In Two Cities

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Letter to an American Soldier

From an American Thinker article, Letter to an American Soldier :

Letter to an American Soldier

December 14th, 2005
Dear Soldier,
For some time now, we have sought to underplay the strife in Washington to reassure you that despite our differences we are all united behind your mission. It is no longer possible to do so. Sadly, there are some among us whose worldview is so skewed that in their minds you are worse than the murderous terrorists intent on our destruction. To them you are the bad one while they are freedom fighters. These people think we cannot and deserve not to win this war.
Such notions almost invariably come from the political Left, often from the highest echelons of the Democratic Party. Let me give you a few examples.
On June 14, 2005, Dick Durbin, the second highest ranked democrat in the U.S. Senate, compared the actions of our military personnel at Guantánamo Bay to those of the Nazi, Soviet and Pol Pot regimes.
Following the disclosure of the Abu Ghraib photos, Senator Kennedy kept pouring oil on fire for months through condemnatory speeches and denunciations. When the storm was abating at last, he reminded the world of it once again by speaking of ‘the first anniversary of Abu Ghraib.’
On December 6, 2005, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, asserted that ‘the idea that we are going to win this war is just plain wrong.’ This only one day after John Kerry claimed on national television that you [(the American Soldier)] go ‘into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children.’
As a naturalized citizen and someone who grew up under communism, I am keenly aware of just how great and wonderful this country is. While living in America, I also became conscious of the all around goodness and big-heartedness of the American people. It therefore pains me greatly when I see someone throwing mud at America’s best.
I will not stand by when John Kerry and his ilk compare you to the Nazis and terrorists. John Kerry betrayed his comrades 30 years ago, and now he is trying to do it again to the latest generation of heroic Americans. There is only one word that can describe such a man: traitor.
When I kiss my little girl good night, I do so knowing that many have paid – and many are paying still – a heavy price so that I can partake in this wondrous moment in freedom and peace. The thought that so many laid their lives while making it possible is almost too painful to bear. Tied to you with a bond forged by your sacrifice, I acknowledge its lopsided nature – I get the benefits while you bear the cost.
The nature of our existence is such that for almost everything that is good and precious we depend on the labor and goodwill of others. Of this I become especially cognizant when I think of you. I do not know why our lives take the course they do, but of this I am certain: God is just and with Him no noble sacrifice is ever in vain.
You come from the greatest nation that has ever been and you defend the great idea on which it stands – that men may be free. You fight that others too may have the freedom to live up to their God-given potential and pursue happiness in the way they see fit. Freedom is after love the greatest gift a man can give. And you, dear friend, give both in a measure infinitely abundant.
However severe the hardships you now face or sharp the pain you now endure, one thing can never be in doubt: we will win this war. We will win it, because we have the best military in the world. We will win, because America does not cow before head-chopping terrorists. We will win, because win we must.
We will not let darkness prevail over light, and good will not run in the face of evil. Those whom you have liberated will stay free, and those who would enslave them will meet with the fate they deserve. Once your mission is accomplished, you will come home to a thankful nation leaving behind a country that will never be a threat again.
Embittered and seething with rage, those who speak ill of your toil loathe their own country and attack you, because it is you who makes America strong. Rarely angry with our vicious foe, they are always quick to chide and belittle our military. But do not let that disturb you. They only represent a small number in this land. America brims with grateful people who appreciate your sacrifice, who love you, and who pray for you.
I also want you to know this. We will hold the traitors accountable regardless of where they are or how high their office. We will not allow them to sully your honor or your service. We will not allow them to throw mud into the blood you have spilled. We will not allow them to smear the reputation or the memory of the bravest among us. We will call them on their lies, and we will call them for what they are. And in the end they will go down in shame that their words and actions rightly deserve.
May God bless you and keep you safe.
With abiding appreciation for your service and sacrifice,
I remain gratefully yours,

Vasko Kohlmayer
Vasko Kohlmayer defected from communist Czechoslovakia at the age of 19. He lives in London and works in the publishing industry. He can be contacted at vasko_kohlmayer@msn.com . [My ellipses and emphasis]

From Lucianne.com Article "Threads2":

Iran's [President] Ahmadinejad says Holocaust a myth

[How will Cut 'n Runners deal with this? - Lucianne.com Must Reads]

Reuters, by staff \ Original Article

Posted By:jond, 12/14/2005 3:12:09 AM

TEHRAN - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday the Holocaust was a myth, reiterating a view that has caused international uproar and drawn a rebuke from the U.N. Security Council. "They have fabricated a legend under the name 'Massacre of the Jews', and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves," he told a crowd in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

Comments:
But he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that it becomes reality.

