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USS Parche (SSN 683) is in Dry Dock 2 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard being recycled. There is not a lot left of her. I walk past her several times each day as Dry Dock 2 is between my office and Pier 6 where USS Ohio (SSGN 726) is moored. She has been gutted and is cut in half, with the forward end of her reactor compartment capped-off.
Submarines have never had the same kind of beauty that many surface ships have, see my earlier post on USS Mississippi. In military terms, that matters not at all. USS Parche and her crews executed missions of inestimable importance to the national security. For a clue, read Blind Man's Bluff, it is a great read.
God bless all who served aboard her.
There is no evidence that Osama bin Laden was killed or injured in the earthquake that recently occurred in Pakistan. There is good news, however - No Evidence Bin Laden Hurt or Killed:Meanwhile, scores of activists from an Islamist charity linked to a banned Pakistani militant organization died in the devastating earthquake.
The militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was outlawed by Pakistan in January 2002, a month after its fighters were accused of taking part in an attack on India's Parliament in New Delhi.
A spokesman for Jamat-ud-Dawa, a group drawn from the ranks of Lashkar, said the charity'’s mosques, hospitals, schools and seminaries were obliterated in Saturday's earthquake. "Many of our members have been killed. They are in scores while several others are still trapped under the rubble," the spokesman said yesterday.
It is of course tragic in the extreme that such an event as this earthquake could kill so many, but the deaths of Islamists like those of al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba is not to be regretted. Good riddance to them.
The Chinese see North Korea as an important source of minerals and is investing hundreds of millions of yuan in mineral ventures, particularly the new Taean Friendship Glass Plant Resource-hungry China looks to North Korea State-run Korean Central Television in Pyongyang has not only begun regular weekly updates on the Taean Friendship Glass Plant, it has also spruced up its studio to play the part of attractive investment locale.
On Aug. 11, for the first time in North Korean news, an announcer and a reporter were shown at the same time, a man and a woman, talking with each other about the plant, said Yonhap News Agency.
A flashy new flat TV screen was also displayed in the drab studio.
"North Korea is publicizing the project positively," said an official at South Korea's Unification Ministry. "It's because the project is a symbol of the friendship between China and North Korea."
Part of the pomp surrounding the plant will be a ceremony to celebrate its completion. It will be held Monday-the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.
Ordinary workers, meantime, are having to brave what the Workers' Party calls a cut in its "minimum wage"-from $80 (9,120 yen) to $38 (4,332 yen) a month. The idea apparently is to woo foreign investors by showcasing cheap labor.
Worker's paradise? And, this will help preserve the Dear Murdering Freak in power.
The liberal press in the U.S. Europe would have you believe that the "Israeli occupation" is the reason why Palestinian Christians have been fleeing Palestine. That is a lie. This piece starts with what is not old news, but makes a very important point.
Anti-Christian Pogrom in the West Bank
The historical Christian towns of Bethlehem and Nazereth (sic), once home to large Christian populations, have seen that population flee en masse due to Muslim intimidation and violence. As HonestReporting has documented:
● Over 100 Palestinian terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity in 2002, using it as a fortress from which to fire upon Israeli troops, while holding nuns, priests and monks hostage, and looting or destroying virtually everything of value inside the building.
● During 2000-2002, the PA's Tanzim militia chose the Christian town of Beit Jala as a base for unprovoked shooting at Jerusalem. The Tanzim were specifically positioned in or near Christian homes, hotels, churches, and the Greek Orthodox club, knowing fully well that these sites would be hard-hit by Israeli return fire.
● In 1995, Bethlehem was 62% Christian, but today is less than 20% Christian. Before 1995, Bethlehem had a majority-Christian municipal council, but when the Palestinian Authority took over the town, Yassir Arafat replaced the municipal council with a predominately Muslim council, and Christian Arabs fled Bethlehem in droves after a radical Islamic wave began inciting against them.
● On February 6, 2002, the Boston Globe reported "a rampage of Palestinian Muslims against Christian shops and churches in Ramallah... Police made no attempt to stop the mob, which besieged and damaged a widely respected youth center associated with the Boy Scouts of America after torching the Christian properties...'The truth is this is a problem between Christians and Muslims,' said one Christian businessman."
