MM has competition

Blog wars suck, but this is funny. The green helmet man is on pace for bikini skank. "Give 'em hell, Michelle."

Woman Space Tourist Returns Triumphant

IRANIAN-born Anousheh Ansari, the world's first female paying space tourist, returned to Earth yesterday after an 11-day sojourn in space, capped by a bone-jarring journey from the international space station.

Ansari, Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams had left the station aboard a cramped Russian Soyuz capsule a little over three hours before landing as dawn broke over the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Russian space officials said all three felt well. But the rigours of the journey and the re-adjustment from the weightlessness they'd experienced on the ISS were clear as they sat still strapped in their seats outside the capsule.

Mrs. Ansari and her fellow astronauts left Earth, on Monday, Sept. 18, in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, part of a crew-exchange flight to the International Space Station.

And beware - even in space, there be bloggers!

Maybe someone should just steal the Royals

Stolen bust of George Brett found on roadside

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A bronze bust of former Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett was found in a roadside box Friday after it was stolen this week from the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Brett had 3,154 hits and batted .305 during a 21-year career with Kansas City. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

An unidentified person found the box in a ditch near the Lake of the Ozarks community of Camdenton and called Camden County sheriff's deputies, the sheriff's office said. "We are very pleased to be getting it back," Hall of Fame operations director Marty Willadsen said Friday.

Something from the gentle side of life

Turkmenistan: Legendary Horses Look To Make Comeback

WASHINGTON, 22 September 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Some experts will tell you the Ahal-Teke is the oldest horse breed in the world. These tall, elegant animals reportedly caught the attention of early explorers -- like Marco Polo and Alexander the Great -- for their ability to cover long distances in the desert with little water.
But the Ahal-Tekes have not survived without a struggle. The Teke tribe, a nomadic people who lived around an isolated oasis in southern Turkmenistan, preserved the horse over the centuries by refusing to allow it to be crossbred. But when the horse's guardians, the Teke, came under siege in the 19th century, so did the horses...

Click da link & take a peek at a little history and beauty.

The Mozart Syndrome

Jonah Goldberg explains how inexpensive it is for the jihadists to terrorize the West.

Big smile! Big smile!

Jihad watch

Clear commentary on a radical subject.

Allahu Akbar, baby!

Enough of the 'blog wars'

Play nice, kiddies.

Believe it or don't

There was terrorism in the world, directed specifically at the U.S. of A. and it's interests, before George Bush.
(really, really)
The Wall Street Journal has the low down.
Mucho gracias to that prolific Brit over at the U.S.S. Neverdock.

Call your office

Superheroes too much for Thai army

Iraq ain't no 'Rodney Dangerfield'

Iraq getting more respect in global eyes

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraq is getting more respect now that it has an elected government, fully participating in dozens of meetings at the U.N. General Assembly. "Now it's business," said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
"This is a good sign because Iraq really - despite the bad news, the negative news coming out of Baghdad - is moving steadily toward a functional state," he said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press.

Interior ministers of Iraq and its neighboring countries recently met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where they signed a security protocol to coordinate and exchange information and set up hot lines, he said. Despite this agreement, Zebari said, "I would say unfortunately, some of our neighbors have not been helpful." On the eve of the General Assembly, 31 countries attended a meeting of the Compact for Iraq, a five-year plan to ensure Iraq's government has funds to survive and enact key political and economic reforms.

Iraq has also reached agreements with Turkey to boost trade and open new border crossings, he said, and will sign a trade agreement with the European Union. "Even with the Iranians, we've signed an oil agreement for us to give them crude for one of their refineries which is close to Basra, while they will compensate us in the Gulf, to increase our export," Zebari said.

This all sounds like good progress to me, yet this story had such a short shelf life. If you blinked, you missed it. And some outlets were reluctant to even headline it in a positive light. Note the headline from the washington post: World Opinion of Iraq Seeming to Change. Same exact story as the gaurdian's but a world of difference in the headline.

...The more things stay the same...

Economic Justice

I always did like their slurpies, but they don't have 'em in hell, Hugo.
7-11 Stores are ending their 20-year supply agreement with CITGO Petroleum Corp.

...the contract ends next week and 7-11 is now making the switch to its own branded gasoline. The company says the change has nothing to do with derogatory comments made last week by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the United Nations. Nevertheless, 7/11 Stores will begin selling in October gas provided by US companies, such as Tower Energy Group in Torrance, CA., Sinclair Oil of Salt Lake City and Frontier Oil Corp of Houston.

This is strike two for citgo in as many months. Back in August, Susser Holdings Corp. severed ties with citgo and awarded contracts to Texas based Valero Energy Corp.

Words mean things.

Tokyo Rose suspect dies in Chicago

It was before my time, but for anyone who was the child of a WWII vet, names like this are familiar - and infamous.

Iva Toguri d'Aquino, who was convicted and later pardoned of being World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose," has died of natural causes. She was 90.

Tokyo Rose was the name given by soldiers to a female radio broadcaster responsible for anti-American transmissions intended to demoralise soldiers fighting in the Pacific theatre.

A different time and a different place is all fading away now. War has always been hell, but the Japanese propoganda of 'Tokyo Rose' seems mighty tame compared to the horrific internet broadcasts featuring screaming people having their heads sawn off at the hands of islamo-fascists like The army of Ansar al Sunnah.
(Warning: gruesome videos)

RIP

G00gle earth? G00gle this.

Satellite snaps topless sunbathers.

Spotters poring over satellite images housed on the popular Google Earth service have spied what appears to be two topless sunbathers in the Dutch city of The Hague soaking up the rays.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe its just another one of those 'face on mars' things.

I hate winter

Omar, from Iraq the Model, loves winter. The obvious respite from 115 plus degrees of oppressive summer heat is a good reason. Another reason is he doesn't have to constantly maintain his home's portable power generators. Ah, life in the big city.

