Race relations officer called policeman 'white pig'
And now one for the YCMTSU files:

A race relations officer narrowly escaped a prison term today for failing to provide a specimen for analysis and calling a police officer a "white pig".

Muzaffar Hussain Chowdhury, who works for the Bridgend Community Cohesion Group of south Wales, was instead sentenced to a 12-month community supervision order and banned from driving for five years.

Chowdhury, 63, of Suffolk Place, Porthcawl, south Wales, was charged with failing to provide a specimen and a racially aggravated offence contrary to Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 following an incident outside a pub on September 1.

Bridgend Magistrates' Court heard that when police officers arrived at the Swan Inn, Nottage, in Porthcawl, over a dispute between Chowdhury and a father and daughter following a car prang, they were met with abusive language.

Pc Scott Howe of South Wales Police was told to "F*** off, you white b****** pig" by Chowdhury when he asked him to take a breathalyser test.

The court heard that despite warning Chowdhury about his language, Pc Howe was repeatedly called a "white b******".

Following his arrest, Chowdhury told the officers: "You don't know who you are dealing with." He added: "One phone call and I will be out."

Prosecuting solicitor David Roberts said: "There is an aggravating feature to this matter. The reason being is that Mr Chowdhury is a race relations officer for Bridgend Community Cohesion Group.

"Clearly he is a spokesman for racial issues in this area.

"The Crown would say that Mr Chowdhury is using and abusing racial language towards fellow members of the cohesion group, namely the police.

"Quite frankly the behaviour is disgusting and language like that shouldn't be used."

3 Bimbos Of The Apocalypse: No Clue, No Cares, No Underwear (Spears, Lohan, Hilton)
I do so love NYPost headlines.

Deconstructing a deluded Dawkins (Review of "The God Delusion")
Fully provided at post 5.

Also this.

Police to review 'no-knock' policy after elderly woman killed
Also, a great "botched drug raid" map here, provided by The Cato Institute.

French Jews Attacked After HaPoel Tel Aviv Beats French Team
A little more info on this lovely story:

A Jewish fan of the HaPoel Tel Aviv soccer team was attacked by French fans in Paris Thursday, resulting in a police shooting that left one dead and one injured.

The incident took place at 11 PM at a McDonald’s restaurant near Paris’s Parc des Princes stadium following Tel Aviv’s 4-2 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in a UEFA Cup match.

Paris fans attacked four French Jewish fans after members of the mob identified them as “Jews”. The Jews fled in different directions and a mob formed chasing after one of them, Yaniv Hazout.

A plain-clothes policeman tossed tear gas grenades in an attempt to disperse the mob and eventual fired two live bullets into the crowd, “after being driven into the corner,” according to the French police.

Two French rioters were injured by the shooting. One, 24-year-old Julien Quemener, later died of his wounds.

Initial reports indicated that the attacked fans were Israelis who came to France to support the Israeli team. It turned out, though, that the attacked fans were local French Jews who came out in support of the Israeli team. Israeli fans were actually kept in the stadium for more than an hour after the game to prevent them from becoming targets of the angry mob, after they insisted on coming onto the field to celebrate the victory.

The spokesman for Hapoel Tel Aviv, Amir Lubin, told Army Radio that French fans were extremely hostile toward the Israelis who came to support their team. "We could hear the chants of the French crowd, which were in no way connected to soccer," he said. "It was obvious that the Paris supporters were enraged by the result of the game, but we didn't imagine it would come to this," he said.

French prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the incident, and placed the officer who fired the shots, Antoine Granomort, in police custody.

Witnesses told police that the Paris fans were shouting “filthy Jews” and other anti-Semitic slogans at the Jewish fans and would have truly killed them had Granomort, an immigrant from the Caribbean, not fired into the crowd.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said many of the Paris fans were chanting “Death to the Jews” during the attack. Five fans are in police custody and may face charges of racism and anti-Semitism.

THE 'EURABIA' MYTH
By Ralph Peters. Mark Steyn responds here.

Police killed soccer fan (in Paris!)

A supporter of the French football club Paris Saint Germanin was shot and killed by police Thursday night after a UEFA-cup game against the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The tradgedy occurred outside the stadium Parc de Princes in Paris after PSG had lost against Hapoel with 2-4.

According to police sources a lonely Hapoel fan was surrounded by 150 fans from the Parisian club on a street outside the areana. A policeman hurried tthere and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

He then fired two live rounds. Two PSG suporters were hit and one of them was killed. The policeman was forced to flee from the rest of the suporters and took refuge in a hamburger resturant. The police put in reinforcements to quench the unrest, and an internal investigation regarding the shooting was immediately initiated.

(Translated from Swedish)

Of course the mob was screaming "death to the Jew".

Text of Statement Made by Former Spy

Associated Press ^ | Nov 24 - 2006 |

Alexander Litvinenko

I would like to thank many people. My doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are doing all they can for me; the British police who are pursuing my case with vigor and professionalism and are watching over me and my family. I would like to thank the British government for taking me under their care. I am honored to be a British citizen.

I would like to thank the British public for their messages of support and for the interest they have shown in my plight.

I thank my wife, Marina, who has stood by me. My love for her and our son knows no bounds.

But as I lie here, I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death. I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like. I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.

You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.

You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.

You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women.

You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.

Grandmother in first Hamas suicide attack in two years

A Palestinian grandmother blew herself up in the Gaza Strip, lightly wounding three Israeli soldiers, in the first suicide attack claimed by Hamas in almost two years.

The mother of nine and grandmother of 41 became the oldest Palestinian suicide bomber at the age of 57, approaching troops operating to curb daily rocket attacks, the army said.

Wow.

Mark Steyn: One for the road -
Another Steyn masterpiece. Totally non-political. Absolutely heart-rending.

ONE FOR THE ROAD - Bill Miller, 1915–2006

Frank Sinatra called himself a “saloon singer”, because that’s where he used to sing, way back when in Jersey juke joints and road houses. Not for long. He was too good, even then. But for a while, if you headed up to the Rustic Cabin on Route 9W in the Garden State, they had this pianist pushing a little half-piano from table to table and the waiter would sing with him and they had a tip jar on the lid and you couldn’t help noticing the kid sang awful good for a waiter, and pretty soon the singing was earning him, as he figured it, “about 15 clams a week”. Thirty, forty, fifty years later, week in, week out, the same singing waiter with full supporting orchestra was barreling through some grim rock stadium on the edge of a strip mall in some nondescript suburb. And, midway through the set, the lights would dim and Frank Sinatra would announce that he would now sing a “saloon song” and proceed to shrink whichever sterile aircraft hangar he’d been booked into down to the size of those poky smoky New Jersey saloons of his youth. There were the old props – the tumbler, the cigarette – and the scene-setting grew ever more ornate over the years, expanding into an almighty pile-up of retro hipsterisms as Frank prepared us for the tale of some emblematic long-lost loser whose “chick split, flew the coop, cleaned out his stash and left him cryin’ into a gallon of Muscatel”. And underneath a tinkly tipsy barroom piano intro would begin, and Sinatra would invite us to “assume the position of the bartender” and listen to the old, old story:

“It’s quarter to three There’s no-one in the place Except you and me So set ‘em up, Joe I got a little story You oughtta know…”

We all knew the story. But the strange thing is, through the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and into the Nineties, no matter how flip the speaking part got, by the time Frank started to sing that first line the semi-parodic grooviness was all gone, and you were in for the most intense four minutes in the show, intimate and universal, bleak but weirdly exhilarating. The man playing the piano was Bill Miller, and that intro to “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” is his invention. It’s a marvelous thing that works at so many levels: it evokes the tinny sound of a saloon piano, and it meanders a little woozily like a fellow who’s drunk a skinful heading back to the bar for one more, and it also has a kind of bleak weary acceptance about it, as if both storyteller and barman know that in the end the one buttonholing the other will change nothing; it’s self-aware about its self-pity, it understands that, in everything that matters, it’s already past closing time. And it’s also an acting performance, in that Miller is playing not just the piano accompaniment to the song but also the role of the barroom pianist in the story the singer’s telling. Miller matches the paradox of the vocal performance with one of his own: just as Sinatra gives what Robert Cushman called “a perfectly controlled performance of a man who’s falling apart”, so the pianist under the cover of a rinky-dink saloon piano provides an amazing harmonic intensity.

That’s a hell of a lot to cram into a few bars. I once tried to say all the above to Bill Miller, and he said:

“Yeah.”

