, "Japan is on the cusp of major changes in security policy."

The Japanese, for instance, have asked the US to accelerate delivery of Patriot anti-missile batteries to Japan.

...

The weight of Japan's small but modern armed force is gradually being shifted from Hokkaido, the northern island, where its Northern Army's mission was to repel a possible Russian invasion. Today, Japan sees a near-term threat from North Korea and a slowly developing threat from China. Kyushu is closer to North Korea and China than Hokkaido.

A Japanese officer in the Western Army said: "We are the ones out front now."

And from the Manichi Daily News, Nationalist Abe rides wave of popularity as front-runner to lead Japanese government

Abe is far and away the top candidate to take over on Sept. 20 as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a position that guarantees his election by the LDP-controlled parliament to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He is slated to formally declare his candidacy Friday.

His handling of the North Korean kidnapping issue illustrates the traits he will likely bring to the job: a hard-line against North Korea, a defiant and muscular nationalism, and a keen ability to please the crowd.

...

Abe is unlikely to initiate any breaks in policy with Koizumi. Analysts expect continued market reform and ever-tighter diplomatic and military cooperation with top ally the United States. The security treaty with the U.S. was signed when his grandfather was prime minister.

Recently Abe has floated ideas for creating Japanese versions of the U.S. National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a book, "Toward a Beautiful Country," and in speeches he's given lately, Abe has signaled what is likely to be a centerpiece of his initial year in office: revision of Japan's U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution, which bars the military from overseas military action.

"It's been 61 years since the end of World War II and we need to start working toward creating a Japan that's suitable for the 21st century," he said during an August speech.

Lastly, from the International Herald Tribune, Report: Japan will treat North Korea nuclear test as national emergency

TOKYO Japan will declare a national emergency if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, a response usually reserved for major earthquakes and other national calamities, a news report said Saturday.

Watch as Japan decides to build a real armed force with offensive capabilities.

It is about time.

Video - Children of North Korea

Orphan children with no money must pull individual grains of rice out of the mud right in front of stalls selling food.

Liberals and the Left™ make a lot of noise about how socialist and communist countries feed their poor. This video makes it very clear that this is just a lie.

From Discovery/Times,
North Korea - Children of the Secret State

Watch how a country descends into cannibalism.

Watch how valuable farmland in a starving country is plowed under and planted with opium.

Watch how food aid, the most per capita of any country on earth, is diverted from those who need it.

Watch how aid agencies are forbidden to feed starving children standing right in front of them so that the food aid can be given to the Army.

Watch witnesses, including former guards, describe the grossest treatment and murder of people imprisoned for exactly nothing.

Watch how the world's most monstrous government starves its children.

The end of Kim Jong-Il and his monstrous cronies cannot come to soon.

Watch the whole thing, it is only 45 minutes long and it is heartbreaking.

A big "thank you" to Andrew, who linked this video in a comment on the Who is Ahn Chol? post.