These tow generators, each produce ~2.5 kw of power which is enough to cover the basic power needs of a household; fans, lights, TV, fridge, water pump and a computer. But this comes at a high expense; especially time-wise...keeping these two generators functioning cost an average of up to 2 hours of my time every day in the past 3-4 months.

I can't remember a day when both machines were functioning! At any given day there would be one of them yelling for some sort of maintenance. Aside from the daily oil-check and refueling and an oil change 2-3 times a week for each engine, there's a lot of maintenance to be done...

Go read it all and count your blessings.

Al-Qaeda's Emir of Anbar Province Killed

Khalid Mahal, the Emir of Anbar Province, and his aide Nasif Al-Mawla have been killed in operations.

Regional emirs are essentially military commanders (or senior generals in western terms), and Mahal would have reported directly to the Mujahdeen Shura, al-Qaeda's leadership council in Iraq.

This news comes just a few days after the announced kill of Omar Farouq, a top lieutenant of Osama Bin Laden.

Ya think?

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan suggested Tuesday that religious schools in Pakistan are a source of terrorism.

Muslim religious schools are traditionally called 'madrassas' and the students attending them are called 'talib' or taliban.

Russia to send nuclear fuel to Iran

Russia has agreed to ship nuclear fuel to Iran for its atomic power plant in the city of Bushehr, a senior Russian nuclear official has said.

Sergei Shmatko, head of Atomstroiexport, the state company building the plant, said on Tuesday that the agreement should remedy concerns voiced by Tehran over Russian reluctance on the issue.

Shamtko, who met with Mahmoud Hanatian, vice president of Iran's atomic energy organisation, said the Bushehr plant is expected to be opened in September 2007 and to start producing electricity by November.

Don't like al-jaz? Try here for much of the same info.
Or here.

Like a bad spy novel, the plot thickens.

Something about 'when the inmates run things'...

Guatemala forces end 10-year prisoner rule at jail.

FRAIJANES, Guatemala (Reuters) - Guatemalan security forces took over a jail run for over 10 years by inmates who built their own town on prison grounds complete with restaurants, churches and hard-drug laboratories.

Pavon was one of the worst prisons in Guatemala's penitentiary system, where common criminals, rival "mara" street gangs and drug traffickers often battle for control. Police had not been into Pavon, on the edge of the town of Fraijanes, since 1996.

Talk about prison reform.

We're All Neanderthals Now

Heck, they invented the wheel ...why not fences?

Sixty-four Democrats just voted with Republicans in the House to pass legislation authorizing 700 miles of double-layered fence along the border. The Senate recently voted 94-3 to spend nearly $2 billion on 370 miles' worth of fencing and will take up the House bill soon. As the panicked National Immigration Law Center says, "In recent days, there has been a serious deterioration of the position of pro-immigrant forces in Congress."

But a fence itself isn't sufficient. The key is stepped-up interior enforcement to cut off the jobs magnet that draws so many illegals here. The so-called Basic Pilot program — a small, voluntary system allowing employers to verify the legal status of their employees by computer — must be expanded and made mandatory. The Social Security Administration also has to tighten up its system of notifying employers when they hire people using fake Social Security numbers. It currently is full of holes that exist as a matter of policy to allow businesses, with a nod and a wink, to keep hiring illegals. These measures would really bite, and therefore are sure to encounter the bitter opposition of pro-illegal groups.

Rich Lowry has more over at Townhall.

RIP

That prolific brit over at the U.S.S. Neverdock has posted that a 'Senior al Qaeda terrorist has been killed in Iraq.'

Officials named the dead man as Omar Farouq, a top lieutenant of Osama Bin Laden in south-east Asia. Farouq was captured in Indonesia in 2002 but escaped from a US military prison in Afghanistan last year.

Which begs the question 'what the heck is he doing in Iraq?'

Dang that George Bush!!

He's in cahoots with the Zionist bankers and venusian stock brokers to sell short, I tell ya. Scotty! More tin foil!

Oil Prices Fall Below $60 a Barrel.

SINGAPORE Sep 24, 2006 (AP)— Oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel Monday as commodity investors responded to high inventories and a lack of geopolitical tensions to sell, analysts said.

It's all George Bush's fault.

where's the 'i-word' crowd?

Old news

Osama bin laden is still dead. And Scrappleface has a unique perspective.

Woot! There it is.

Scott Kirwin, over at Dean's World, writes about More Good News in Iraq.

Iraqi Tribes Turn on al Qaeda.
September 22, 2006: Coalition forces in Iraq have suddenly received the manpower equivalent of three light infantry divisions. They did not suffer any repercussions in domestic politics as a result, and now have a huge edge over al-Qaeda in al-Anbar province.

Not only are the 30,000 fighters going to provide more manpower, but these tribal fighters know the province much better than American troops – or the foreign fighters fighting for al Qaeda. Also, this represents just over 80 percent of the tribes in al-Anbar province now backing the government.

I bet this is frontpage news in the msm. Ha!

Fair is fair

I admit it.
I'm the first loudmouth to blow off steam and castigate the seemingly endless supply of vicious, petulent children who claim allegiance to the cult of Mohammed. But, fair is fair, so I have to shout just as loudly: ~Muslims & Christians In Iraq Join to Renounce Violence!~

The following is a Haider Ajina translation of a headline and article from the Iraqi Zahrira News Network (Ashirina) published on September 18th.

"Iraqi Muslims Pray with Christians in Churches to Show Togetherness & Partnership"

To show patriotism, true brotherhood and affirm the bond of belonging to one Iraq, which goes beyond religion or sect, a group of Iraqis (Christian and Muslim) attended a special service in the Roman Catholic church in Baghdad on Sunday the 17th of September. Muslims shared with Christian Catholics their prayer for almighty to clean the hearts and pray for unity. This came after increased anger by some Iraqi Muslims at statements made by the Holy Sea.

The 'Anchoress' has more commentary on this good news.