Oh, well. That’s what he said back in 1951 when he was playing at the Desert Inn in Vegas and Sinatra came by to ask if he’d like to work with him:

“Yeah.”

He stayed for the best part of half a century, and played Sinatra songs to the very end, dying in Montreal, after a hip operation and a heart attack while in town for a month of shows with Frank Sinatra Jr. He was 91, and had to be helped from his wheelchair to the piano stool. But the fingers still worked. A few months after Sinatra’s death in 1998, Miller returned to the stage for a concert by Frank Jr. The lights were dimmed, the pianist took his seat in the dark, unannounced, and began to play “One For My Baby”. “The audience let out a gasp,” remembered Junior. “They were all Sinatra fans and they recognized Bill immediately.”

Miller wasn’t exactly unsung. Au contraire, on stage, seven-eighths into “Mack The Knife”, Frank liked to take a chorus to introduce the musicians:

“We got Bill Miller playin’ the piano And this great big band bringin’ up the rear All these bad cats in this band now Make the greatest sounds you ever gonna hear…”

But that was pretty much it in the way of public acclaim, aside from on-stage references to his ghostly pallor (“Our pianist is a man we call Suntan Charlie…”). Yet Miller and a handful of other guys who comprised the Sinatra rhythm section up there with him night after night in Vegas and Atlantic City and London and Rome and Rio and Tokyo belong to a very exclusive club. Bill outlasted Ava and Marilyn and Mia and the other dames, and Dino and Sammy and most of the pallies, too. And the musicians got the best snaps for the scrapbook – not the tuxedoed bonhomie and Friars’ Club kibitzing you see in the pics of Frank and Bob Hope and John Wayne, not the pasta joint mug shots of Frank and lesser buddies, but Frank at work, with you! There’s a great photo of Miller half a century ago, doodling at the keyboard, tie loosened, bleary eyed, cigarette hanging from his lower lip, and Frank leaning on the piano, tanned and open shirted, hand in pocket, looking over the sheet music - and beaming with delight. Miller’s running through a number for him, and Sinatra’s liking what he hears, and maybe it’s going to be the next “I Get A Kick Out Of You” or “You Make Me Feel So Young”. In other words, Miller is in the act of helping make Sinatra Sinatra – which is the only reason we’re remotely interested in what broads he’s nailing.

He was born across the river from Frank, in Brooklyn a few months earlier. At 16, he was billing himself as “Bill Miller, The Ace Of Jazz”. At 18, he was pianist for Larry Funk And His Band Of A Thousand Melodies, and then came Red Norvo and Charlie Barnet. Heading home from a gig at the 1940 World’s Fair, he and the gal he was dating had the car radio on. “Hey, listen,” she said. “Doesn’t that sound good? That’s Dick Haymes.” Miller said, “No, it’s not Dick Haymes. Dick Haymes doesn’t sing that good.” He had to wait till the end, and the disc-jockey’s announcement: “All Or Nothing At All” by Harry James and his orchestra, vocal refrain by Frank Sinatra.

A decade later, Frank had had it all and was on his way back down to nothing. Miller was the man at the keyboard as Sinatra rebuilt his career. He became celebrated for the saloon piano on “One For My Baby”, “Drinking Again”, “Empty Tables”, a trio of Johnny Mercer three-in-the-morning numbers. But Miller was also indispensable to the other side of the singer – the swingin’ Sinatra you hear on his up-tempo “Way You Look Tonight”. The bassist Chuck Berghoffer once asked him, “How do you swing so hard? What do you think about?” “I just get a cuckoo rhythm section,” said Frank, “and stay out of the way.” Not exactly. He rode on top of it, like a surfer coming in on the perfect wave. Miller was always the heart of that side of Frank, the rhythmic piano intros that kick-start “The Lady Is A Tramp”, or “Lonesome Road”, or even “Old MacDonald”. Yes, that “Old MacDonald”:

“Old MacDonald had a farm Ee-i-ee-i-o And on that farm he had a chick…”

You can pretty much guess how things develop from there. Plenty of Sinatra scholars loathe that record: Why would a guy who can sing Rodgers and Hart record “Old MacDonald”? As the detractors see it, because he can; it’s a power trip, a way of saying “Screw you” to the world. Say what you like about gangsta rap, but even Snoop Dogg isn’t arrogant enough to give us “Old MacDonald had a farm/And on that farm he had a ho…” But I love that “Old MacDonald”. It builds wonderfully, and Alan and Marilyn Bergman’s lyrics, despite boxing themselves into the nursery rhyme’s with-a-little-this-here-and-a-little-this-there structure manage to top each verse with the next:

“…with a promenade here and a promenade there At a square dance, boy, this chick was no square…”

That said, with the best will in the world, “Old MacDonald” isn’t exactly an interesting tune, and that’s where Miller comes in. His piano helps make it such a wild ride. He’s like the mechanical hare at the greyhound track, if a mechanical hare could swing: he sets off, and Sinatra takes off, too.

In 1964, the pianist’s home in Burbank was washed away in a mudslide. The Millers were swept along with it: their teenage daughter Meredith made it to the top of a hill, and Bill was rescued hanging from a car, but his wife Aimee was only found the following night. Sinatra identified the body and then went to see Miller in hospital. “If it’s any consolation,” said Frank, “there wasn’t a mark on her.”

As the laconic Miller liked to tell friends, “It wasn’t any consolation.” But Frank paid the medical expenses and got Bill a new place. And, when they inevitably bust up in the late Seventies, Sinatra hired other pianists but stayed away from “One For My Baby” altogether. Anyone can conduct “My Way” (as Miller did on the hit recording) but Sinatra understood that the truly definitive Sinatra song depended on the presence of another man. In 1985 Miller returned for “One For My Baby” and one more decade for the road.

There was one last classic recording, too. The final cut on Sinatra’s 1993 Duets isn’t really a duet at all – or at least not a celebrity duet. Take a chisel to the CD and remove Kenny G’s syrupy drooling of “All The Way” on the front of the track and then sit back as the strings recede, and Bill Miller begins his bar-room piano noodling. It’s the best duet on the album – just Frank and Bill – and the latter doesn’t even get a credit on the sleeve, just a tiny namecheck deep in the interior of the small print as “Mr Sinatra’s pianist”. The voice is rough, its vulnerability deliberately exposed, especially on the last line’s long goodbye. But, raw and harrowing as it is, it’s a final Sinatra masterpiece. The piano dies away and the last saloon singer lays down his burden: one for us and one for that long, long road.

“Well, that’s how it goes And, Joe, I know you’re getting anxious to close So thanks for the cheer I hope you didn’t mind my bending your ear…”

Five years later, Miller played it at Sinatra’s funeral. The familiar introduction, but no voice came in, no “It’s quarter to three…” In all the years Bill Miller had accompanied the familiar words, for the first time ever, there was no-one in the place except him.

The Atlantic Monthly, October 2006

'The bastards got me, they won't get us all'
Lord have mercy, he died.

RIP.

The poisoned Russian spy breathed defiance at the Kremlin as the effects of a mystery cocktail pushed him to the brink of death.

“I want to survive, just to show them,” Alexander Litvinenko said in an exclusive interview just hours before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Too weak to move his limbs and visibly in great pain, the former Russian intelligence officer suggested that he knew that he may not win his struggle against the lethal chemicals destroying his vital organs. But he said the campaign for truth would go on with or without him.

“The bastards got me,” he whispered. “But they won’t get everybody.”

Allah blessed me, tells killer of British tourist
Sudden jihad syndrome:

Nabil Ahmad Issa al-Jaaoura, 38, is on trial for the murder of Christopher Stokes, a 30-year-old chartered accountant who was shot dead in September during a visit to a Roman amphitheatre popular with tourists in the capital Amman.

Five visitors from the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, and a Jordanian tourist policeman were also wounded in the shooting spree, during which witnesses said the gunman shouted, "God is great" before being overpowered.

At a military court yesterday, the defendant said he was "a soldier of Allah" and that killing a "despicable crusader" was "the closest to winning Allah's acceptance".

Jaaoura, a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian origin, said he had been "blessed" by Allah before setting off on his mission to kill westerners.

"Allah blessed me when I killed a British man and hurt others, because they are fighting the Prophet and his soldiers since the Balfour Declaration," he said, referring to the 1917 document in which the Britain promised support for the creation of Israel.

"The British people … insulted the honorable Quran and women who wear the head cover."

Brother Of Univ. Of Oklahoma Bomber Held
This is one messed up family. Fortunately they never succeed in killing anyone.