A Palestinian government under Hamas or the PLO/PA (Palestinian Authority) will spell the end of Christianity outside of Israel as Christians will be killed and Church buildings both ancient and modern will be destroyed. All the while it will be the Israelis who will be criticized, not the murderers of Hamas or the PLO/PA.
You can count on liberals and the MSM to completely ignore this situation.
Found at Pave France - From Haaretz, Haaretz investigates French FM's faux pas at Yad VashemThe French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine reported in its September 14th issue that during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to the new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem on September 8, he asked - while perusing maps of European sites where Jewish communities had been destroyed - whether British Jews were not also murdered. Needless to say, Douste-Blazy's question was met by his hosts with amazement. "But Monsieur le minister," Le Canard quoted the ensuing conversation, "England was never conquered by the Nazis during World War II."
The minister apparently was not content with this answer, which, according to the magazine, was given by the museum curator, and persisted, asking: "Yes, but were there no Jews who were deported from England?"
Douste-Blazy arrived in Israel earlier this month for a first visit, as the guest of his Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
According to an investigation by Haaretz on Sunday, the event actually occurred as described, although no official source was willing to confirm it. Douste-Blazy did visit Yad Vashem on September 8, at 11 A.M. He was in fact escorted by the curator of the museum, his entourage from the French foreign ministry and several French reporters.
One of the escorts confirmed on Sunday, on condition of anonymity, that the quotes in Le Canard were accurate, and that they caused great embarrassment. "It's a bit difficult to understand," the source said, "how an educated French person, who was serving in the French government during the huge celebrations of the Normandy landings, does not remember basic facts about the history of World War II, and especially Britain's role, especially in light of the fact, that France's great leader, General de Gaulle, led the operations of the Resistance from exile in London."
The French embassy in Israel learned of the embarrassing incident from Le Canard.
Yad Vashem spokeswoman Iris Rosenberg said in response that the French foreign minister had visited the Holocaust memorial site at the said date and time, and that she hoped his visit was "successful and enriching."
Philippe Douste-Blazy certainly seems to be in need of significant "enrichment". A mistake such as this is less the result of ignorance of the history of the British role in the War as an assumption that the mass deportation of Jews is a normal occurrence warranting surprise at the British failure to do so.
Europe continues to be largely antisemitic.
Christopher Hitchens nails it. Anti-War, My Foot
The phony peaceniks who protested in Washington.Saturday's demonstration in Washington, in favor of immediate withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq, was the product of an opportunistic alliance between two other very disparate "coalitions." Here is how the New York Times (after a front-page and an inside headline, one of them reading "Speaking Up Against War" and one of them reading "Antiwar Rallies Staged in Washington and Other Cities") described the two constituenciess of the event:The protests were largely sponsored by two groups, the Answer Coalition, which embodies a wide range of progressive political objectives, and United for Peace and Justice, which has a more narrow, antiwar focus.
The name of the reporter on this story was Michael Janofsky. I suppose that it is possible that he has never before come across "International ANSWER," the group run by the "Worker's World" party and fronted by Ramsey Clark, which openly supports Kim Jong-il, Fidel Castro, Slobodan Milosevic, and the "resistance" in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Clark himself finding extra time to volunteer as attorney for the génocidaires in Rwanda. Quite a "wide range of progressive political objectives" indeed, if that's the sort of thing you like. However, a dip into any database could have furnished Janofsky with well-researched and well-written articles by David Corn and Marc Cooper—to mention only two radical left journalists—who have exposed "International ANSWER" as a front for (depending on the day of the week) fascism, Stalinism, and jihadism.
The group self-lovingly calling itself "United for Peace and Justice" is by no means "narrow" in its "antiwar focus" but rather represents a very extended alliance between the Old and the New Left, some of it honorable and some of it redolent of the World Youth Congresses that used to bring credulous priests and fellow-traveling hacks together to discuss "peace" in East Berlin or Bucharest. Just to give you an example, from one who knows the sectarian makeup of the Left very well, I can tell you that the Worker's World Party—Ramsey Clark's core outfit—is the product of a split within the Trotskyist movement. These were the ones who felt that the Trotskyist majority, in 1956, was wrong to denounce the Russian invasion of Hungary. The WWP is the direct, lineal product of that depraved rump. If the "United for Peace and Justice" lot want to sink their differences with such riffraff and mount a joint demonstration, then they invite some principled political criticism on their own account. And those who just tag along … well, they just tag along.