Of course, pt 2

The real reason why the islamo-fascists are mad.
Three bucks for a coffee.
Krykee.
God save the republic.

Of course

"Voter ID" bill passed in House

The Federal Election Integrity Act was approved on a nearly party-line 228-196 vote. Republicans backed the bill 224-3, with three nonvoters; Democrats opposed it 192-4, with five nonvoters.

I guess this proves that democrats have no integrity. But will it have legs through the senate? Doubtful. Too many panty waist politicos wanting to keep riding the gravy train and not wanting to alienate the aliens.

What I'd really like to see from would-be voters is proof of tax payment in order to vote. The rest of life is pay-to-play, why not government?

Dream on.

What? I can't hear you! pt 10

Iraq Forces Take Over control of second out of 18 Iraqi provinces.

BAGHDAD, Iraq --Iraqi forces formally took over security in a southern province from Italian troops on Thursday, making Dhi Qar the second of the country's 18 provinces to come under local control.

At a ceremony in the provincial capital, Nasiriyah, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki thanked "Italian troops for their services in helping the Iraqi troops take responsibility of security control."

Al-Maliki has said that Iraqi army and police plan to take over security for all of Iraq's provinces within the next 18 months. British troops handed over control of southern Muthana province in July.

Wait! It gets better.

DoD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Thomas B. Turner II from Iraq - September 08, 2006

Our primary focus was, and remains, the development of Iraqi security forces capable of providing domestic order and conducting the counterinsurgency fight in Iraq.

1) When we assumed control of MND-North, only one Iraqi army battalion was in the lead, and no territory had been transitioned. Today, through the efforts of our units partnered with Iraqi units and our military transition teams embedded in Iraqi units, 35 battalions, eight brigades and two divisions of the four divisions we're partnered with have assumed the lead and have been assigned an area of operation. The other two divisions should assume their area of responsibility by the end of this year.

2) Currently, over 31,000 police have been trained, and we are on a glide-path for over 43,000 to be trained by December. Nearly a hundred police stations were constructed or renovated this year, resulting in a provincial and district headquarters for each province in northern Iraq. In addition to this improvement in police facilities, another 30 stations are currently under construction.

3) 132 border forts have been built across the north. Additionally, seven points of entry along the east and west Iraqi borders have been upgraded.

4) All of Saddam Hussein's palaces constructed in northern Iraq have been returned to the Iraqi people. Coalition forces in our area of operation have been reduced by nearly half.

5) Iraq recently resumed crude oil exports from the northern fields for the first time since the autumn of 2005. Crude oil production for the second quarter improved 18 percent to 2.2 million barrels per day, and exports improved by 20 percent.

6) Coalition and Iraqi army forces joined together to add multiple powers, outposts and headquarters structures, thus increasing the presence of security forces along the Baiji-to-Kirkuk and the Baiji-to-Baghdad power lines. All together, these efforts have doubled the electrical power available to Baghdad from the north and have allowed 7.6 million Iraqis to receive power.

7) We have worked to rebuild the critical infrastructure, education, health and public works services that the former regime neglected. Within the six provinces, Iraqi leaders have set the priorities for nearly a thousand projects worth more than $130 million. This has also allowed for the development of small businesses centers in places such as Tikrit and Tall Afar, which assist growing entrepreneurs in the development of their businesses.

Can I get an amen?

Zeitgeist

8 German warships set sail for Lebanon.

Smooth manuever:

Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out sending combat troops to Lebanon in an attempt to ensure that no German soldiers could get caught up in any confrontation with Israeli forces.

Achtung, baby!

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.

How do you hide 30,000 people? If they are pro-Israel and anti-fascist, then they can hide in plain sight - right in front of the U.N. building! Powerline has more. In this information age, I found this most disturbing:

My guess is you never read or heard about the rally. The story Scot Silverstein sent us is from JTA, a Jewish news service. Scot writes:

A Google news search on "Israel rally UN" or similar terms only brings back a few hits, mostly from Jewish agencies.

This is stunning and deserves some attention. From an information science perspective it is as clear evidence of world news media collusion and bias as any.

Try the search yourself and see what (doesn't) happen.

Atlas Shrugs even has pictures and a vid on you tube of the whole affair.




Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.

Fools and idiots

Those are the population of california. And lawyers are the worst of them.

California sues carmakers over global warming.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - California sued six of the world's largest automakers over global warming on Wednesday, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have caused billions of dollars in damages.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.

It also comes less than a month after California lawmakers adopted the nation's first global warming law mandating a cut in greenhouse gas emissions.

I wonder if these bonehead political parasites (is that redundant?) are gonna sue each and every individual who ever purchased an automobile and drove it in california??

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Bigger is better

And my wife is a very happy woman. Economists in the U.S. of A. are very happy people too, but I had nothing to do with that fact.

Big tax haul signals strong profits.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Record high U.S. corporate tax receipts in the third quarter signal stronger-than-expected corporate profits for the period and the likelihood of a smaller budget deficit than forecast for 2006 and possibly 2007, analysts said on Monday.

Corporate tax receipts reached $71.8 billion in the third quarter, making Friday's gross receipts of $85.8 billion the largest in a single day in history, the Treasury Department said on Monday.

"You're beating the OMB numbers -- a slam dunk," said Ed McKelvey, senior economist at Goldman Sachs. "And the CBO number looks like it's a pretty good guess," he said.

The only problem is that bigger is only better until it isn't. Boortz sums it up this way: "... the fact that so much money was confiscated by the federal government in a single 24 hour period tells us something else. The government is too big...and it's become so large under a Republican administration and a Republican Congress. The Reagan Revolution is official dead among "conservative" politicians."

There is a silver lining in that monsterous cloud though: "...the economy continues to go like gangbusters. We are right in the middle of an historic economic boom. Don't let the mainstream media or the Democrats tell you otherwise...we've never had it so good. Add on top of that falling gas prices and we've got a great economic situation. In addition, the fact that tax receipts jumped 20% shows us that the Bush tax cuts are working just as they intended."