Victims of attack share their story (Long Beach Halloween attack, charged as hate crime)
A snippet of an absolutely horrendous story:

The victims - along with throngs of other people - had gone to the 3800 block of Linden Avenue around 9:30 p.m. for a popular Halloween block party. As they walked up to an elaborate haunted house, they said, a group of about a dozen males began taunting them.

"They asked us, `Are you down with it?,' we had no idea what that meant so we didn't say anything and just walked by them up to the haunted house," said Laura, "They were grabbing their crotches - we didn't know if it was a gang thing or what."

After making their way through a maze at the house, the three girls said they were back in the same spot where they were confronted and next to the same guys, who again taunted them. Still saying nothing, the three victims tried to walk away but were pelted with lemons and small pumpkins that split the seams on their costumes and left lumps and bruises on their bodies.

The taunts and jeers grew more aggressive, the victims recalled, as did the size of the crowd. Now females joined in, and everyone began saying "We hate white people, f--- whites!"

At this point, the girls began to run, but the pack of assailants ran ahead of them and kept them surrounded.

"It was like animals, like a pack of hyenas," Michelle said.

She was trying to call 911 on her cell phone when the taunts began, but kept getting busy signals. She tried three times to call, she said, but never got through to an operator.

The suspects also began to gradually separate the girls, first by grabbing Laura by her long hair and yanking her backward.

She said she tried to fight off a group of girls who surrounded her and were clawing and hitting her, but then a man came up and slammed her in the head with a skateboard, knocking her unconscious.

"One of the witnesses told the police that he saw my legs go straight up in the air and I hit the ground face first," she said, accounting for the bumps and bruises on her forehead and around her nose and eyes.

Her friends watched, horrified as the man raised the skateboard over his head and slammed her again as she lay on the ground. Others in the pack also began to hit and kick her motionless body.

Fearing their friend would be killed, the other two girls rushed to her aid.

Saved by a Samaritan

Lauren was the first at Laura's side, and a group of people immediately jumped on her and began punching her in the face and back of the head simultaneously. Some kicked her in the back of knees, causing her legs to buckle. At one point, when they got her cell phone away from her, Lauren said she knelt down to try and retrieve the phone.

"Once I knelt down, there was too much of a force on top of me to get back up," she said. "They were pounding on my back, on my head. ... They were kicking at the ball that was me."

Lauren suffered 12 fractures in her face, including four to her eye socket, three to her nose and three to her cheek.

Doctors don't yet know if she will regain all of her eyesight. Until the swelling goes down, they won't know if she'll require surgery to repair the many broken bones.

Forced to drop her college photography classes this semester because she cannot see well enough to use the camera, Lauren also can't blow her nose or sleep lying down. The pressure, doctors told her, could cause any of the fractured bones to shift, which could lead to her eye becoming detached from the shattered socket.

Michelle said she saw the group drag Lauren down as she rushed up and knocked the man with the skateboard off Laura. But then he then turned on her, punching her in both sides of her face and in the ribs.

Her face, like Lauren's and Laura's, is bruised and swollen. The lining that surrounds her lungs is also bruised.

As the man beat on Michelle, Laura regained consciousness and tried to pull him off her friend. But others in the pack immediately began to hammer at her again, she said.

She, like Lauren, suffered a concussion as well as multiple contusions. The lumps and marks on the back of her head and her back show where she was stomped, kicked and punched as she lay on the ground.

In all, the attack lasted about 10 minutes, and it ended only when a Good Samaritan driving by the melee stopped and physically blocked the battered girls bodies while yanking the assailants off the victims.

Maybe because he was also black, or because he was so tall and strong, the group broke up and scattered to several cars and fled, the victims said.

"If it wasn't for that guy, honestly, I don't think these two would be here today," Michelle said.

Beverage firm offers pea-flavored soda

After introducing the world to new soda flavors like fish taco and salmon, Seattle specialty beverage maker Jones Soda Co. is offering a new flavor: Green pea.

Green pea, along with other unusual sodas such as turkey and gravy, dinner roll, sweet potato and antacid flavor, will be part of the company's $10 to $15 "holiday pack" of bottled drinks available nationwide.

Peter van Stolk, chief executive of Jones Soda, said on Monday the collection of strange-flavored sodas usually sells out quickly, even though he can not stomach the drinks. Past flavors included broccoli casserole, corn on the cob and Brussel sprout.

"Why people buy it is beyond me. I can't drink a bottle of this stuff," said van Stolk.

Jones Soda, which sells traditional sodas alongside more exotic flavors like fufu berry and green apple, first introduced the holiday soda pack in 2003, gaining notoriety for its turkey and gravy flavor soda.

"We have the market share leader in turkey-flavored beverages," said van Stolk. "We know we can't compete with Coke or Pepsi by playing their game, but we know they're not going to come out with a turkey flavor or antacid flavor."

Asked if there were any flavors that were off limits, van Stolk said he put his foot down when it came to curried chicken flavor.

"Fish taco was just nasty and we tried curried chicken. That was just wrong," he said.

In 2006, women still get a raw deal
Read only if you're in the mood for a headache.

COURT REVERSES ACQUITTAL IN MOSCOW MURDER
A snippet:

By Dan Rattiner

In July of 2004, Paul Klebnikov of Sagaponack [Long Island, NY] was on his way home from a long day at the office in Moscow where he worked as editor of Forbes Magazine (Moscow) when a car pulled up, the window rolled down and somebody fired a gun that shot him dead.

The news of this event was received particularly hard here in the Hamptons because Paul was a member of a well-respected family living in this community, where they had been summering for nearly half a century. Paul, a journalist, left behind his wife, Musa, and three children, two brothers and a sister and his father and stepmother, and many, many friends. He was a marathon runner, ocean swimmer, with interests that varied, from philosophy and politics, to architecture and urban design. He was 41.

Paul’s death seems to have been caused because of his fearlessness and determination in reporting the news at his job in Russia. These were family traits. Members of his family exhibited this behavior in almost everything that they did.

Paul had recently taken the job at Forbes Magazine after writing numerous investigative articles about business corruption in post-Soviet Union Russia. There were high hopes about what he could accomplish at the magazine. He also had written a powerful book about one of the Chechen strongmen in that country — Khozh-Akmed Nukhayev. Many believed that Mr. Nukhayev arranged for the murder of Paul Klebnikov for prying into his business interests and that three of his henchmen had carried it out. Russia was then and still is a dangerous place for anyone to speak up.

Muslim scholar calls for airline boycott
And this is bad news?

Anyway, lots of info here:

Six imams were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said.

Bob von Sternberg, Star Tribune

Last update: November 21, 2006 – 12:14 PM

One of the Muslim scholars removed from a US Airways flight on Monday today called for imams around the country to boycott the airline after employees refused to sell him new tickets for his flight home.

On Monday, Omar Shahin and five other imams had gone to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to fly home to Phoenix after attending a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation. Shahin is president of the group.

But after passengers raised concerns about the imams — three of whom said their normal evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding the Phoenix-bound plane — the imams were removed from the flight and questioned by authorities.

This morning Shahin returned to the Twin Cities International Airport to buy six more tickets for the flight to Phoenix, but a US Airways ticket agent and supervisor refused to sell him the tickets.

In an exchange witnessed by a Star Tribune reporter, the unnamed supervisor said Shahin's tickets had been refunded and that he needed to get tickets on another airline.

The supervisor then offered Shahin a customer service phone number.

"I want to go home. I don't want phone numbers," Shahin said. "I want to buy six tickets."

"They have no reason to refuse service to us just because of the way we look," he said "It's terrible. We want America to stay the way it is because we love this country."

The supervisor asked Shahin to leave the ticket counter.

"This is prejudice," he replied. "This is obvious discrimination. No one can argue with this."

"I am calling for a boycott of US Airways because I'm not going to stay silent," said Shahin, who is Jordanian. "I came to this country to enjoy justice and freedom."

US Airways said in a statement that it was aware of the situation and is conducting its own investigation. "We are always concerned when passengers are inconvenienced and especially concerned when a situation occurs that causes customers to feel their dignity was compromised," the statement said. "We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will continue to exhaust our internal investigation until we know the facts of this case and can provide answers for the employees and customers involved in this incident."

Later this morning the scholars were able fly standby on an 11:15 a.m. Northwest Airlines flight.

Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said that witnesses to Monday's events told police that before the flight that besides praying, the imams were spouting anti-American rhetoric, talking about the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

One of the imams was heard saying that he would do whatever is necessary to fulfill his commitment to the Qur'an, witnesses told police, Hogan said. Other witnesses said some of the imams were repeating "Allah, Allah," he said.