[...] Reply 33 - Posted by: yeahsuredad, 12/14/2005 9:37:52 AM

No holocaust? There will be one at his doorstep soon, courtesy of the Jews. Then let him deny it...if he survives.

Iraq: Murtha's "Broken" Army Missing!

Real Army Winning Dean's "Unwinnable" War!

From an American Spectator article, In Search of Murtha's Army :

Loose Canons [/] In Search of Murtha's Army [/] By Jed Babbin [/] Published 12/13/2005 12:10:46 AM
Last week, I went to Iraq to search for John Murtha's army. You know: the one he described as "broken, worn out," and "living hand to mouth." Thanks to the help of some friends in low places, I met with a lot of the troops and almost all of the commanders around Baghdad and at Camp Fallujah. Murtha was not just wrong, but damnably wrong. And so, unsurprisingly, is Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, who declared the war unwinnable.
None of the soldiers I spoke to -- Army or Marine -- was happy about being in Iraq. Some were there for the third year-long tour, a big strain on their families. One senior officer from the 4th I.D. told me about one of his favorite young warriors, a captain, who he said was "enormously adaptable and capable." But the captain had been on one tour in Afghanistan and two in Iraq in his five years of service. The result? "He's no longer married." That's the kind of wound even the best docs can't mend. […] But [the sergeant], like all the others, agreed on one important point.
All the men I spoke to (and, yes, the women as well) didn't believe this job was over. They have committed themselves to the war, and expect their commitment to be matched at home. Frustrated? Yes. Tired? Sure. Broken? Don't believe it for one microsecond. Living hand to mouth? Oh, please. Everyone I spoke to -- officer and enlisted -- said they had everything they need, and get more for the asking. […]
Is our army broken? Not hardly, but it could be. One 4th I.D. colonel said it best: "You want to break this army? Then break your word to it." Which is precisely what the Dems want to do. President Bush was right when he said yesterday that the only way we will lose this war is if we lose our nerve. The Dems long ago lost theirs.
Because the politicians haven't gotten to the point of cutting off war funds or setting withdrawal schedules, our troops are not paying a lot of attention to the winds blowing around the Beltway. In their ignorance, poor souls, they don't understand the judgment of their betters -- the Deans, Pelosis, and Murthas -- that the war is "unwinnable." So they're just going ahead and winning it. And you have to understand that "winning" means not only defeating the insurgents, which we are doing, but training, equipping, and teaching the Iraqis to both protect themselves and keep their country together.
DEFEATING THE TERRORISTS MEANS not only capturing or killing them, but cutting off their sources of arms, men, and money. Syrian, Saudi, and Iranian support for terrorists is a constant problem. The main "rat lines" -- the routes into Iraq from Syria and Saudi Arabia -- are not closed, but tightened down enormously. The official line is that we are not engaged in operations against Syrian forces or on Syrian territory (more than one senior military commander said that directly and would not budge from it). But something has been going on for weeks if not months. Syrian support for the insurgents has, I believe, been forcibly reduced. Iraqi forces, including the "Desert Protectors" -- really tribesmen operating in their home areas -- are proving effective against infiltration. Part of the remaining problem, one senior officer said, is the "booze, money, and drugs" coming in from Saudi Arabia, and arms coming in -- especially those described by Tony Blair -- from Iran.
[…] One senior officer said that we've "taken out" -- i.e., captured or killed -- an estimated 90% of the al Qaeda in Iraq. They are among the more than 2,000 terrorists we have caught or killed there.
The foreign fighters coming in are almost entirely suiciders, not soldiers. But at least 90% of the insurgents being caught are Iraqis: members of anti-occupation groups, some of which trace their origins to the 1920s when they drove the Brits out. It is these people -- mainly Sunni but some Shia such as those answering to Moqtada al Sadr -- who are the most stubborn opponents of democracy. They have no confidence in the current Iraqi government and if they refuse to vote in the Thursday election -- as it appears they will do at least in the big city of Ramadi -- the insurrection will continue.
[…] THE BIGGEST CONCLUSION I DREW from the trip is that the Iraqi civilian government lags badly behind the Iraqi army in taking charge and moving forward. Time after time, our top commanders expressed frustration that the politics aren't keeping up with the development of the Iraqi military. It's inevitable in a democracy, but this kind of dissent is very counterproductive. […]
[…] It's too bad that the Iraqi pols don't have the vision their military counterparts do. At the Iraqi military academy at al-Rustamiya, BGen. Dan Bolger and his Iraqi and Brit cohorts showed me the future of the Iraqi Army. I had the chance to talk to several members of their first graduating class. To a man, they will be graduating straight into the two-way firefight. And, to a man, they want to rid their nation of the terrorists that prey on it. They are an Iraqi investment in the future. Let's hope the Iraqi pols don't waste that investment. And we have to ensure that the Dems don't waste ours.
TAS contributing editor Jed Babbin is the author of Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are Worse Than You Think (Regnery, 2004). [My ellipses and emphasis]