Sounds like a great stepping stone into a call for deconstructing the IRS and an elimination of the withholding tax.

Uncle Bill's Wisdom

Lawdy! There's more cheer in a grave yard than around this place.
Let 'er rip, Uncle Bill!

If you hook Jell-O up to an EEG, it registers movements almost identical to a human adult's brain waves.

The leading cause of on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.

The IRS admits that one in five people who call their help line get the wrong answer to their question.

20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.

The thong accounts for 25% of the United States women's underwear market.

On average, 40% of all hotel rooms in the United States remain empty every night.

When you hear a bullwhip snap, it's because the tip is traveling faster than the speed of sound.

There is a new television show on a British cable called "Watching Paint Dry". Viewers watch in real-time. Gloss, semi-gloss, matte, satin, you name it. Then viewers vote out their least favorite.

The largest ocean liners pay a $250,000 toll for each trip through the Panama Canal. The canal generates fully one-third of Panama's entire economy.

French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page novel which has no verbs.

The spring thaw finally allows cemeteries in Alaska to start digging graves for those who died during the winter.

When Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen turn 18 in mid-2004, they will take official control of a company worth more than the gross national product of Mongolia. Their earnings in 2003 topped $1 billion.

Orthodox rabbis warned that New York City drinking water might not be kosher; it contains harmless micro-organisms that are technically shellfish.

David Bowie thinks he is being stalked by someone who is dressed like a giant pink rabbit. Bowie has noticed the fan at several recent concerts, but he became alarmed when he got on a plane and the bunny was on board.

A party boat filled with 60 men and women capsized in Texas after all the passengers rushed to one side as the boat passed a nude beach.

Want more?

Behead those who insult Jesus

I am quite certain we will never hear that vicious sentiment from the Western world. The teachings of the founder of Christianity stressed tolerance, patients, forgiveness, and even love for one's enemies. Not that the bible thumpers ever really achieve perfection in such an undertaking, but it is a far cry from the vicious, petulent children that proclaim they are members of the cult of Mohammed with their riots and murders and blood curdling screams for the death and destruction of anything that dares speak even the mildest criticism for their beliefs or actions.

Gerard Henderson writes about this...reaction 'contrary to God's nature'.

His speech attracted scant attention initially. After a couple of days, some Muslim leaders began to attack it. Soon, Palestinian Muslims were burning the churches of Christian Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza. Not long after, a website of the Mujahideen Army threatened it would "smash the crosses in the house of the dog from Rome". All this in response to an essentially academic dissertation which had declared that violence is incompatible with the nature of God. Some Muslim leaders, however, confined their attacks to the verbal.

Now, the bigger question, especially for many here in the relativistic West, is how, exactly, do we know what the nature of God is?? Anyone?

My conversion to Islam

Professor Mike Adams parodies the vicious, petulant children who are members of this cult of Mohammed. But don't call them violent or they will kill you.

Update: After Pope Benedict offered a public apology, Dr. Adams (now Dr. Abdul Muhammad Adams) threatened the UNCW administration with Jihad unless it reversed the decision to deny his promotion to full professor. Shortly afterwards, he threatened to flush copies of The Vagina Monologues and the Communist Manifesto (both sacred and holy texts at his university) down the toilet of the Women’s Resource Center. The communists and feminists who denied his promotion reversed themselves immediately. Adams is now the Director of Middle Eastern Studies and a Jonathan Swift Distinguished Professor of Islamic Fundamentalist Satire.

Killing a president

The horrific prospect makes one ill to contemplate. But, not only do some contemplate the notion, they even fantasize about the horrific prospect on film to the applause of an audience. This is the putrid political pablum of the 'tolerant' and 'peace loving' leftist utopians.

That is why it is so heartening to hear none other than Hillary Clinton give evidence to something that maybe a surprise to everyone - she's human.

Dean Esmay has the low down on her stand up performance to blast Bush assassination film.

"I think it's despicable," Clinton said of "Death of a President," a fictional film that features a staged assassination of the president in 2007. "I think it's absolutely outrageous. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick."

Me too. But, perhaps she is just doing some pre-emptive PR considering her own presidential aspirations. No matter. I still tip my hat to her.

Hot Air explains 'the larger truth.'
cue twi-light zone music

Update: I incorrectly attributed the link from Dean's World to Dean Esmay. The correct author for the article entitled 'Hillary Clinton and leadership' is Ron Coleman. I apologize for the oversight.

I'll be back soon

I heard that!

How do you define 'wife'?

Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat.

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the (neighbor's) animal.

"(The elders) said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," (the neighbor) told the newspaper.

Good thing there wasn't a hole in the neighbor's fence.

Next up: Rosie goes to Sudan.

I know. It's an old story, but it works with the 'rosie' thang.

He must be a democrat

Princeton Prof Hacks E-Vote Machine.

Nice try, but no cigar pt 2

Yup. Its only a matter of time now. From the religion of peace.

Federal Deficit Down 14.1 Percent from last year

How can this be?? Them evil rich people got a tax break!
(cue the leftist utopians gnashing teeth and pitching a fit)

WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit, helped by a surge in government revenue, is running 14.1 percent below the pace of last year, the government reported Wednesday. The Treasury Department said that with just one month to go in the budget year, the deficit totals $304.3 billion, down from $354.1 billion during the same period a year ago.

Now for the bad news:

Government spending is also at record levels so far this budget year, totaling $2.43 trillion, an increase of 7.6 percent from the same period a year ago.

Now for some ok news:

The faster growth in revenues than in spending has meant that the 11-month deficit of $304.3 billion is 14.1 percent below the red ink run up during the same period a year ago.

Now for some more bad news:

Congress is working overtime to find ways to pork spend all the increased revenue - and it ain't because of the war.