To be against war and militarism, in the tradition of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, is one thing. But to have a record of consistent support for war and militarism, from the Red Army in Eastern Europe to the Serbian ethnic cleansers and the Taliban, is quite another. It is really a disgrace that the liberal press refers to such enemies of liberalism as "antiwar" when in reality they are straight-out pro-war, but on the other side. Was there a single placard saying, "No to Jihad"? Of course not. Or a single placard saying, "Yes to Kurdish self-determination" or "We support Afghan women's struggle"? Don't make me laugh. And this in a week when Afghans went back to the polls, and when Iraqis were preparing to do so, under a hail of fire from those who blow up mosques and U.N. buildings, behead aid workers and journalists, proclaim fatwahs against the wrong kind of Muslim, and utter hysterical diatribes against Jews and Hindus.
Read the whole thing, Mr. Hitchens supplies a solid argument to demonstrate his point.
There is absolutely nothing so evil that it will not be supported by the American and European Left. This is truly an evil political movement that seeks to promote tyranny and destroy the US and Israel.
Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate has now come out against the nomination of Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court. Now Mr. Reid is from a conservative state, and is himself opposed to abortion. Judge Roberts has made clear that there is no place on the Supreme Court for ideologues. You would think that a guy like Mr. Reid would like to make his constituents happy by supporting a nominee who reflects the views of Nevada and, at least in part, Mr Reid himself. But no, he has been given other orders.
Top Democrat Says He'll Vote No on RobertsWASHINGTON, Sept. 20 - The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Tuesday that he would oppose the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice, surprising both the White House and fellow Democrats still conflicted about how to vote.
In becoming the first Democrat to declare formally how he intended to vote, Mr. Reid may have made it more difficult for fellow Democrats to support Judge Roberts. Many Senate observers expected Mr. Reid, who comes from a Republican-leaning state and is opposed to abortion, to support Judge Roberts.
And the Democratic leader himself said Tuesday that he had earlier given the White House a list of nominees who would be objectionable and that Judge Roberts was not on it.
In announcing his decision in a lengthy speech on the Senate floor, Mr. Reid questioned Judge Roberts' commitment to civil rights and said he was "very swayed" by the civil rights and women's rights leaders who testified Thursday in opposition to the nomination - and with whom Mr. Reid met privately that same day. Liberal advocacy groups, who raise millions of dollars to support Democratic candidates and who have been putting intense pressure on Democrats to oppose the nomination, were elated.
...
One centrist Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said Tuesday that he had "not seen anything that would cause me to vote against" confirmation of Judge Roberts to be the nation's 17th chief justice.
Last Thursday, as Mr. Reid was weighing his decision, representatives of about 40 advocacy groups met with him in the Capitol; the reason, they said, was to underscore the threat they believe Judge Roberts poses to Democrats' core causes, racial and gender equality. Hovering in the background was a political argument, that if Democrats vote in favor of Judge Roberts, they will be held liable by voters for the decisions he makes on the court.
"He got the message loud and clear, didn't he?" Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said of Mr. Reid on Tuesday.
Yes, he did. If a nominee who is as nonideolgical as Judge Roberts cannot get Democrat Party support, why would the President think that any nominee of his could? Of course he would not think so, and would have no reason to consider Democrat Party opinion in his next nominee.
The not-so-loyal opposition Party wants to influence the President in his choices of nominees to the Supreme Court. But if Mr. Bush has to count on Democratic Party opposition to any choice that he may make, why should he consider them at all?
Mr. Reid should be careful.
It has been a little while since the grounding of the USS San Francisco (SSN 711) has been in the news. This accident resulted in the tragic death of Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio. Since then the ship has been fitted with a new sonar dome, as seen in this official U. S. Navy photograph. Get an excellent high resolution copy of this photo here.
She has now arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for permanent repairs. I was standing topside on USS Ohio (SSGN 726) and observed USS San Francisco driving into Sinclair Inlet and then the Shipyard.
The damage that she sustained is extremely extensive. In fact, the ship was very nearly lost. Here are some photographs of her in dry dock after her arrival in Guam shortly after the grounding (with blue tarp installed to cover stuff that is classified).