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Anti-Alito Allies: Drug Dealers

From a Judicial Confirmation Network political video access and text page, Ad Supporting Judge Alito (Click for video):

Judicial Confirmation Network Ad Supporting Judge Alito [/] Help us support Judge Alito! [/] Call your Senators today
Text: [/] "Real America"
Left wing extremists opposing Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court may have found new allies...drug dealers who hide drugs on children.
These extremist groups have even run TV ads attacking Judge Alito ads siding with a convicted drug offender who sued police for searching his child during a raid at the suspected drug dealer's house.
These liberal extremists oppose the search. [/] They oppose Judge Alito. [/] And they oppose his tough on crime positions.
In THEIR America, drug dealers could freely use children to hide drugs.
In THEIR America, honest police officers could be sued for doing their job.
That is not the real America. [/] Contact your Senators. [/] Ask them to support Judge Alito.
Ask them... Whose side are they on?
The Judicial Confirmation Network [/] PO Box 791 [/] Alexandria, Virginia 22313-0791 [/] info@judicialnetwork.com [My ellipses and emphasis]

New Mexico Gets Spaceport

First Space Tourist Center in the World

From a breitbart.com article, Virgin Spaceport to Be Built in N.M.:

Virgin Spaceport to Be Built in N.M. [/] By JANE WARDELL [/] AP Business Writer [/] Dec 13 9:11 AM US/Eastern
LONDON - Virgin Galactic, the British company created by entrepreneur Richard Branson to send tourists into space, and New Mexico announced an agreement Tuesday for the state to build a $225 million spaceport. Virgin Galactic also revealed that up to 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for a seat on one of its manned commercial flights, including a core group of 100 "founders" who have paid the initial $200,000 cost of a flight upfront. Virgin Galactic is planning to begin flights in late 2008 or early 2009.
New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said construction of the spaceport, to be built largely underground in the south of the state near the White Sands Missile Range, could begin in early 2007, depending on approval from environmental and aviation authorities.
[…] "Experts predict that thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment will be created in the next 20 years as the private sector develops new commercial markets in the space industry in New Mexico," Homans said in London. "Virgin is the beginning and many other space companies will follow."
Virgin Galactic said it had chosen New Mexico as the site for its headquarters because of its steady climate, free airspace, low population density and high altitude. All those factors can significantly reduce the cost of the space flight program.
The spaceport, to be located some 25 miles south of the town of Truth or Consequences, will be constructed 90 percent underground, with just the runway and supporting structures above ground.
Stephen Attenborough, the Virgin Galactic executive in charge of marketing the space flights, said the 100 founder members were committed to "stepping up to the plate" and boarding a flight early in the operations.
"Many of the others will need to wait until the price comes down and will want to wait for proven reliability and safety," he said.
[…] "My only concern is that the longer they leave the launch, the more likely we all are to be hit by a bus," said Beattie, who has dreamed of going to space since watching the 1969 moonwalk.
Branson formed Virgin Galactic after watching SpaceShipOne, a craft designed by Burt Rutan and funded by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, become the first privately manned rocket to reach space last year. SpaceShipOne went on to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize with two suborbital flights in five days from Mojave, Calif.
[…] Branson is due to join New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in the United States on Wednesday to unveil the spaceport plans. [My ellipses and emphasis]

It Is All Bush's Fault! - IX

The citizens of Sadaam Hussein's home town are so very, very, angry at Bush that they are going to vote in Thursday's election!!!