Operation rubicon

The Skipper over at the Barking Moonbat told me this morning about more good news from Iraq. This weapons cache was siezed in the deadly Al Anbar province.

Marines from B Company’s 3rd Platoon stand next to one of the many weapons’ caches they dug from the ground during Operation Rubicon in Mushin, Iraq, west of Habbaniyah. The Recon Marines unearthed hundreds of mortars, artillery shells, rifles, machines guns, ammunition and improvised explosive device-making materials. Marines found so many caches, they said they could barely make it 100 meters before discovering another buried weapons’ site.

Awesome, but what's with the teddy bear, Skipper?

What? I can't hear you pt. 9

Quality of life projects in Iraq find success.

While operations aimed at bolstering security in Iraq continue to move forward, quality of life projects - such as reconstruction, improving the health-care system and building the economy – are also finding success.

1) All contracts for the 142 primary health-care clinics in the country have been awarded. Currently, three clinics are operational, with three more scheduled to open shortly and remaining clinics are expected to be completed between December 2006 and February 2007.

2) 834 out of 847 planned schools have been completed.

3) 20 out of 32 planned hospitals are completed.

4) 11 out of 17 planned airports are completed.

5) 86 out of 99 planned railroad stations are completed.

6) 31 out of 34 planned postal facilities are completed.

The ultimate goal of Coalition reconstruction efforts is to restore essential services and help the Iraqi people meet their basic needs without having to rely on outside assistance. Always, the task put to U.S. military civil affairs units is complicated by the necessity of rebuilding a national infrastructure devastated from years of neglect under Saddam Hussein.

Yes, and don't forget the islamo-fascists that keep trying to blow up restored facilities.

Nice try, but no cigar

Pope Invites Muslims to Dialogue.

REGENSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Pope Benedict invited Muslims on Tuesday to join a dialogue of cultures that agrees the concept of Islamic "holy war" is unreasonable and against God's nature.

I think the Pope means well, but the islamo-fascists he needs to be speaking with would just as soon torture and murder the Pope as spit on him.

At least the Pope didn't issue a fatwa and I'm quite certain you'll never see this type of protest from the ranks of them bible thumpers.

The top nine list

The witty folks over at 'The Nose On Your Face' have the real top nine reasons why Mr. Clinton didn't like the ABC presentation of 'The Path To 9/11'.

9. Did not think casting Rosie O'Donnell as Monica Lewinsky was funny. At all.

8. Claims he never told Vernon Jordan that "if you stare directly into Madeline Albright's face, you'll become impotent."

7. Not historically accurate like Fahrenheit 9/11.

6. The film was way too negative with all of that terrorism, and Islamic fanaticism. It did not focus on the great economy during the 1990's at all.

5. Lewinsky used the unconventional single-kneed "halftime speech" stance when performing oral sex, not the more traditional two-kneed approach that was depicted in the film.

4. Falsely depicted Clinton as a "Whopper" eater rather than a "Big Mac" man.

3. Although he thought the scene where Hillary pees standing up was "hilarious", he caught hell for laughing at it.

2. Sandy Berger wears cargo-briefs, not boxers.

1. No matter how many personal requests he made, Hillary still does not get eaten by wolves in the end.

(Disclaimer: Any similarities between TNOYF's "Top 9" lists and other organizations "Top 10" lists are purely coincidental. As you can see, our lists have 9, theirs have 10. Way different.)

Muslims in space!

And a female one at that. Instapundit tells me that the fascists may not approve of Anousheh Ansari. She is set to become the first female Muslim in space, first Iranian-born person in space, and the first female space tourist on September 18, 2006.

On Monday, Sept. 18, Mrs. Ansari and two professional astronauts are scheduled to blast off in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, part of a crew-exchange flight to the International Space Station.

Good luck & God speed.

Misc.

It's all George Bush's fault!
Gas prices drop by about 22 cents.

U.S. retail gas prices dropped nearly 22 cents a gallon in the past two weeks, the second decline since a mid-August peak, according to a survey released Sunday. The national average for self-serve regular stood at about $2.65 on Sept. 8, down from about $2.87, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations across the country. That was about 35 cents less than last year at this time.

It's all George Bush's fault - pt. 2



Allah akbar! - throw another grenade.
Gunmen killed in US embassy attack in Syria.

Armed Islamic militants attempted to storm the US Embassy in a bold attack today using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the Syrian government said.

Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers. No Americans were hurt.

The attackers apparently did not breach the high walls surrounding the white embassy compound, in a diplomatic neighbourhood of Damascus. A Chinese diplomat was slightly injured by a stray bullet during the attack, China's news agency said.

And, finally, it's all George Bush's fault pt. 3
Katie Couric gets new job as network anchor.

Apparently, she is going to start that new job sometime soon. Somebody let me know how that works out. OK?

But only briefly

The end of civilization.

TO RETURN IN memory to that beautiful blue morning is to visit a lost country, a place as beloved as it is gone. The first thing to recall is how alike we Americans were in what we felt that day. Only months before, in the acrimonious aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, the nation had seemed so divided. It would seem so again. But during the hours of Sept. 11, 2001, we were brought together as we hadn't been in years, a people bound by fear and trembling. What a few saw in person, and what the vast population saw on television, was a glimpse of the human future to which, ordinarily, we are willfully blind.

It is important to distinguish between the event and the interpretation of it. The experience of 9/11 was one thing, the meanings imposed upon it afterward are another. Those meanings ("the clash of civilizations"; a Manichaean good-evil polarity; the rule of law versus the rush to war; blood for oil; imperial hubris or democracy now; Israel as cause or effect) are in dispute. America's enemy has triumphed already in the way Americans regard one another as enemies.