View from dry dock floor.
View from dry dock wall.
Despite the obviously very serious damage that she sustained in an accident that took a sailor's life, she will be rebuilt and in the end have greater capabilities than she had before. Trust me, I hear things in the shipyard. We will make her better than she was.
How is it that people who hate the United States have such a huge part in memorializing Americans killed in terrorist attacks? It was just a few days ago that I posted on the abomination that is to be part of the "memorial" in New York City. Now we have the obscenity of a giant Islamic crescent to be used as a "memorial" to those murdered onboard Flight. 93 in Pennsylvania. Charles Johnson has been writing on the Flight 93 "memorial" here and here. Read the articles to which he links.
Zombietime has an excellent demonstration that clearly shows that this is, without doubt, to be an Islamic crescent. Flight 93 Memorial Project
Included on zombie's page is "an azimuthal equidistant world map centered on the location of the Flight 93 Memorial which seems to indicate that the crescent is oriented toward Mecca" created by "Etaoin Shrdlu". That is the picture that you see at the top of this post. Were this to be shown on a Mercator projection we would see the great circle route.
Take a look at the PowerPoint presentation used by Paul Murdoch Associates (the architect that designed this obscenity) and see if you don't think that the Tower of Voices isn't a minaret.
In a post at Little Green Footballs, zombie writes:Listen up:
The final decision on this memorial has to be approved by The Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton. I don't agree with some of her policies, but right now we need to set that aside and go straight to the top. Even if every intermediate decision-maker approves of the design, she can veto it. She has the final word.
Let her know that this is completely unacceptable. Gale Norton is one of the most conservative members of Bush's cabinet, so I think she will truly understand why this memorial is unacceptable.
You can send messages to her at the Department of Interior email address
gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
Or use the Web contact from (sic) on her Web page.
Phone and snail mail for her office:
Phone: (202) 208-3100
Gale Norton
Department of the Interior
1849 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20240
Do it today!
Is this any way to remember them?
As it stands now, the memorials to victims of the attacks of Islamic terrorists on 9/11/01 in New York City and Pennsylvania are mockeries. At least the Pentagon Memorial is respectful.
UPDATE 8:17 PM:
Read this splendid piece by Aaron at Pardon My English, The Politics of Architecture: The Flight 93 Memorial
Lee Keller King gets a big tip of the hat for his link to Slugger O'Toole's piece, Ill Wind may not Blow to the Whitehouse which is a reprint of a column by Newton Emerson in the Irish Times.Newton Emerson is on great form in the Irish Times today. Since it deserves a much wider play on the Internet. I have permission from him to republish it on the net. It's a rhetorical gem.
By Newton Emerson
As the full horror of Hurricane Katrina sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if this is the end of George Bush's presidency. The answer is almost certainly yes, provided that every copy of the US Constitution was destroyed in the storm. Otherwise President Bush will remain in office until noon on January 20th, 2009, as required by the 20th Amendment, after which he is barred from seeking a third term anyway under the 22nd Amendment.
As the full horror of this sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if the entire political agenda of George Bush's second term will not still be damaged in some terribly satisfying way.
The answer is almost certainly yes, provided that the entire political agenda of George Bush's second term consists of repealing the 22nd Amendment. Otherwise, with a clear Republican majority in both Houses of Congress, he can carry on doing pretty much whatever he likes.
Unlike Slugger O'Toole, I do not have permission to republish the article, so go read the whole thing. This is really good stuff.
The USS Mississippi (CGN-40) is in Dry Dock #3 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She was decommissioned on the 28th of July, 1997. I walk past the remains of her hull as she is being cut up for recycling. When I started working in the Shipyard most of the hull was there, although the superstructure had been removed. Now there is very little left. The Virginia class of nuclear powered cruiser (CGN) were beautiful ships that were decommissioned before their time. It is a damn shame.
USS Mississippi CGN-40 Official Crew Website
The country which is still the place to which people come when truly oppressed is the United States. That does not prevent the Left from hating, insulting, and inciting violence against us. The New York Daily News had this story on the 21st of August, Another insult to America's heritage at Freedom Center [editing for format only - ed.];A global network of human rights museums is urging the International Freedom Center to downplay America in its exhibits and programs at Ground Zero, the Daily News has learned.