From an International Herald Tribune article, :

An angry Sunni town gets set to vote [/] By Edward Wong The New York Times [/] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2005
TIKRIT, Iraq Inside a villa off the main street here, two campaign managers watched the leader of their political party, Mishaan al-Jubouri, pop up Tuesday afternoon on his own satellite channel, as a program showed him walking through a primary school that he had financed.
"All the people who boycotted the last elections will vote for Mishaan," said one of the men, Awad Khalaf, pointing to the television. "He's the voice of this city."
[…]
"The Sunnis have suffered enough from this government," Ibrahim said, referring to the political dominance of the Shiites. "They governed us for one year and look what they've done to us. What will happen if they rule us for four years?"
Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, is as unlikely a place as any in Iraq for a last-minute surge of political activity before parliamentary elections on Thursday. But frustrated by the rule of the conservative Shiites, fearful of their Iranian-trained militias and galvanized by anger over mass detentions - especially given the revelations of prisoner mistreatment - the Sunni Arabs are working feverishly to get out the vote, even though they largely boycotted the January elections for a transitional government.
Posters with candidates' faces are plastered all over the main boulevard and by the gates of those schools that will serve as polling stations. Campaign volunteers trudge through neighborhoods handing out flyers. American commanders have been meeting daily with the mayor and Iraqi officers to forge a plan for securing the polling sites, 33 in the greater Tikrit area and 19 in the city itself.
[…]
U.S. and Iraqi officials say they expect a high turnout in Tikrit and the rest of the northern Sunni areas, similar to the flood of voters that materialized during the constitutional referendum in October.
"Most of the leaders feel abandoned by the national Iraqi government," said Captain Chris Ortega, 28, the head civil affairs officer for the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division, charged with controlling Tikrit. "They feel that because this is Saddam's hometown and province, they're being punished by the national government. They feel they're not getting the proper allocation of resources."
Sunni Arab participation in the elections is the cornerstone of U.S. hopes for subduing the Sunni-led insurgency and, consequently, a drawdown of the U.S. troops here. If Sunni disaffection can be channeled into the political arena, officials say, then perhaps insurgents will begin laying down their arms.
Hard-line Sunni Arab candidates such as Jubouri are promising the electorate here that they will help push out the Americans and dampen the power of the religious Shiites. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Protect Your Identity Online

Adult Christian Forum #89080.1:

PC World Magazine has several important articles on their website regarding Identity Theft, and different ways to combat the ever growing problem.

In one such article, they state the latest evil trick: using a self-issued certificate. Basically, what this does is allows phishers (people attempting to steal your identity, usually through email, or instant messaging) to forge a padlock on your browser (the padlock has been used to identify that you are on a secure site).

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself. The first is get some type of website browser identifier tool. One such tool is called SpoofStick, and another is called netcraft. [...] These tools will help identify the site you are on. For example, spoofstick will say you are on prospero.com once inside, it shows as being www.delphiforums.com

[...] Click to view the article mentioned above at PC World's website.

Crips Gang Founder Executed

From AP via Yahoo!, Crips Gang Founder Executed:

L.A. Crips Gang Founder Executed in Calif. By KIM CURTIS, Associated Press Writer
Convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang co-founder whose case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption, was executed early Tuesday.
[,,,] After he was declared dead, his supporters shouted in unison: "The state of California just killed an innocent man," as they walked out of the chamber. [/] The case became the state's highest-profile execution in decades. Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes argued that Williams' sentence should be commuted to life in prison because he had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs and violence.
Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down convenience store clerk Albert Owens, 26, at a 7-Eleven in Whittier and killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and the couple's daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at the Los Angeles motel they owned. Williams claimed he was innocent. [/] Witnesses at the trial said he boasted about the killings, stating "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him." Williams then made a growling noise and laughed for five to six minutes, according to the transcript that the governor referenced in his denial of clemency.
Lora Owens, Owens' stepmother, watched Williams die. In the days before the execution, she was one of the outspoken advocates who believed the execution should go forward. She said her stepson was shot twice in the back, even though he begged Williams for his life. [/] "I believe it was a just punishment long overdue," she told ABC's "Good Morning America."
About 1,000 death penalty opponents and a few death penalty supporters gathered outside the prison to await the execution. Singer Joan Baez, M A S H actor Mike Farrell and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were among the celebrities who protested the execution. [/] "Tonight is planned, efficient, calculated, antiseptic, cold-blooded murder and I think everyone who is here is here to try to enlist the morality and soul of this country," said [Joan] Baez, who sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" on a small plywood stage set up just outside the gates.
A contingent of 40 people who had walked the approximately 25 miles from San Francisco held signs calling for an end to "state-sponsored murder." But others, including Debbie Lynch, 52, of Milpitas, said they wanted to honor the victims. [/] "If he admitted to it, the governor might have had a reason to spare his life," Lynch said.
Former Crips member Donald Archie, 51, was among those attending a candlelight vigil outside a federal building in Los Angeles. He said he would work to spread Williams' anti-gang message. [/] "The work ain't going to stop," said Archie, who said he was known as "Sweetback" as a young Crips member. "Tookie's body might lay down, but his spirit ain't going nowhere. I want everyone to know that, the spirit lives."
Among the celebrities who took up Williams' cause were Jamie Foxx, who played the gang leader in a cable movie about Williams; rapper Snoop Dogg, himself a former Crip; Sister Helen Prejean, the nun depicted in "Dead Man Walking"; and Bianca Jagger. During Williams' 24 years on death row, a Swiss legislator, college professors and others nominated him for the Nobel Prizes in peace and literature.
"There is no part of me that existed then that exists now," Williams said recently during an interview with The Associated Press. [/] He said he wanted to continue his advocacy work from prison. [/] "I haven't had a lot of joy in my life. But in here," he said, pointing to his heart, "I'm happy. I am peaceful in here. I am joyful in here." [My elipses and emphases.]