Abstracting from such painfully contested interpretations, can we return to the event that set all of this in motion? Today, can we leave the conflict aside to ask, Why was this nation's first reaction to the catastrophe of New York-Washington-Pennsylvania defined by the empathy we felt for one another? Indeed, empathy that day was nearly universal, including much of the world's instant identification with American anguish. Before we knew anything about Al Qaeda, bin Laden, the Cheney-Wolfowitz war plan, the new threat of global terrorism, the axis of evil -- the most important aspect of the event had already occurred. This aspect, however, the interpretations would ignore.

Some (including me) have said that an inch below the surface of our horrified reaction was a long-standing but subliminal dread of a nuclear war, as if the smoke above Ground Zero were a mushroom cloud, the Manhattan Project come at last to Manhattan. Soon enough, nuclear preoccupation (Iraq's WMD, Iran's enriched uranium, North Korea's bomb) would define the national purpose (with the United States renewing its own nuclear weapons program).

But I believe now that the immediate trauma Americans experienced that first morning was still more primitive than that. Beyond politics, beyond nationality even, what humans saw in that flash was a glimpse of nothing less than the end of the world. Here is the final meaning of the name ``World Trade Center" -- what happened that day was a world-event, almost certainly the first fully realized one in history. The collapse of the Twin Towers on themselves was a manifestation of the radical contingency of the human project itself. The terrorists were mere instruments of this world-historic destruction, far exceeding as it did any outcome they could have imagined. Their purposes were mundane, even irrelevant, when compared to the transcendent epiphany that resulted from the unprecedented combination of venality, accident, technological innovation, and instantaneous global communication.

What did we see? Not merely the end of the majestic towers, although their majesty was essential to what we saw. Not merely the mortality of those men and women whose bodies could be glimpsed in free fall (hemlines and neckties fluttering), although their mortality was absolute. We saw the stunning courage of a legion of heroes, rushing right before our eyes into selfless jeopardy, and we saw, finally, how such heroism was futile. In that destruction, we saw the destruction of the mainspring of meaning and hope -- not the clash of civilization, but the end of it. This was more than a sense of individual mortality, the sure knowledge of a coming death that each one carries. We humans live with that by assuming the open-ended continuation of other lives, our children and their children -- on into the indefinite future. But on 9/11, we saw the future itself as mortal.

In that vision, all that ordinarily separates humans was instantly ash. With the future ripped away from us, there was only the present. For a moment, we stopped struggling against time, and entered its most sovereign province, also known as providence. If all things will cease to exist, then the wonder is that they exist right now. With the fateful indifference of history so instantaneously clear, the human rejection of such indifference loomed as the magnificent exception. So, of course, we turned toward one another -- what else to call it? -- in love.

James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

The donkey doth protest too much

Anyone familiar with this site (all three of you) knows I am not a big fan of television. Its fetid fare is a degradation that I mostly refuse, but the bread and circus atmosphere it imposes upon our culture does make a good spectator sport. Witness the latest screed from the left side of the political table concerning ABC's broadcast of some 9/11 rehash.

Why Does the Left Hate "The Path to 9/11"? By Hugh Hewitt

...By attempting a programming coup against the series, the Clinton forces have brought enormous attention to the film, and for that I thank them. The program is not primarily about the Clinton stewardship --or lack thereof-- of the national security. It is not even secondarily about that.
Rather the mini-series is the first attempt --very successful-- to convey to American television viewers what we are up against: The fanaticism, the maniacal evil, the energy and the genius for mayhem of the enemy.

In the self-serving complaints about this scene or that take delivered by Richard Ben-Veniste and other proxies are replayed again the deadly narcissisms of the'90s. The program's great faults are --they say-- in the inaccurate portrayal of Bill Clinton and his furrowed brow and continual efforts to track down bin Laden.

It is all about them, you see. Just as it was in the '90s. To hell with O'Neill or the victims of 9/11, and forget about the worldwide menace that continues to nurse its hatred, though now from caves and not compounds.

Not a word from these critics about the program's greatest strength, which is in the accurate rendering of the enemy, and the warning it might give about the need for continual vigilance.

I guess they just a like a good whine with their television.

Follow the money

Treasury cuts Iran bank's link to U.S.

The Bush administration, stepping up pressure on Tehran, moved yesterday to sever a big Iranian state-owned bank from the U.S. financial system.
Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the government's action was taken against Bank Saderat, which the United States contends is used by Iran to transfer money to terrorist groups, including Hezbollah.
While Iranian financial institutions are barred from directly accessing the U.S. financial system, they are permitted to do so indirectly through banks in other countries. The U.S. is closing off that avenue for Bank Saderat. The action, which involved a change in regulations, doesn't apply to other Iranian banks, another Treasury official said.
It marked the first time Treasury had resorted to a regulatory change of this kind to sever a bank, the official said.

Sounds serious and it is step in the right direction though its effects maybe limited. Ealier this year, Syria and Iran did a monetary tango - Syria by switching its foreign currency to the euro and Iran by transfering its assests from the West to the East; most likely China - the wild card in all this geo-political stare down.

Thanks for the memories

9-11 attack plan video aired

The Arab television channel Al-Jazeera broadcast today a video (seen here) which it said showed Osama bin Laden and suicide candidates of al-Qaeda preparing the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.

Al-Jazeera had said earlier it would broadcast "a video that included scenes showing for the first time al-Qaeda leaders preparing the September 11 attacks and practising for their execution."

The video showed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and two of the 19 Islamist militants that took part in the attacks, Saudi nationals Hamza el-Ramdi and Wael el-Shemari.

They spoke of the situation faced by Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya.

Bosnia and Chechnya??
Are they trying to tell us something?

Seriously, are those islamo-fascists trying to drop a hint of imminent calamity? I do believe that these islamo guys are supposed to warn their intended victim with an admonition to 'submit or die'. Probably a nicety they picked up at finishing school. Witness the latest on-air sheenanigans of Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman (big 'Al') Al-Zawahri and his parrot, 'adam the american'. Add to that this stroll down memory lane from al-jaz TV and one has to seriously ask, "Are they trying to tell us something?"