And a couple of the imams asked for seat-belt extensions, even though it did not appear they needed them, Hogan said.

All of this made passengers, the attendants and the pilot uncomfortable, Hogan said. As a result, the pilot called police to have the imams escorted from plane.

Airlines have the right not to allow passengers on a plane, Hogan said.

"It's up to the airline," he said. "From an airport standpoint we're out of it, once it was determined no crime occurred."

The imams were questioned by U.S. Marshals, the FBI and Secret Service and they were handcuffed, which is standard procedure, Hogan said.

"There are different interpretations about what was going on," he said.

Shahin said the imams asked for two seat-belt extensions because "a couple of us have big fat bellies."

Marwan Sadeddin, another of the imams said, "What bothers me the most is these false statements and lies that we refused to leave when we were asked. That we were shouting 'Allah, Allah.' This never happened."

Shahin said Tuesday that three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane on Monday. They entered individually, except for one member who is blind and needed to be guided, Shahin said. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together, he said.

"We did nothing" on the plane, Shahin said.

The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m. Monday, airport spokesman Pat Hogan said.

Police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused, Rader said.

Shahin said no one asked the six to leave, but when police arrived, the group complied.

Of the six Muslim scholars, five of them were from the Phoenix-Tempe area, while one was from Bakersfield, Calif., Shahin said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations planned to file a complaint, said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.

"Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time," Hooper said.

Hooper said the meeting drew about 150 imams from all over the country, and that those attending included U.S. Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minneapolis, who just became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Shahin said they went as far as notifying police and the FBI about their meeting in advance.

Shahin expressed frustration that — despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — so many Americans know so little about Islam.

"If up to now they don't know about prayers, this is a real problem," he said.

Shahin said the group spent the night at the Minneapolis area home of a local imam and was waiting for a phone call Tuesday from US Airways. Hooper said US Airways refused to put the men on another flight.

The other passengers on the flight, which was carrying 141 passengers and five crew members, were re-screened for boarding, Rader said. The plane took off about three hours after the men were removed from the flight.

What's funnier in this pic of Cindy Sheehan and Medea Benjamin...?
NOT a photoshop!

All your bsae are belong to us!

Message found; teacher quits'Destroy America' embedded in puzzle
So it wasn't just words, but a paragraph. Just a sweet Islamic Spanish teacher having a bad news day:

"Sharon killed a lot of innocent people in Palestine. Hamas is not a terrorist group. They have the right to defend their country. This is something that forms part of our freedom and dignity. Allah help destroy this body of evil that is making human life so miserable. Destroy America, a country where evil is sponsored."

Bolton in extraordinary outburst against United Nations
Bolton is a great argument for cloning:

The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, launched a scathing attack on the United Nations Friday.

Bolton was furious over the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution which said the assembly regretted the deaths of 19 civilians in an attack by the Israeli military in the town of Beit Hanoun last week.

Despite the resolution being significantly watered down at the behest of the United States, and being passing by 156 votes to seven, Bolton launched a blistering attack on the UN, and many of its members.

"Many of the sponsors of that resolution are notorious abusers of human rights themselves, and were seeking to deflect criticism of their own policies," he said.

"This type of resolution serves only to exacerbate tensions by serving the interests of elements hostile to Israel's inalienable and recognized right to exist."

"This deepens suspicions about the United Nations that will lead many to conclude that the organization is incapable of playing a helpful role in the region," Bolton continued.

"In a larger sense, the United Nations must confront a more significant question, that of its relevance and utility in confronting the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the United Nations is ill served when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum that is a little more than a self-serving and a polemical attack against Israel or the United States," he said.

"The Human Rights Council has quickly fallen into the same trap and de-legitimized itself by focusing attention exclusively on Israel. Meanwhile, it has failed to address real human rights abuses in Burma, Darfur, the DPRK, and other countries," Bolton charged.

"The problem of anti-Israel bias is not unique to the Human Rights Council. It is endemic to the culture of the United Nations. It is a decades-old, systematic problem that transcends the whole panoply of the UN organizations and agencies," he continued.

The United States, and Australia joined Israel in voting against the motion, together with four small Pacific island nations. All countries in Europe, including Britain, voted to support the resolution.

The original text condemned Israel over the Beit Hanoun attack and its operations in Gaza, however the adopted resolution had the General Assembly expressing, "regret."

Rather than an outright investigation of the incident the assembly resolved to form a committee, "to look into the facts." The resolution also carried a demand that the Palestinian Authority take action to stop rocket attacks on Israel.

Bolton launched his attack despite gaining these concessions.

Silence and Fury in Cairo After Sexual Attacks on Women
This is so damned depressing. Kidnappings, forced conversions, rapes... life is great for a gal when the Muslims rule the streets.

S.Korea: Many College Students Have Waken Up(protest against pro-North gov)
Another great translation from FR's TigerLikesRooster, and a very welcome post. The SK youth seemed to (inexplicably) be turning uncomfortably anti-American lately. This is a sign of hope.

Judge bars N.Y. Times in libel defense
This NY Crimes saga continues as well:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge has ruled The New York Times may not rely on information from a columnist's confidential sources in its defense against a libel lawsuit filed over the newspaper's coverage of the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, once identified by authorities as a "person of interest" in the anthrax mailings that killed five people in late 2001, is suing the Times for libel for a series of articles written by columnist Nicholas Kristof.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Liam O'Grady issued the ruling Friday as a sanction against the newspaper for refusing to disclose the identities of two confidential FBI sources used by Kristof. O'Grady had earlier ruled that Hatfill needed "an opportunity to question the confidential sources and determine if Mr. Kristof accurately reported information the sources provided."

The Times had cited FBI sources in reporting Hatfill was one of a limited number of people with the access and technical expertise to manufacture the anthrax and that he failed lie-detector tests. Hatfill was a physician and bioterrorism expert who worked at the Army's infectious disease laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., in the late 1990s.

In its filings, the Times has suggested Kristof had numerous sources for his stories. He initially refused to identify five sources but later disclosed the identities of three, saying they had released him from his pledge of confidentiality.

The judge said Hatfill's right to move forward with his lawsuit outweighed the limited immunity Virginia gives reporters from disclosing sources. A trial in the case is scheduled for Jan. 29.

The Justice Department has refused to discuss Hatfill but recently said the strain of anthrax used in the attacks was accessible to more people than initially reported. No one has been charged in the attacks.

Muslim Mac attack (halal hamburgers cause a flap in Oz)

McDONALD'S latest bid to attract more customers -- Muslim fast-food lovers -- has caused uproar among customers.

The fast-food chain has introduced halal products at two Melbourne restaurants, significantly boosting sales.

However some non-Muslim customers are furious they were not told their hamburger meat was slaughtered and blessed in accordance with Islamic rules laid down in the Koran.

Controversial Assignment Leads To Teacher's Resignation - News - WRAL.com | WRAL

POSTED: 4:43 pm EST November 17, 2006

UPDATED: 7:58 pm EST November 17, 2006

SMITHFIELD, N.C. -- A Spanish teacher at Smithfield-Selma Senior High School resigned this week after handing out an assignment that some students and parents said teaches hate.Khalid Chahhou, who was in his first year of teaching in Johnston County, gave students a worksheet in which they were to translate words and find them within a word-search puzzle.Some students started uncovering strange words in the process."There were words like 'kill,' then I saw it said 'destroy America,'" Eric Herrera said.As they read on, students found the puzzle contained a paragraph that contained the following phrases:

• 
  
"Sharon killed a lot of innocent people," a possible reference to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
• 
  
"Palestine is not a terrorist group."
• 
  
"Allah help destroy this body of evil making humanity miserable."

"It was kind of scary at first to think about, you know, your own teacher in your own school that is teaching you," Herrera said.School administrators said they confronted Chahhou about an unidentified concern Wednesday and he resigned."The situation surrounding the resignation has prompted us to call the proper authorities," said Crystal Roberts, the spokeswoman for Johnston County Schools.The Johnston County Sheriff's Office reviewed the complaint, but investigators said they don't see any reason to file criminal charges or contact other agencies.Chahhou, who also teaches Arabic at a religious school affiliated with the Islamic Association of Cary, told WRAL in a telephone interview that students got the wrong message from the assignment."When I made the assignment, I was upset and angry about a story I recently saw on the news. If any message appears, it is more of a message to myself, not to my students. I never meant to hurt or upset any students or parents," he said.

Video at link.