Monday, December 12, 2005

Saying Nice Things About Jesus

Adult Christian Forum #88930.1: "C.S. Lewis ... Saying Nice Things About Jesus
In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis addressed the inclination to say nice things about Jesus, but to stop short of calling him God.

He wrote, 'I am here trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic�on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg�or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any of that patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. Nor did he intend to.'

� C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, MacMillan, 1943,
p. 55-56."

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Racist Mob Violence in Australia

Looks like some five thousand ill tempered people have been finally pushed over the edge by years of politically correct treatment of dangerous minority thugs.

From a The Age [Australia] article, Sydney's racist mob violence spreads :

Sydney's racist mob violence spreads [/] December 11, 2005
[…] About 5,000 people descended on Cronulla beach as mobs yelling racist chants chased down and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance. [/] Police and an ambulance crew were also assaulted as racial tensions peaked.
Hopes that the violence had subsided by nightfall were dashed when, in an apparent retaliatory strike, a 23-year-old man was stabbed in the back outside a golf club at nearby Woolooware. [/] Two cars carrying a group of males, described by police as being of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance, approached the man at about 10.25pm (AEDT) Sunday night. [/] Following a short conversation he was stabbed in the back, and was taken to hospital in a serious condition. [/] At about the same time, up to 50 carloads of youths smashed more than 100 cars with baseball bats and other weapons in the beach suburb of Maroubra.
[…] Earlier on Sunday, when the trouble first flared at Cronulla, 12 people were charged after mobs of youths chanting racist slogans and carrying Australian flags attacked youths of Middle Eastern appearance. [/] Five police were injured when the mob turned on them. [/] Two paramedics were also injured as they tried to rescue a group of people from the Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club, where they had fled to escape the violence. [/] The mob broke the ambulance vehicle's windows and kicked its doors as the paramedics tried to get the group out. [/] […] A group later made its way back to Cronulla for a retaliatory strike, where men of Middle Eastern appearance are reported to have bashed a local man unconscious.
A 23-year-old man was injured and more than 40 cars were smashed with baseball bats during violent scenes in Maroubra, in Sydney's east, overnight. [/] A group of about 60 men of Middle Eastern appearance and armed with baseball bats smashed about 40 parked cars at about 9 pm (AEDT) Sunday night. [/] The group then clashed with a local group, the Bra Boys, outside the Maroubra Bay Hotel.
[…] Police established a roadblock to prevent more people from entering the suburb. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jack Kelly: Ciao, CIA

Jack Kelly: Ciao, CIA: "Jack Kelly: Ciao, CIA
The spy agency is damaged beyond repair: Abolish it and start over
Sunday, December 11, 2005"

But seriously folks, this clown is dangerous

But seriously folks, this clown is dangerous: "There has always been a slightly post-modern quality to sovereignty in the transnational age: We pretend the Syrian foreign minister is no different from the New Zealand foreign minister, and in so doing we vastly inflate the status of the former at the expense of the latter. But with Ahmadinejad we're going way beyond that. If a genocidal fantasist is acceptable in polite society, we'll soon find ourselves dealing with a genocidal realist."

Friday, December 09, 2005

White Flag Video of Democrat Leaders

Drudge has supplied a link to the White Flag video which will be begun on TV tomorrow I believe and has caused sharp comment by those who have seen it.

Link to access White Flag video.