The outrageous request is the latest controversy to torment the Freedom Center, whose leaders have tried to dispel the perception that it would be a home for America bashers.
"Don't feature America first," the IFC has been advised by the consortium of 14 "museums of conscience" that quietly has been consulting with the Freedom Center for the past two years over plans for the hallowed site. "Think internationally, where America is one of the many nations of the world."
What, specifically was the advice that our America-hating "heroes" got?Coalition members gathered for their annual conference at a Holocaust site in the Czech Republic in July 2004 - and assailed the United States for "reasserting its power in an arrogant way," the conference report shows.
Among its suggestions for the place where the United States was attacked and nearly 3,000 innocents massacred: "The Freedom Center must signal its openness to contrary ideas."
Philip Kunhardt, the Freedom Center's editorial director, was in attendance at a session called Bringing Conscience to Ground Zero and was given this advice:
- "Help distinguish between American people and the U.S. government in exhibits ..."
- "Use reports from human rights organizations to examine contemporary abuse of rights."
- "Involve the United Nations, UNESCO and other international bodies."
- "Use the museum as a venue for international meetings, where all views are welcomed and considered."
At the conference, the coalition also leveled barbs at the IFC: "The Freedom Center is a caricature of the typical American response to everything [telling every story from an American viewpoint]."
Members of the coalition also expressed these concerns:
- "It seems that whatever Americans want, Americans get!" the conference report states. "Is the definition of the 'struggle for freedom' simply defined by the victors, or also by those engaged in ongoing struggles? Will Americans really create a balanced vision of freedom?"
- "The WTC was attacked because it was a symbol of power and influence. In building the Freedom Tower, the U.S. reasserts its power in an arrogant way: Does this mean the U.S. will not only build the biggest building, but also define freedom for the world?"
- "Many nonsecular Muslims may be very skeptical about the intent of this museum (e.g. the average Bangladeshi condemns the Sept. 11 attacks, yet at the same time feels his/her human rights have been violated by the U.S.)."
The space being given to these attacks against us is not insignificant. They will be, by far, the largest tenant at the complex with 300,000 square feet of space. The actual memorial is one sixth of that size at 50,000 square feet and one must go through the IFC in order to get to the memorial.
Deborah Weiss, in a excellent piece for The Weekly Standard, describes it, The Memorial They Deserve;...And now the families of many of them are being forced to resist efforts by the left to hijack the memorial at Ground Zero. The plan? An "International Freedom Center," to be filled with a host of anti-American exhibits and exhibits that have nothing to do with 9/11. Debra Burlingame, sister of a 9/11 pilot whose plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and a member of the board of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, first blew the whistle on these plans in a June 8 article for the Wall Street Journal.
Burlingame noted that a "Who's Who of the human rights, Guantanamo-obsessed world" would be programming the International Freedom Center, with exhibits contemplated on topics such as Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide of American-Indians, and pictures from the Abu Ghraib scandal. The message? We have to understand why all these events occurred in order to gain insight into why we were attacked. Seminars will be held at the IFC, presumably explaining how America brought 9/11 on herself and why the terrorists hate us.
The International Freedom Center is to be by far the largest tenant at the World Trade Center Memorial Cultural Complex. It will cover approximately 300,000 square feet, amidst a designer park with foliage, waterfalls, and retail shops. And the Memorial Center itself? Well, that will be squirreled away underground, in an area of only 50,000 square feet: one-sixth the size of the Freedom Center. Moreover, one will have to pass through the International Freedom Center and all its propaganda in order to get to the actual memorial, where the names of those killed will be listed and artifacts from the site will be displayed.
What a perverse spectacle, to see our own citizens working so hard to smear our Country.
Liberalism is entirely and purely about hate. Hatred of all that is America and Israel, coincidentally the western democracies most interested in defending themselves. Now that the UK is defending itself, watch as it is attacked.
Read all of Deborah Weiss' column, it is very well worth it.
I have not blogged on Hurricane Katrina because there are others covering the disaster with resources much greater than mine. I am assuming that most of you, my dear readers, are also readers of Little Green Footballs. Charles' Hurricane Katrina Open Threads and his other posts are excellent sources of information, including safe places to which you can send money without being scammed. See also Glenn Reynolds' superb work at Instapundit.