In crime-pocked Memphis, the good guys -- and women -- get ready
The whole article is quite excellent. A snippet:

In 2000, 3,916 Shelby County residents had handgun carry permits. Five years later, in 2005, that number had more than doubled to 7,838. This year, permits are on pace to hit 8,000.

Statewide, the issuance of permits is also dramatically higher. In 2000, there were 24,627 permits approved. In 2005, the total had doubled and then some, to 55,364.

'I'm all for an armed populace,' says Sgt. Vince Higgins, spokesman for the Memphis Police Department. 'As long as it's a trained populace (in gun safety) and educated in liability.'

But the fact so many more people are applying for handgun carry permits speaks to something else. Citizens understand that much of police work is reactionary.

'What the authorities typically do is investigate crimes that already have happened,' says Tom Givens, owner of Range Master, which trained 274 people in August and September alone. 'That doesn't help the victim at all.

'Fifty years ago, there were good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods. Bad guys make house calls now.'

Leading Russian critic of Putin's regime is poisoned in London
Oops. Another one:

Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into an audacious attempt to murder – using a deadly poison – a leading Russian defector at a restaurant in London.

Alexander Litvinenko, a former colonel in the Russian secret service and a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was seriously ill under armed guard at a London hospital last night.

Alexander Litvinenko defected
to Britain six years ago

A close friend of Mr Litvinenko said last night: "Alexander has no doubt that he was poisoned at the instigation of the Russian government." He has been living at a secret address in London with his wife and son because he feared he might be targeted by political opponents.

Mr Litvinenko is thought to have been poisoned with thallium, a colourless and odourless liquid that is often used to kill rats. It has been used in previous murder attempts of political opponents.

Sources close to the investigation said last night that the poison has attacked Mr Litvinenko's central nervous system and there are fears that he will never make a full recovery. His condition was described last night as "serious but stable".

The crime invoked memories of the murder of Georgi Markov, 49, the prize-winning Bulgarian author and broadcaster, who was poisoned as he waited with commuters on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. Mr Markov felt a pain in his thigh and three days later he was dead: the murder weapon was an umbrella, partly developed by the KGB, which fired a pellet the size of a pinhead, containing the poison ricin.

Mr Litvinenko defected to Britain six years ago but only became a British citizen last month. He is regarded as a traitor in his native Russia and friends suspect the FSB of trying to murder him.

He went to meet the woman journalist at Itsu on November 1 after she claimed to have information about the shooting of Miss Politkovskaya, also a fierce critic of President Putin. The next day, Mr Litvinenko complained of feeling unwell and was admitted to hospital. It was thought he had nothing more than a serious stomach upset but in recent days his condition has deteriorated. Friends say the journalist may have been a genuine contact but that political opponents may have discovered the venue for their meeting and slipped the poison into his meal or drink.

Tatiane Assis, the manager of Itsu, said that two detectives visited the restaurant yesterday. "They asked if we had CCTV. We said we didn't and they left without explaining why they had called." There is no suggestion that the restaurant, or its staff, had anything to do with the poisoning.

Lemmings over a cliff(Playstation 3 Stampede)
Holy crap. One sold on EBay for 15grand.

Is Sony really losing $400 a pop on these things? One wonders why they bothered with the sacrifice.

Desperate Congresswomen of Hysteria Lane (Ann Coulter)
= )

In the past week, there are 476 documents on Nexis heralding the magnificent achievement of Nancy Pelosi becoming the FIRST WOMAN speaker of the House.

I thought we had moved beyond such multicultural milestones.

The media yawned when Condoleezza Rice became the first black female secretary of state (and when Lincoln Chaffee became the first developmentally disabled senator).

There were only 77 documents noting that Rice was the first black woman to be the secretary of state, and half of them were issues of Jet, Essence, Ebony or Black Entrepreneur magazine.

A New York Times profile of Rice at the time waited until the last sentence to note in passing that Rice was "only the second woman, and the first black woman, to hold the job." (In a separate column by me, it was noted that Rice was the "first competent woman" to hold the job.)

Not everyone ignored Secretary Rice's achievement. Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile — the last black person to hold a prominent role in any Democratic presidential campaign — told Newsweek that when she watched President Bush nominate Rice, "I had chills up and down my spine." Brazile said: "I never thought in my lifetime I'd see an African-American woman being nominated as secretary of state. George Bush made that happen."

On MSNBC's "Hardball," even Al Sharpton said of Rice's appointment, "I don't think you can sneeze at the fact that she has made a tremendous achievement as the first black woman in history to be a State Department head."

Rice was not the first black secretary of state because Bush had already made Colin Powell the first black secretary of state. That was back during Bush's first term, when Rice was the first female national security adviser.

Bush also named Alberto Gonzales the first Hispanic attorney general. He made an Arab-American, Spencer Abraham, secretary of energy; a Cuban-American, Carlos Gutierrez, secretary of commerce; an Asian-American, Elaine Chao, secretary of labor; and a retarded-American, Norman Mineta, secretary of transportation. It was as if Mariah Carey and Tiger Woods had children and they all joined the Bush Cabinet.

The whole place has been lousy with women since the first Bush term, including Gale Ann Norton, secretary of the interior, Ann Veneman, secretary of agriculture, and Margaret Spellings, secretary of education. For a while there, it looked as if Bush might become the first president whose entire Cabinet's menstrual cycles were synchronized.

In a rare article taking note of Bush's "Benetton-ad presidency," Time magazine's Joe Klein said of Bush's second-term appointments: "It took Bush a month before he named a standard-issue white male."

By contrast, John Kerry hired only white males for top positions in his presidential campaign, a fact so embarrassing that even the media eventually took notice. In Kerry's defense, almost all of his and Teresa's domestic servants appear to have been people of color, although we still don't have a final head count on the place in Aspen.

But when Nancy Pelosi — another Democrat who married a multimillionaire — achieves the minor distinction of becoming the first female speaker of the House, The New York Times acts like she's invented cold fusion.

There were two major articles breathlessly reporting Pelosi's magnificent achievement as first female speaker and an op-ed by Bob Herbert, titled "Ms. Speaker and Other Trends." Beatifying Pelosi as "the most powerful woman ever to sit in Congress," Herbert began: "Sometimes you can actually feel the winds of history blowing." There was a major Times profile of Pelosi, gushing that Pelosi was "on the brink of becoming the first female speaker." (Isn't she just the most independent little gal?)

So in addition to bringing back a cut-and-run national security strategy, tax-and-spend domestic policy and a no-enforcement immigration policy, the new Democratic Congress is apparently ushering in a return to feminist milestones.

I warned you people about what might happen if "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" ever caught on, and now you've got no one but yourselves to blame. Happy now?

Thatcher praises Friedman, her freedom fighter

Milton Friedman, the free market economist who inspired Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms of the 1980s, died yesterday aged 94.

His theory that inflation resulted from too much money chasing too few goods inspired a generation of central bankers and played a pivotal role in forming the governing philosophies of Lady Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in the US.

Lady Thatcher said last night: "Milton Friedman revived the economics of liberty when it had been all but forgotten. He was an intellectual freedom fighter. Never was there a less dismal practitioner of a dismal science.

"I shall greatly miss my old friend's lucid wisdom and mordant humour."

Time Magazine Gets Caught Lying
Click link for pix and photojourno's account.

MSlimeM.

Milton Friedman, free market economist, dies at age 94
RIP.

SAN FRANCISCO - Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who advocated an unfettered free market and had the ear of three U.S. presidents, died Thursday at age 94.

Friedman died in San Francisco, said Robert Fanger, a spokesman for the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation in Indianapolis. He did not know the cause of death.

"Milton's passion for freedom and liberty has influenced more lives than he ever could possibly know," said Gordon St. Angelo, the foundation's president and CEO, said in a statement. "His writings and ideas have transformed the minds of U.S. presidents, world leaders, entrepreneurs and freshmen economic majors alike."

In more than a dozen books and a column in Newsweek magazine, Friedman championed individual freedom in economics and politics.

His theory of monetarism, adopted in part by the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations, opposed the traditional Keynesian economics that had dominated U.S. policy since the New Deal. He was a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board.

His work in consumption analysis, monetary history and stabilization policy earned him the Nobel in economics in 1976.

"He has used a brilliant mind to advance a moral vision - the vision of a society where men and women are free, free to choose, but where government is not as free to override their decisions," President Bush said in 2002. "That vision has changed America, and it is changing the world."

Friedman favored a policy of steady, moderate growth in the money supply, opposed wage and price controls and criticized the Federal Reserve when it tried to fine-tune the economy.