I live in a cave

Not literally, but I don't have cable television and that defines a cave to some folks. However, I do read and surf the internet so I am aware of the vast wasteland of crap piped into the homes here in the U.S. of A.

Mr. DeWayne Wickham, of USA Today, is aware of this as well and uses Neil Postman's book, 'Amusing ourselves to death', to illustrate the seemingly agreed uponmodern social agenda to find the lowest common human denominator via triviality and irrelevance.

A bitter 'Flavor': Reality show should make us all cringe.

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books," Postman wrote in the foreword to his book. "What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. ... Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture."

The success of Flavor of Love 2, a VH1 reality show whose second-season premiere last month brought the cable network its highest rating for any opening show, is a crass and tasteless descent into the abyss that Huxley saw the world hurtling toward. And it is proof positive that this nation is at risk of amusing ourselves to death.

If you think Flavor of Love 2 is innocent television fare, you're wrong.

"We do not see nature or intelligence or human motivation or ideology as 'it' is but only as our languages are," Postman wrote. "And our languages are our media. Our media are our metaphors. Our metaphors create the content of our culture."

And shows such as Flavor of Love 2 dumb us down and define us to others in ways that ought to cause an awful churning in our national gut.

DeWayne Wickham writes weekly for USA TODAY.

All I know is, if I was a black man, I would be outraged at the baffoon-pimp-cartoon 'step-n-fetchit' imagery that is being portrayed on this show.

And where the heck are the feminists to give these producers and actresses a good monkey stomp for this butt-ugly, pathetic portrayal of the female gender??

Amusement has descended into a horrid national embarrassment.

Bozos on the bus

Or 'plain as the nose on your face'.

My Pet Jawa distills the obvious into a great analysis:
Terrorists Love the Left (and vice-a-versa).

If Islamofascism and the Religious Right have so much in common, then how come the terrorists never quote Pat Robertson? Instead, they are constanting quoting icons of the Left to support their positions. They even use clips from Fahrenheit 9/11 in this propaganda film.

And when American Taliban Adam Gadahn decides to name drop, it isn't Jerry Falwell that he cites for moral authority. It's George Galloway, Robert Fisk, and Seymour Hersh.

Distinctions

If you read many news accounts of wartime operations and reports, you have come to realize that the specious argument of 'moral relativism' between the cowardly islamofascists and NATO/IDF/COALITION soldiers is just a big pile of dog squeeze.

Time and time again I am struck with the contrast in world view: some combatants deliberately hide behind and execute civilians and other combatants take great pains to warn them and steer clear to only engage armed insurgents. And if someone cannot tell by that fact alone who is the 'good' guy and who is the 'bad' guy, then that person deserves the distinction of fool.

NATO: 200+ taliban guerrillis and 4 Canadians killed during Sunday firefight in Afghanistan.

PASHMUL, Afghanistan Sep 3, 2006 (AP)— Warplanes and artillery pounded Taliban fighters hiding in orchards Sunday during a big Afghan-NATO offensive that the alliance said killed more than 200 militants in its first two days. Four Canadian soldiers also were killed.

Operation Medusa was launched Saturday to flush out Taliban fighters from Panjwayi and neighboring Zhari district. NATO spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said alliance and Afghan troops had gained ground and disrupted the militants' command system so guerrillas were moving in confusion.

After Operation Medusa started, authorities in Kandahar warned people not to travel off the main highway in the province, which leads into Panjwayi. The road was blocked by soldiers Sunday not far from where bombing was taking place. Some military Humvees were parked nearby.

Ikram Ullah, an Afghan soldier at the roadblock, said he had heard that 60 or 70 Taliban had been killed by warplanes and helicopter gunships since Saturday morning.

He said most of the families in the area fled after they were told to evacuate although some civilians were nearby. A few children watched the bombing from the road.

"Only the Taliban are in the village," Ullah said, pointing toward the orchards, where clusters of homes were scattered among trees and vines.

Good news from Iraq

No. 2 al-Qaida Leader in Iraq Arrested.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi forces have arrested the second most senior operative in al-Qaida in Iraq, and the group now suffers from a "serious leadership crisis," the national security adviser said Sunday.

Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was arrested a few days ago, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said, adding that his arrest also led to the capture or death of 11 other top al-Qaida in Iraq figures and nine lower-level members.
After al-Zarqawi was killed, authorities obtained information about al-Saeedi indicating he had been operating in Salahuddin province, al-Rubaie said. He later moved south to northern Baghdad and had been operating outside Baqouba, the same area where al-Zarqawi was killed.

Al-Saeedi had been hiding in a residential building, the security adviser said. "He wanted to use children and women as human shields during the arrest....

Typical.

What's arabic for 'grand wizard'?

Where else can one wear a hood, brandish weapons, brutalize women, terrorize Jews & Catholics all the while claiming God's will? Nope! The kkk are pikers compared to these fascists, but now - with this limited time offer from the Religion of Peace © - you, too, can join their ranks and help conquer and oppress all of 'them infidels'.

Al-Zawahri and reported American al-Qaida member issue videotape inviting Americans to join Islam.

(AP) Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman (big 'Al') Al-Zawahri and a man the video identified as Adam Yehiye Gadahn, an American who the FBI believes attended al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan and served as an al-Qaida translator.

Gadahn said no Muslim should "shed tears" for Westerners killed by al-Qaida attacks and "We invite all Americans and unbelievers to Islam".

~Religion of peace. All rights reserved. Convert or else. Severed horse head extra.

I wonder if these guys know each other?

Palestinian Group to Target Non-Muslims.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Palestinian militants who held two Fox News journalists hostage for nearly two weeks threatened in a statement posted online Saturday to abduct non-Muslims visiting the Palestinian territories and kill them unless their demands were met. The statement, posted in the name of the Holy Jihad Brigades on a Web site frequently used by militants, said the group would kill any hostages it takes unless they converted to Islam, paid a ransom or Muslim prisoners were exchanged for their release.