If you can, please send whatever money you can to help. Be careful to avoid scammers and other disgusting criminals. If your company is starting a fund, that would probably be a good way to help. That is what I will do. The company that I work for (General Dynamic - which owns Electric Boat Corp.) is establishing a fund to which I will donate.
To understand how the Mississippi River Delta got into this state, read Wretchard's series at The Belmont Club;
The Imperfect Storm
The Imperfect Storm 2
The Imperfect Storm 3
And, pray for the victims of this tragedy.
Have you heard enough about chickenhawks? Go to the Right Wing Nut House and read about The Chickendoves.Where’s the spirit that brought us Lenin’s October Revolution? Where’s the courage that gave us Mao’s Long March? Where’s the defiance that fueled the Vietnamese in their quest to defeat the United States – a defiance made easier by your ideological ancestor’s cheering them on while calling for the defeat of the United States armed forces on the field of battle.
Face it. The reason there is no anti-war prairie fire sweeping the country is that you and your lefty friends are a pale imitation of the hard-eyed radicals that manned the battlements in the 1960’s. Those guys wanted a revolution. Your generation complains if there’s no wi-fi access. They wanted to foment mass protest. You people can’t function unless there’s a Starbucks within a couple of blocks. They were readers of Ginsberg, Sartre, and listened to songs by Joan Baez. You guys think addle brained Kurt Cobaine was a poet.
The whole world is watching and you’re sitting in front of your computer writing paeans to a witless, anti-semitic media glutton whose anti-American rants and conspiratorial flights of fancy have driven away all but the most willfully deluded among Democrats.
If you do decide to drive to Crawford and support Mother Sheehan, be careful. Your Lexus might get dusty.
It should be obvious to anyone that the establishment of a stable democracy where basic freedoms are respected would "destabilize" the Middle East and Central Asia, and that that would be very good. Let the people living in the countries that neighbor Iraq that something better is possible for them.
From Channelnewsasia.com, At least 30 wounded in Philippine ferry blastZAMBOANGA : At least 30 people including children were wounded in a suspected bomb attack on a ferry in an area of the southern Philippines plagued by Muslim insurgents, officials said Sunday.
The explosion went off while passengers were boarding the Dona Ramona ferry at the town of Lamitan on Basilan island, sparking scenes of chaos.
Nick Castro, an aide to Lamitan's mayor, said at least 19 people were initially reported wounded but vice mayor Jimmy Adong said health authorities had confirmed 24 hurt with the figure expected to rise.
Castro said the explosion appeared to have been caused by a home-made bomb although authorities were investigating.
The ferry had been just about to leave for its first morning trip to the nearby port city of Zamboanga.
The area was "in chaos", provincial spokesman Cris Puno said, with those wounded suffering severe burns caused by the blast.
A thick scent of gunpowder hung in the air, he added.
"There were children among those wounded," he said, declining to speculate when asked who could be behind the latest bombing.
The blast at Lamitan port - built using US aid money and opened by the American charge d'affaires Daryl Johnson just days ago - came after Muslim militants injured 26 people in a bomb attack on a parked vehicle and inn on August 26.
Security forces have been on heightened alert for more bombings after three suspects in the Zamboanga blast from the Abu Sayyaf group, a small gang of Islamic militants which once enjoyed support from Al-Qaeda, were freed on bail.
WorldNetDaily reports, Warship built with steel from Twin Towers.In tribute to victims of the 9-11 attack on New York City, the U.S. Navy is using 10 tons of steel from the World Trade Center to build a new warship that will help defend the nation from terrorism.
The USS New York, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2008, according to the European edition of the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes.
The article goes on to discuss the appropriateness of remembering and honoring the victims of the attack in this way.
It is appropriate that it is used in a ship that will help us kill our enemies.
The most overturned court in the land, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently ruled that the law applies even when you might not like it.
Court upholds limit on abortion coverageSAN FRANCISCO — U.S. armed forces medical benefits don't cover abortion costs unless a mother's life is at risk, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said an abortion for a Navy sailor's wife, a Bremerton woman, wasn't covered even after the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal birth defect.