A believer in the principles of 18th century economist Adam Smith, he consistently argued that individual freedom should rule economic policy. Outspoken and controversial, Friedman saw his theories attacked by many traditional economists such as Harvard's John Kenneth Galbraith.

In an essay titled "Is Capitalism Humane?" he said that "a set of social institutions that stresses individual responsibility, that treats the individual ... as responsible for and to himself, will lead to a higher and more desirable moral climate."

Friedman acknowledged that "pure capitalism" did not exist, but said that nations that cherished freedom must strive to keep the economy as close to the ideal as possible.

He said government should allow the free market to operate to solve inflation and other economic problems. But he also urged adoption of a "negative income tax" in which people who earn less than a certain amount would get money from the government.

He lived to see free market reforms spread in the former communist world and Latin America, but played down his own influence.

"I hope what I wrote contributed to that, but it was not the moving force," Friedman told The New York Sun in March 2006. "People like myself, what we did was keep these ideas open until the time came when they could be accepted."

Outspoken and controversial, Friedman saw his theories attacked by many traditional economists such as Harvard's John Kenneth Galbraith.

Born in New York City on July 31, 1912, Friedman began developing his economic theories during the Great Depression when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's based his New Deal on the ideas of Britain's John Maynard Keynes, the most influential economist of the time.

Keynes argued that the government should intervene in economic affairs to avoid depressions by increasing spending and controlling interest rates.

Friedman graduated from Rutgers University in 1932 and earned his master's degree the following year at the University of Chicago.

After working for the National Resources Commission in Washington from 1935 to 1937, Friedman was a member of the staff of the National Bureau of Economics Research in New York from 1937 to 1945 and received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1946.

After World War II, he taught at the University of Minnesota, then returned to the University of Chicago. He became a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 1977.

Friedman married Rose Director in 1938. They had two children, Janet and David, and she was co-author of some of his books.

Among his most famous books were: "Price Theory," 1962 (with Rose Friedman); "Capitalism and Freedom," 1962 (with Anna J. Schwartz); "An Economist's Protest," 1972; "There Is No Such Thing As a Free Lunch," 1975; "Price Theory," 1976; and "Free to Choose," 1979, co-authored with his wife. "Free to Choose" also was a series on the Public Broadcasting Service.

Friedman wrote columns for Newsweek from 1966 to 1983 and was one of the few economists to bridge the gap between academia and the public. He involved himself in political campaigns, supporting Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1968. He served on Nixon's commission for an All-Volunteer Army in 1969 and 1970.

In an interview with Playboy magazine in 1973, later republished in a collection of his essays titled "Bright Promises, Dismal Performance," Friedman said he was encouraged by an apparent trend away from government control.

"There are faint stirrings and hopeful signs," he said. "Even some of the intellectuals who were most strongly drawn to the New Deal in the '30s are rethinking their positions, dabbling just a little with free-market principles. They're moving slowly and taking each step as though they were exploring a virgin continent. But it's not dangerous. Some of us have lived here quite comfortably all along."

Friedman, whose wit made him a popular guest on radio and television shows, appeared to enjoy sparring with other economists.

In the Playboy interview, he referred to his disagreement with Galbraith, who endorsed wage and price controls. When Nixon went against Friedman's advice and reluctantly imposed the controls in an effort to slow inflation, Friedman said he wrote a note to Galbraith.

"You must be as chagrined as I am to have Nixon for your disciple," Friedman wrote. Galbraith didn't reply, Friedman said.

Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info

The Associated Press Thursday, November 16, 2006; 12:54 PM

DETROIT -- A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying nearly $79,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.

Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court.

When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare, he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage, they found an additional amount of about $60,900. When they scrolled through his laptop, they said they found the mysterious files.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Dinssa was ordered held in custody until at least until Monday at the request of prosecutors. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller argued Dinssa was a potential risk to the community and federal agents want to get a warrant to search his computer more thoroughly, The Detroit News reported Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Donald Scheer approved Feller's request to detain him. Dinssa, who is from Dallas, arrived in Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam and was headed for Phoenix, Feller said.

Tony Blair Goes Wobbly on Us [Lileks]

Tony Blair Goes Wobbly on Us

BY JAMES LILEKS

Surely the Democratic victories brought long faces to the terrorist schemers: If the United States bolts out of Iraq as quickly as now seems possible, al-Qaida will be left without a plan for the occupation. They'd anticipated taking power in '08, after a protracted leeching of American resolve -- but now?

Al-Qaida lacks the boots on the ground to perform the nationwide slaughter required to sunder a nascent democracy. It's one thing to ask your patrons for more bullets; it's quite another to request overnight delivery of the backhoes for mass graves. Must not show lack of foresight.

Heads will roll! More than usual, anyway.

Then again, disaster may not befall Iraq. It may suffer more of the targeted, telegenic chaos that makes for dandy CNN reports, but the nation might still be stabilized -- if we reach out to new partners. And if you believe Tony Blair, those brand new pals would be Syria and Iran.

Yes, Blair's gone wobbly. Some sort of political bird flu has killed all the hawks and replaced them with creatures that mill around civilized capitals making cooing noises and fleeing in panic when someone toots a car horn.

Said the PM: "A major part of the answer to Iraq lies not in Iraq itself but outside it, in the whole of the region where the same forces are at work and where the roots of this global terrorism are to be found."

He has a point, but one might suggest that waging proxy war on the U.S. and the Iraqi government ought instead to be rewarded with a few Tomahawks in the summer homes of senior mullahs.

That, however, is the history of this war -- half-measures, squandered momentum. One side carefully calibrates how much psychological distress may be exacted in interrogations, and the other calibrates the centrifuges that will make the nuclear bombs.

One small problem for Blair: Iran, according to the Telegraph newspaper, is actively involved in selecting the next batch of al-Qaida leaders. Put that together with another revelation from Britain: Al-Q is intensifying its efforts to assemble nuclear material -- 2005 alone saw 16 thwarted attempts to smuggle plutonium and uranium, and we may presume the terrorists tried more than 16 times.

Negotiating with these cheery lads would be like sitting down with the Mafia to discuss the future of trash hauling, except that Tony Soprano doesn't peel off banknotes to fund suicide bombers. Tony wants to live. Our enemies think the Bada-Bing is in heaven.

Blair put his finger on something, though. Where should all the healing begin? Why, in the locus of all injustice, of course: "We should start with Israel/Palestine. That is the core."

The persistence of this delusion -- that the capitulation of Israel will end the problem -- cannot be explained. Somehow decent and rational people believe that indecent and irrational men will agree to forgo their hatreds for the mundane work of building a civil society.

Blair continued: "We should then make progress on Lebanon."

We should indeed. We should also cure cancer and invent cold-fusion hovercars and petition McDonald's to make Shamrock Shakes all year 'round; that doesn't mean any of it's likely.

This doesn't mean you can't talk. Behind-the-scenes chats with the mullahs to spell out consequences and requirements would be fine. But coming cap-in-hand looks weak, and the Iranians may well think that if you've doffed your hat, you won't need your head. Allow us to help you with that.

Future historians will be baffled: "They said they were going to destroy you; why didn't you do anything?"

Well, there was this politician who sent some naughty e-mails, and that seemed terribly important at the time. Some sixth-century Romans would probably understand; the rock in the sandal can be so vexatious, you forget all about the hordes massing on the plain.

But it's still dispiriting to see Blair wobble with such vigor. What's the saying? As the Anglosphere goes, so goes the Anglosphere.

Paging John Howard of Australia; Mr. Howard to the courtesy phone.

Nov. 15, 2006

(James Lileks can be contacted at newhouse@lileks.com)

PLEASE CAPTION THIS PHOTO

The Nation of Muslims Must Prepare for the Great War to Completely Wipe Out the Zionist Regime

'How Did Men Succeed in Convincing Women to Transform Into Enslaved Characters Wearing an Abaya?

Iran says nuke program is near complete - Yahoo! News

New Action Western Motion Picture Directed by a FReeper

Poll: Most doubt Dems have plan for Iraq

Iran says nuke program is near complete - Yahoo! News

Judge Who Berated Hunters, Cut Sentence Loses Seat

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Terrorists

BBC frightened of criticising Islam, says archbishop

Announcing a New Book by Alamo-Girl and betty boop

Texas Town OKs Anti-Immigration Measures

The God Delusion: David Quinn & Richard Dawkins debate (Transcript Here)

Bush Bestows Medal of Honor on New York Marine Who Fought in Iraq

Goodbye, frying pan … hello, fire? Boone's skeptical of Democrats' 'give peace a chance' mantra

First American Muslim Congressman Crashes The Thick Glass Ceiling (Ellison Swearing Oath on Koran)

VIDEO: Ellison Accepts Seat as First Muslim Congressperson (Shouts of "Takbir! Allahu Akbar!")