From a World Net Daily article, GOP video skewers Dems' 'Retreat and Defeat':

GOP video skewers Dems' 'Retreat and Defeat' [/] Features white flag waved over comments this week by Kerry, Dean [/] Posted: December 9, 2005 [/] 12:46 a.m. Eastern
GOP video chastises Democrats for 'Retreat and defeat' strategy [/] The Republican National Committee has posted a video on its website that shows a white flag of surrender waving over images of Democrat leaders commenting on the war in Iraq.
[…] Asked to comment, a Democratic strategist told the Drudge Report, "This is way over the top, but we have no one to blame but Dean, Kerry and others who continue to pander to the anti-war activists within our party."
The video begins with text on a TV screen saying, "Democrats have a plan for Iraq. Retreat and defeat." After clips of comments from three Democrats, the screen says, "Our Country Is At War. Our Soldiers Are Watching. Our Enemies Are Too." The camera view then widens to reveal a soldier watching the screen, and the video concludes with the text, "Message to Democrats: Retreat And Defeat Is Not an Option."
A Republican strategist familiar with the ad told Drudge, "The Democrats, especially Howard Dean have a way of trying to turn the tables and say 'that's not what I meant' – its just those 'evil Republicans.' This video will make them crazy – it reinforces what they really believe with what they actually said – and that is devastating for the Democratic Party."
The video leads off with a clip from Dean's interview Monday with a San Antonio radio station in which he said the U.S. cannot win the war in Iraq.
The "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," Dean said on WOIA.
[…] The video also includes Kerry's remarks Sunday to CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer, asserting U.S. soldiers were "terrorizing" Iraqi children.
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs," Kerry said Sunday. "Whether you like it or not ... Iraqis should be doing that." [My ellipses and emphasis]

It Is All Bush's Fault! - VIII

But, despite Bush, the noble and virtuous Bill Clinton may be able to rescue the United Nations Global Warming Crusade (N.B. "crusade is only an improper word in the context of Christianity or nominally Christian nations.) from ennui, cold weather, lack of rock stars, and, above all, from Bush obstructionism.

From a Yahoo! AP article, Bill Clinton to Speak at U.N. Conference :

Bill Clinton to Speak at U.N. Conference By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent
In a surprise visit, former President Clinton will speak at the annual U.N. climate conference Friday, final day of a contentious two-week meeting, the United Nations confirmed.
Bush administration envoys here were said to be displeased at Thursday's news of the unusual appearance — of an ex-president at a critical point in backroom negotiations involving the U.S. delegation.
As president, Clinton championed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming, an international agreement requiring reductions in "greenhouse-gas" emissions by major industrialized nations. Soon after he succeeded Clinton, President Bush formally renounced the Kyoto accord, saying it would harm the U.S. economy. [My ellipses and emphasis]

It Is All Bush's Fault!

Including the lack enthusiasm in Congress to back Clinton in this matter. Continuing:

In Montreal, the United States has rejected proposals that it rejoin future negotiations to set emissions controls for the period after 2012, when the Kyoto framework expires.
Clinton, who was invited here by the City of Montreal, will speak in an unofficial context in the main conference hall Friday afternoon, said U.N. conference spokesman John Hay.
[…]Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, [(inventor of the internet)] was instrumental in final negotiations on the treaty protocol negotiated in the Japanese city of Kyoto eight years ago. It mandates cutbacks by 2012 in emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases whose buildup in the atmosphere is expected to disrupt the global climate.
[…] The Bush administration has said it prefers to deal with other governments on a bilateral or regional basis, not through global negotiations, and it favors voluntary approaches. The chief U.S. delegate Paula Dobriansky pointed to $3-billion-a-year U.S. government spending on research and development of energy-saving technologies as a demonstration of U.S. efforts to combat climate change. [My ellipses and emphasis]

How are we to shape up the world on a voluntary basis? Why are we ignoring the agreeableness of international comity, the United Nations, and Kofi Annan?

It Is All Bush's Fault!

And why was America not officially represented by the America's climatological dynamic duo, Clinton and Gore?

That too, Is All Bush's Fault!

But perhaps the noble and virtuous Clinton will be able to invigorate a reportedly lackluster conference.

(The lack of luster being, of course, All Bush's Fault!,)

From a The National [Canada] article, Perhaps Kyoto is Japanese for hypocrisy :