In a 3-0 ruling, the judges acknowledged the ruling was "callous and unfeeling" and said they were not judging the "wisdom, fairness or logic" of congressional legislation that limited abortions under military medical plans.
Lawmakers served a legitimate governmental purpose by denying such benefits because of "an interest in potential life," Judge Richard Tallman wrote for the San Francisco-based court.
The case concerns Jane Doe, whose real identity has been concealed, who had an abortion five months into her pregnancy when doctors said her baby would probably survive only two months. Tests in 2002 showed the baby had anencephaly, a defect that causes a fetus to develop without a forebrain, cerebellum or cranium.
Coverage for the abortion was denied, so she sued, claiming an armed-forces health plan owed her $3,000 for the procedure.
The government paid her after a judge ruled in her favor, but then it appealed to get its money back.
The court, reprinting coverage regulations, wrote: "Abortions performed for suspected or confirmed fetal abnormality ... do not fall within the exceptions permitted within the language of the statute and are not authorized for payment."
Key word - statute. Medical benefits in the Armed Forces are set by law. Of course to the pro-abortion lobby the law is unimportant.Lisa Stone, executive director of the Northwest Women's Law Center, which represented the sailor's wife, said the case was a longshot because federal funds generally cannot pay for abortions except in limited circumstances.
"We believe it was worth it to pursue it because the basis for upholding the government's ban — the interest in potential human life — does not apply here," Stone said. "There is no potential for human life."
Stone said the center was considering its next move. Options include letting the decision stand, asking the court to rehear the case with all 11 judges or seeking Supreme Court review.
Now, if we can get judges to rule according to the law, and not later apologize for it, we will be making some progress.
2 Illegal Immigrants Win Arizona Ranch in Court. Notice how the NYT sets the story up to make it look obvious that the illegal aliens were abused, whether or not they ever were.DOUGLAS, Ariz., Aug. 18 - Spent shells litter the ground at what is left of the firing range, and camouflage outfits still hang in a storeroom. Just a few months ago, this ranch was known as Camp Thunderbird, the headquarters of a paramilitary group that promised to use force to keep illegal immigrants from sneaking across the border with Mexico.
Now, in a turnabout, the 70-acre property about two miles from the border is being given to two immigrants whom the group caught trying to enter the United States illegally.
The land transfer is being made to satisfy judgments in a lawsuit in which the immigrants had said that Casey Nethercott, the owner of the ranch and a former leader of the vigilante group Ranch Rescue, had harmed them.
"Certainly it's poetic justice that these undocumented workers own this land," said Morris S. Dees Jr., co-founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which represented the immigrants in their lawsuit.
Mr. Dees said the loss of the ranch would "send a pretty important message to those who come to the border to use violence."
Even if true, this is ridiculous.Bill Dore, a Douglas resident briefly affiliated with Ranch Rescue who is still active in the border-patrolling Minuteman Project, called the land transfer "ridiculous."
"The illegals are coming over here," Mr. Dore said. "They are getting the American property. Hell, I'd come over, too. Get some American property, make some money from the gringos."
The immigrants getting the ranch, Edwin Alfredo Mancía Gonzáles and Fátima del Socorro Leiva Medina, could not be reached for comment. Kelley Bruner, a lawyer at the law center, said they did not want to speak to the news media but were happy with the outcome.
No doubt. I'd be happy too. One of the reasons that I do not post every day is that I work between 10 to 15 hours a day so that I may save a down payment for a house (not a ranch, a house). Who can be unhappy about free property? But, perhaps they were so severely abused that this was warranted.Mr. Mancía and Ms. Leiva were caught on a ranch in Hebbronville, Tex., in March 2003 by Mr. Nethercott and other members of Ranch Rescue. The two immigrants later accused Mr. Nethercott of threatening them and of hitting Mr. Mancía with a pistol, charges that Mr. Nethercott denied. The immigrants also said the group gave them cookies, water and a blanket and let them go after an hour or so.
Nethercott is certainly not a character with whom I would sympathize, but it does not appear that these illegal aliens were really abused. Also, on another level this is wrong. Property rights are the very foundation of our Constitution, and that is exactly what liberals are now attacking. While the Ranch Rescue people are depicted as "an extreme anti-immigration group", in America people have rights independent of their political views.
Interestingly, the New York Times was very careful to identify every player in this story except the judge.