Saddam’s general wants US to stay

Man who kicked in door is fatally shot

Pterosaur-like Creatures Reported in Papua New Guinea

'Israel Must Prepare For Full-Scale War'

SNL Nancy Pelosi skit

78% Afraid Dems Will Harm US by Abandoning Iraq

Note: "blogged by JC" is Congressman John Conyers himself. He has a bill up already, HR 288; that singles out Islam as needing special protection in the US. Conyers district is the largest Muslim district in America. Congressman Conyers is going to be the Chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee under Nancy Pelosi. These guys are not even trying to hide their agenda anymore.

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000103.htm

Blogged by JC on 05.23.05 @ 11:22 PM ET


Text of My Resolution Regarding Religious Intolerance

Below in the extended entry is the full text of H. Res. 288. I hope you agree that read in its totality, it is a fair and appropriate resolution.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning bigotry and religious intolerance, and recognizing that holy books of every religion should be treated with dignity and respect.

Whereas believers of all religions, including the Abraham faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, should be treated with respect and dignity;

Whereas the word Islam comes from the Arabic root word meaning “peace” and “submission”;

Whereas there are an estimated 7,000,000 Muslims in America, from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, forming an integral part of the social fabric of America;

Whereas the Quran is the holy book for Muslims who recite passages from it in prayer and learn valuable lessons about peace, humanity and spirituality;

Whereas it should never be official policy of the United States Government to disparage the Quran, Islam, or any religion in any way, shape, or form;

Whereas mistreatment of prisoners and disrespect toward the holy book of any religion is unacceptable and against civilized humanity;

Whereas the infringement of an individual’s right to freedom of religion violates the Constitution and laws of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) condemns bigotry, acts of violence, and intolerance against any religious group, including our friends, neighbors, and citizens of the Islamic faith;

(2) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith, should be protected;

(3) recognizes that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as any other holy book of any religion, should be treated with dignity and respect; and

(4) calls upon local, State, and Federal authorities to work to prevent bias-motivated crimes and acts against all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith.

17 posted on 11/13/2006 8:21:43 AM CST by WBL 1952

Islamists infiltrate four universities [But moderate UK muslims fight them]

Martini Moms toast a rebellion against parental correctness

John Conyers And The Muslim Caucus
Full IBD horror story here.

Chilling haul of 400 guns handed in for Jessie firearm amnesty
A twofer. The Brits have officially lost it.

A frightening haul of guns, rifles and crossbows containing enough firepower to supply a small army...what is even more terrifying is that, until several weeks ago, these weapons were sitting in British homes...officers from Greater Manchester Police collected 430 guns and a staggering 2,500 rounds of ammunition.

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Jones said: 'We are really pleased with the response to this campaign. "What has been most encouraging is the type and variety of weapons handed in, which has included 44 real guns. Mr Jones said: "Of these weapons recovered, 264 were air weapons, BB guns and replica guns. These types of weapons can seriously injure people, cause damage to property or, particularly in the case of replicas, look so much like the real thing, they can terrorise individuals and communities."

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...

Bullet found in doorway (UK)
Best. Gun-hysteria-article. Ever.

LIVE ammunition has been found lying in the doorway of a busy high street shop.

The .22 calibre short round bullet was found at the entrance of the 99p Stores in Walthamstow High Street on Wednesday morning, November 1.

Haroon Khan, who has a firearms licence and is a member of a local gun club, was alarmed to discover live ammunition in a Walthamstow doorway.

The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.

Mr Khan said that if it had been struck hard enough or exposed to heat it could have gone off.

"This sort of thing should not be lying around. It was live, primed and active," he said. "But rather me pick it up than a little kid.

"How can you feel safe when you are finding things like this on the street?

"To get hold of one of these is not easy. You have to go through a scrutinised search, you need a licence and you have to belong to a club."

Ammunition of this kind would ordinarily be used in a small handgun or pistol, and both can be owned legally under licence.

But to leave strictly controlled goods out in the street would be enough for a firearms licence to be revoked.

The bullet has been examined at a Metropolitan Police laboratory and details about it kept for future reference.

A police spokesman said: "Recovering firearms and ammunition is a priority for the police. We take the same view of ammunition as we do of a gun.

"If it goes bang, it is still lethal."

Police are treating the unattended ammunition as a crime. Mr Khan alerted them at 10.16am, and they arrived at his shop to pick up the bullet at 11.32am.

Video of Iraqi MP praising America and slamming Arab Culture (MEMRI)

Click here to see the clip: http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1285wmv&ak=null#

Iraqi MP Iyad Jamal Al-Din: We Are Like a Bird Born in a Cage - America Broke the Cage Open, but the Bird Does Not Know How to Fly

Iyad Jamal Al-Din: Blessed be America for giving Saddam a good kick, sending him straight into the abyss of jail. Blessed be America for giving Mula Omar a good slap, sending him straight into the garbage bin of history and into the dunghills of oblivion. These people were tiny idols, who humiliated their peoples, and turned Allah's property into states and His servants into slaves. It was the moral duty of America, as the greatest and strongest power in this world, to topple these rodents, who treated their people ferociously. We should be happy. Instead of going to Britain for asylum and to beg for food, we should welcome them, so they can rid us of these despicable dictators, who have plundered Iraq's resources and turned the Iraqis into their slaves. Now there is freedom in Iraq, there are elections. People who never even dreamt of being ministers have become ministers through free elections. We did not know what democracy was until America brought it against our will. We did not want democracy or freedom...

Interviewer: At the same time, one can claim that there is much violence in Iraq, and this might even lead to a civil war. Some officials have acknowledged this. Blood is spilled in Iraq every day. Is this the price of democracy and freedom?

Iyad Jamal Al-Din: Yes, because we do not know what freedom is or what to do with it. We are like a tiny bird born in a cage. Its father and mother were born in the same cage, and so were its ancestors - for the past 1,400 years. Along came America and broke the cage open, but the bird does not know how to fly, because it has never used its wings. We do not know what to do with the values of freedom, because we were born slaves, the sons of slaves, the sons of slaves - for the past 1,400 years, with this inferior culture. I am not talking about the beautiful, tolerant, Islamic religion, which respects humanity. But there is an Arab Islamic culture, which, in many of its aspects... I don't mean all its aspects, because there is the Sufi culture, which is wonderful. But the official culture teaches you to become a slave to the ruler and to obsolete values and traditions. This is why we do not know what to do with the modern values of democracy.

Google Ignores Veteran's Day
Google... keeping the "tool" in toolbar.

(Colorado) College Admission Discrimination Ended for Homeschoolers

FRANCE'S SUICIDE VALLEY - Canyon Clean-up Reveals Auto Graveyard

Retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers talks about Sec. Rumsfeld ["the pundits get it wrong"]
Long live Donald Rumsfeld.

Brown-Waite blisters Muslim (FL congresswoman stands up to CAIR!)
The story behind the following letter.

061109_response_to_mr_bediercair99.pdf (application/pdf Object)
From lgf, a pdf: one kick-butt congresswoman's response to CAIR. Go get 'im, Ginny!

Mass emigration slows Dutch population growth

More and More Leave Germany Behind (BYE BYE DEUTSCHLAND)

No Joke: NJ Mom Collects 'Silly String' for Iraq Troops ["If the string falls to the ground....]

A Camden County, NJ woman is working on a plan to send cans of the children's aerosol toy "Silly String" to troops in Iraq.

Stress relief? Hardly.

Marcelle Shriver’s son has been in Iraq for a month now. She says Army and Marine units spray the string through the doorways of buildings before entering them -- to make sure there are no bombs inside:

"If the string falls to the ground, there are no trip wires. If the string hangs in mid-air, then they can see that there’s a wire and they do not go in until they can dismantle it."

And he wants more. She’s gathered two cases of the string so far, and $140 to help in shipping. She needs more of both.

Donations are being taken at St. Luke’s Church in Stratford, NJ, and at Our Lady of Grace in Somerdale.

Rumsfeld Gets Cute at the Podium

Near-Death Experiences As Children Change Lives

Beheaded (3 Christian) girls 'Ramadan trophies', court hears (wanted 100 more)

Rumsfeld remembered for many famous quotes
Frankly, I've been too depressed to comment on the Rumsfeld resignation, but I posted some of my favorite quotes at reply #7.