Perhaps Kyoto is Japanese for hypocrisy [/] Dec. 6 2005
[…] Well, I suppose in this matter, ecology is not really different from politics. High on sermons, low on example. Maybe it's low-key because the celebrity attendance is sparse. [/] There are not many rock stars there. What's an environmental summit without rock stars? Are they all worn out after making poverty history? That was their summer project, remember. [/] But still, where's Bono? Is he still crushed, or in some sulk from his disappointment with Paul Martin? I'm not sure anymore that Canada is allowed to take on international commitments unless it's alright with Bono. Canada used to be an independent country. Now we're just part of an entourage.
There was a Canadian Press report from Montreal whose lead sentence could have come straight out of Alice in Wonderland. It read "Tens of thousands of people ignored frigid temperatures Saturday to lead a worldwide day of protest against global warming." Wearing earmuffs while chanting, "It's getting hot in here" might be homage to Nellie, but it's not effective salesmanship. [/] At the same demonstration on that brutally cold day, one of the Greenpeace high priests offered a brilliant synopsis of how comprehensively the concept of global warming applies.
He said, and I quote, "Global warming can mean colder; it can mean dryer; it can mean wetter." Well, if warm can mean cold, if warm can mean wet, and if warm can mean dry, is it fair to ask if warm still means warm? This is the beauty of global warming. It's a theory that covers every possibility. More of a tent than a thesis.
The bigger disconnect at this monster seminar goes further than rhetoric, however. It's that Canada's the host of this sequel to Kyoto, and that Canada's performance since Kyoto – and remember, we signed on – is at this date, 24 per cent higher than our 1990 levels. According to our commitment, we're aiming for six per cent lower. So as of 2005, there's a 30 per cent [worse] spread from what we've[, Canada,] promised and what we've done so far.
The U.S., which didn't sign on, is only thirteen per cent higher [(worse)] than its 1990 levels. Still, around the world, the U.S. is the villain for not signing on, while countries like ours, who talk a virtuous environmental line and host King-Kong-scale conferences to celebrate our commitment, pose as the planet's dearest lovers. Perhaps Kyoto is Japanese for hypocrisy. For The National, I'm Rex Murphy. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Poor man, obviously brainwashed and receiving instructions from Bush's minion, Karl Rove.

Rex Murphy needs a tin hat!

And this thought control, beyond the horrors of "1984", is also, obviously, All Bush's Fault!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

U.N. Honors Suicide Bombers

- Disrespects Member State

From an Eye On the U.N. video clip description and access, Suicide Bombers Honored at the UN :

Video of the Opening Moments: Suicide Bombers Honored at the UN
This clip captures the opening moments of UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This footage was omitted from the UN webcast which only begins at the conclusion of this episode. What you will see: Paul Badji ( Senegal), Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, addressing himself to others on the podium such as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, President of the UN Security Council Andrey Denisov, President of the UN General Assembly Jan Eliasson, and a host of representatives from UN member states, makes a statement which includes: "I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people and the return of peace between Israel and Palestine." They all rose.
Push the play button to start the video. (5 minutes) [/] This video requires Windows Media Player. A free viewer is available from Microsoft: […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Behind the officials honoring the suicide bombers was a large wall map depicting a member state of the U.N., Israel, but labeled Palestine.

Several pictures of the event are on home page of Eye On the U.N. Captions include:

This is the prominent UN public display which was used to mark the commemoration of "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" on November 29, 2005. The Palestinian flag is on one side. The UN flag is on the other side. A map without the UN member state of Israel stands between them.
This map was displayed at a public gathering at UN Headquarters, in the presence of all top three UN officials, the Secretary General, and the Presidents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. It purports to be a "map of Palestine" and is dated 1948. The UN member state of Israel is not on the map. Even the UN General Assembly partition lines of its resolution adopted November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish and an Arab state, do not appear.
As the "map of Palestine" without the state of Israel stands in the background, Secretary-General Kofi Annan addresses the public meeting at UN Headquarters. The anniversary of the UN partition vote that survivors of the concentration camps celebrated, has been described by Secretary-General Annan as "a day of mourning and a day of grief." Palestinians and other Arabs refer to it as part of "Al-Nakba," meaning the "catastrophe" that is the creation of Israel. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Saving Faith Is Miraculous, Born of God, and Freely Available!

The experiences of the born again in this world are better described as a walk (Ephesians 2.10; 4.1,17; 5.2,8,15 and many others).

{{___ When I read your post it seems to me that you are saying That I do not live by HIs word }}

I am not sure whether by "live" you mean "behavior" or possession of "that life which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8.2).

But behavior on the principle of law, rules, goals, mile posts, steps, even journeys in a sense, provides not life, but death. More particularly, the actions of sin in the flesh give evidence of death (Romans 7.11 and context). Both of the eventual physical death that comes to all who have intentionally sinned in the past ("All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." - Romans 3.23). And that eternal second death in the lake of fire that awaits all whose names are not written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20.15)

The "spirit of that life which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8.2) brings spiritual fruit: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith" (Galatians 4.).