Ya know, I have a real problem with the suit-n-tie holy rollers knocking on my door with their pamphlets trying to twist my ecumenical arm, but at least they leave my doorstep without blowing up the place or shooting my family. It appears to be kind of different in the muslim world. Convert or die is what the islamofascists are saying...all over the globe.

There is no msm leftist bias...

but some one has been tampering with katie's image.

















blackwhite

Can somebody get a handle on this clown??! pt 2

I've said it before and I'll say it again; this socialist gangster, Lopez Obrador, don't give a rat's flying dingus about legitimate or illegitimate elections. He wants POWER. If he could mount an armed rebellion, he would do it.

And he is mobilizing his myrmidons ever closer to a violent frenzy with his seditious acts and talk of his own 'government' to 'rule from the streets'.
LEFTIST LAWMAKERS STORM CHAMBERS, PROTEST MEXICO VOTE

MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox was forced to forgo his final State of the Nation address Friday after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage of Congress to protest disputed July 2 elections.

Instead, he gave his speech on television, and called on Mexico to mend deep divisions that he said threaten the nation's democracy.

The opposition lawmakers took over the stage in Congress shortly before Fox arrived, shouting "Vote by Vote" -- a rallying cry for Lopez Obrador's bid for a full recount in the election.

The standoff came six days before the top electoral court must declare a president-elect or annul the July 2 vote and order a new election. So far, rulings have favored ruling party candidate Felipe Calderón, who was ahead by about 240,000 votes in the official count.

López Obrador has said he won't recognize the electoral court's decision, and he plans to create a parallel government and rule from the streets.

Which begs the question, "why scream about 'vote by vote' if these thugs don't recognize the ruling authority that oversees these votes or the electoral body that certifies the election??"
Answer: because it is not about the vote or the rule of law. It is about these gansters aquiring POWER -- by any means necessary.

WilPlameArm-gate

Don Surber has the last word on this sorted affair. Ok, him and the Washington Post.
Oh, what-the-heck. The Free Republic too.

Stop me if you've heard this one....

Sandmonkey makes a funny.

God created Lebanon last. It was to be his masterpiece; from its proud Cedars, to its rich Bekaa, from beautiful beaches, to mountain brooks, with its nightlife, its fun-loving welcoming people, its gorgeous girls, he spared no effort.
Gardian angels from other countries began to grumble and protest. Trying to calm them, God said: "Relax! Wait till you see the neighbors I have given them."

I told you to stop me...

Update - one more funny.
An Israeli recently arrives at London's Heathrow airport. As he fills out a form, the customs officer asks him: "Occupation?"

The Israeli promptly replies: "No, just visiting!"

Donald Rumsfeld is my hero

New Enemies Demand New Thinking.

By Donald H. Rumsfeld, the U.S. secretary of Defense. and my hero!
September 1, 2006

IN THE LAST FEW DAYS I have had the opportunity to speak at the annual conventions of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. It is always a humbling experience to be in the presence of those who have served and fought for our country during some of our darkest, most trying times - when it was unclear whether our way of life would prevail.

We are again engaged in conflicts that are testing whether we believe that the defense of liberty is worth the cost. And again, there are those who disagree with the mission, who question whether it is worth the sacrifice. This is to be expected in a time of war.
(Note to all leftist-utopians: In otherwords, this is celebrated and encourgaed in a free society and is one of the principles in peril from the islamo-fascists.- LB1901)

Today, some think that World War II and the Cold War were black-and-white affairs: good versus evil. But there were always those who thought that we should retreat within our borders.

In an effort to avoid repeating the carnage of World War I, much of the Western world tried to appease the growing threats in Europe and Asia in the years before World War II. Those who warned against the rise of Nazism, fascism and communism were often ridiculed and ignored.

The enemy we face today is different from the enemies we have faced in the past, but its goal is similar: to impose its fanatical ideology of hatred on the rest of the world.

In speaking to our veterans, I suggested several questions to guide us during this struggle against violent extremists:

* With the growing lethality and availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that vicious extremists can somehow be appeased?

* Can we really continue to think that free countries can negotiate a separate peace with terrorists?

* Can we truly afford to pretend that the threats today are simply "law enforcement" problems rather than fundamentally different threats requiring fundamentally different approaches?

* Can we truly afford to return to the destructive view that America - not the enemy - is the real source of the world's troubles?

These are the central questions of our time, and, as in all periods of conflict, we have no choice but to face them honestly.

The last question is particularly important, because this is the first war of the 21st century - a war that, to a great extent, will be fought in the media on a global stage. We cannot allow the terrorists' lies and myths to be repeated without question or challenge.

We also should be aware that the struggle is too important - the consequences too severe - to allow a "blame America first" mentality to overwhelm the truth that our nation, though imperfect, is a force for good in the world.

Consider that a database search of the nation's leading newspapers turns up 10 times as many mentions of one of the soldiers punished for misconduct at Abu Ghraib than of Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in the global war on terror.

Then there is the case of Amnesty International, a long-respected human-rights organization, which called the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay the "gulag of our times" - a reference to the vast system of Soviet prisons and labor camps where innocent citizens were starved, tortured and murdered. The facility at Guantanamo Bay, by contrast, includes a volleyball court, basketball court, soccer field and library (the book most requested is "Harry Potter"). The food, served in accordance with Islamic diets, costs more per detainee than the average U.S. military ration.

With examples like these prevalent in the world media, I do worry about the lack of perspective in our national dialogue - a perspective on history and the new challenges and threats that free people face today. Those who know the truth need to speak out against the myths and distortions being told about our troops and our country. My remarks at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion conventions have generated much discussion. I encourage everyone to read what I actually said at defenselink.mil/speeches.

Way to go, Donald! Now, tell your boss to stop rewarding terrorists and those that harbor them!