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Historic Victory for Diebold! [Ann Coulter]
As only Ann can:

History was made this week! For the first time in four election cycles, Democrats are not attacking the Diebold Corp. the day after the election, accusing it of rigging its voting machines. I guess Diebold has finally been vindicated.

So the left won the House and also Nicaragua. They've had a good week. At least they don't have their finger on the atom bomb yet.

Democrats support surrender in Iraq, higher taxes and the impeachment of President Bush. They just won an election by pretending to be against all three.

Jon Tester, Bob Casey Jr., Heath Shuler, possibly Jim Webb -- I've never seen so much raw testosterone in my life. The smell of sweaty jockstraps from the "new Democrats" is overwhelming.

Having predicted this paltry Democrat win, my next prediction is how long it will take all these new "gun totin' Democrats" to be fitted for leotards.

Now that they've won their elections and don't have to deal with the hicks anymore, Tester can cut lose the infernal buzz cut, Casey can start taking "Emily's List" money, and Webb can go back to writing more incestuously homoerotic fiction ... and just in time for Christmas!

But according to the media, this week's election results are a mandate for pulling out of Iraq (except in Connecticut where pro-war Joe Lieberman walloped anti-war "Ned the Red" Lamont).

In fact, if the Democrats' pathetic gains in a sixth-year election are a statement about the war in Iraq, Americans must love the war! As Roll Call put it back when Clinton was president: "Simply put, the party controlling the White House nearly always loses House seats in midterm elections" -- especially in the sixth year.

In Franklin D. Roosevelt's sixth year in 1938, Democrats lost 71 seats in the House and six in the Senate.

In Dwight Eisenhower's sixth year in 1958, Republicans lost 47 House seats, 13 in the Senate.

In John F. Kennedy/Lyndon Johnson's sixth year, Democrats lost 47 seats in the House and three in the Senate.

In Richard Nixon/Gerald Ford's sixth year in office in 1974, Republicans lost 43 House seats and three Senate seats.

Even America's greatest president, Ronald Reagan, lost five House seats and eight Senate seats in his sixth year in office.

But in the middle of what the media tell us is a massively unpopular war, the Democrats picked up about 30 House seats and five to six Senate seats in a sixth-year election, with lots of seats still too close to call. Only for half-brights with absolutely no concept of yesterday is this a "tsunami" -- as MSNBC calls it -- rather than the death throes of a dying party.

During eight years of Clinton -- the man Democrats tell us was the greatest campaigner ever, a political genius, a heartthrob, Elvis! -- Republicans picked up a total of 49 House seats and nine Senate seats in two midterm elections. Also, when Clinton won the presidency in 1992, his party actually lost 10 seats in the House -- only the second time in the 20th century that a party won the White House but lost seats in the House.

Meanwhile, the Democrats' epic victory this week, about which songs will be sung for generations, means that in two midterm elections Democrats were only able to pick up about 30 seats in the House and four seats in the Senate -- and that's assuming they pick up every seat that is currently too close to call. (The Democrats' total gain is less than this week's gain because Bush won six House and two Senate seats in the first midterm election.)

So however you cut it, this midterm proves that the Iraq war is at least more popular than Bill Clinton was.

In a choice between Republicans' "Stay until we win" Iraq policy or the Democrats' "Stay, leave ... stay for a while then leave ... redeploy and then come back ... leave and stay ... cut and run ... win, lose or draw policy," I guess Americans prefer the Republican policy.

The Democrats say we need a "new direction" in Iraq. Yeah, it's called "reverse." Democrats keep talking about a new military strategy in Iraq. How exactly is cut-and-run a new strategy? The French have been doing it for years. The Democrats are calling their new plan for Iraq "Operation Somalia."

The Democrats certainly have their work cut out for them. They have only two years to release as many terrorists as possible and lock up as many Republicans as they can. Republicans better get that body armor for the troops the Democrats are always carping about -- and fast. The troops are going to need it for their backs.

Celeb calorie counter: how much are they eating? | the Daily Mail

First Muslim Elected to Congress(Thanks Minneapolis!)

He said Muslims followed the campaign closely, and that they are more excited about seeing a Muslim in Congress than they are concerned about Ellison's strong liberal views.

"We are monotheistic, but we are not monolithic. There are things within our own community that we disagree about," he said. Ellison's views "might be a concern but I think the overall factor of having a Muslim voice in Congress overrides those types of concerns."

Ellison's campaign had to deal with reports of overdue parking tickets, late campaign finance reports and unpaid taxes. He also faced questions about anti-Semitism because of past ties with the Nation of Islam, a black Muslim group led by the confrontational Louis Farrakhan.

Ellison, a criminal defense attorney who converted to Islam as a college student, denounced Farrakhan, and he won the endorsement of a Minneapolis Jewish newspaper.

It cost $5 in a junk shop, but could it be a $50m Pollock?

Bush Gives Top Ten Positive Outcomes of Election
From Scrappleface:

President George Bush, in an effort to lift the spirits of dejected Republicans after Democrats yesterday took the House and perhaps the Senate, this morning issued his Top Ten list of Positive Outcomes from the Election.

10. New York Times and CNN will carry much less negative news about Congress.

9. Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee lost and Connecticut Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman won, a net gain of two for the GOP.

8. We may finally get to see the Democrat plan for victory in Iraq.

7. Taxpayers will be relieved of the burden of making so many investment decisions.

6. Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is now available for Supreme Court appointment.

5. Possible reduction in attacks on our troops in Iraq, since terrorists fear attorneys.

4. NSA agents could soon be freed from having to listen to annoying terrorist chatter.

3. Lynn Swann will be remembered as a great wide receiver during the Pittsburgh Steelers 1970s dynasty.

2. Since a lot of the polling places are in church buildings, millions of Democrats actually went to church yesterday.

1. C-Span could get a ratings boost for new reality show: Impeachment 2007

In addition, the president noted that “millions of American Democrats will sleep more peacefully now that they are assured that Karl Rove doesn’t control everything.”

Rove, you Not So Magnificent Bastard.

Fourth Grader Suspended After Refusing to Answer Exam Question [zero tolerance alert]

Great Britain: Trial halted over lawyer's veil (Full-face veil interfered with communication)

Kicking a CAIR Extremist Off the Human Relations Commission--Phoenix makes the right move.

Iraqi Leader Disparages US Media Coverage

U.S. media coverage of Iraq was so gloomy that during a recent visit to the U.S. the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan wondered whether the situation had deteriorated to such a degree during his absence that he should stay away.

"CNN International and [Arabic television network] al-Jazeera are equally bad in their coverage of the situation in Iraq," Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani was quoted as telling a visiting group of Americans on Monday.

"When I was in the United States recently and read the negative news in the Washington Post, New York Times and in the network TV broadcasts, I even wondered if things had gotten so bad since I had left that I shouldn't return," he said.

Barzani was speaking during a meeting with a group of Americans who have lost sons during the conflict in Iraq. The group is in the country, according to the trip organizers, to learn for themselves what their loved ones died for.

The Americans also met with Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.

"The emotional meeting lasted for an hour as the families and Barzani exchanged stories of loss at the hands of Saddam Hussein's violent regime," reported Joe Wierzbicki, spokesman for Move America Forward (MAF), the group that organized the visit.

Photo of Troops "Terrorizing" Iraqis (#128 is a must see!)

Telegraph | News | Saddam death sentence sparks dancing on streets of Baghdad

TX District Attorney Kills Himself

German Scientists Concerned About Rise in Creationist Belief

No Joke, the Troops Did Their Homework
No joke, the New York Crimes put a little truth into the mix.

"We support those not as smart as John Kerry"- At the Army-Air Force Game

How Dems Really Feel About Our Military..."So Easy A Caveman Can Do It" (PIC)
Registered is at it again. Very funny.

Rare fossil find on roadside (Extraordinarily preserved pterosaur)

OHIO: Investigation Finds Votes Cast By People Listed As Dead: Rep. Dennis Kucinich stunned

Michael Steele tells Washington Post to "Eat It" - God I love it!

Marine:"You have to be pretty darn smart." (interview with 3 Marines and John Kerry)

"We can't let the men and women that have died there, die in vain," he said. "Don't erect a war memorial for these guys. If there is a war memorial, then let that be a democracy in Iraq."

No one has silenced you - Dixie Chicks get slammed on their own blog

Newsweek Declares John Kerry Unfit For Command