And persistent absolute inner assurance of two things otherwise regarded as impossible:

Romans 8:16 KJV The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: [Despite our defects.]
Romans 10:9-10 KJV That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. [Believing that a man rose from the dead.]

This very special kind of faith is miraculous. It is the free gift of God (Ephesians 2.8-10). It is born of God (1st John 5.4-5). It is the continuous testimony of the indwelling Holy Spirit and a new and different kind of personal spirit (Romans 8.16, quoted above).

It is always prudent to not take that for granted. The apostles did not take it for granted that all in the assemblies they addressed were truly born again.

Romans 8:9-10 KJV But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Please forgive me for not taking the time to get to know you better.

I was referring to our acceptance of the fact. Many accept the resurrection of the Lord intellectually. Many show trust in the teachings of nominal Christianity through their better than heathen decent behavior.

But to be inwardly, absolutely, and persistently convinced of the fact that a man rose from the dead requires a miraculous sort of faith. The faith possessed by the born again.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Sin / Oral Sex / Christian Freedom

It seemed right to start a new thread with the following post.

(Not many are apt to come across Post Number 349 of the Adult Christian Forum " Between Husband and Wife: Is Oral Sex a Sin?" Poll.)

__________________________________

{{___ " That is the way tradition defines sin. Romans 6-7 and 1st John support a narrower view of the true biblical definition of the term."

{{___ Expound please.}}

Romans 3:23 KJV For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Both the Greek and Hebrew words have the sense of "missing the mark". Since "God is spirit" (John 4.24), the familiar verse in Romans points to a spiritual coming short of that glory which the Creator intended for a creature made in His image.

1 John 3:9 KJV Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for [H]is seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

It is because of the new (and new kind of) personal spirit (called seed above) in the born again that the committing of sin (in the true biblical sense) is not possible (although evil, fault, error, transgression, etc., may be quite frequent).

{{___ "One frequently given is the prevalence of such practices [[(oral sex)]] among homosexuals." }}

This is not an argument that I have used. But the prevalence of the argument among those in morally strict denominations makes my point. Much of baptized humanity holds that the practice is wrong.

The possible reasoning here, though a tad complex, and not compelling to many, has merit.

{{___ " The Old Testament rules about ritual uncleanliness connected with any fluid released by the body might cause a ban to be inferred."

{{___ So we should ban spitting?}}

Spitting has been banned to some extent. Particularly when many chewed tobacco. But spitting on, at, or in the presence of someone is often considered an insult.

{{___ Furthermore, how about kissing. No answer has been given for that. What if some spittle falls out of your mouth during that?

"French kissing" was forbidden, at least before marriage, at least in the days before John XXIII.

But, of course, our subject has to do with the anatomical proximity of excretions more innately and physically offensive than spittle.

And the great teachings of Christian freedom apply:

Romans 14:14-15 KJV I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (15) But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

Romans 14:21-23 KJV It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. (22) Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. (23) And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Since sex is a private affair, following the above instructions should not be too arduous.

Romans 14:17 KJV For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink [and other temporal blessings] ; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Sadaam Becomes "An Object All Sublime"

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
- The Emperor of Japan (In "The Mikado")

"Life is the imitation of Art" - Oscar Wilde

From a Yahoo! AP article, Saddam Vows No Return to 'Unjust' Court :

Saddam Vows No Return to 'Unjust' Court [/] By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer1
Saddam Hussein shouted Tuesday that he will not return "to an unjust court" when it convenes for a fifth session the following day. As the end of the session, when the judges decided to resume the trial Wednesday, Saddam suddenly shouted: "I will not return. I will not come to an unjust court! Go to ####!" [/] Saddam also complained that he had no fresh clothes and had been deprived of shower and exercise facilities. "This is terrorism," he said.
[…] Iraqi lawyer Bassem al-Khalili told The Associated Press that Saddam has no right to boycott the session and that "a court can bring a defendant by force to the court according to Iraqi law."
[…] When asked by the judge which of the defendants she wanted to accuse, "Witness A" identified Saddam. "When so many people are jailed and tortured, who takes such a decision?" she said.
[…] Saddam and the others are on trial for the killing of more than 140 Shiites in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad and could be executed by hanging if convicted. The crackdown followed an assassination attempt, which Saddam told the court Tuesday was ordered by Iran.
[…] That prompted an outburst from Saddam, who complained of his own conditions in detention. He said the court had time to listen to the witnesses' complaints "but does anyone ask Saddam Hussein whether he was tortured? Whether he was hit?" [/] He urged the judge to investigate his conditions because "it is your duty as judges to investigate the crime at its scene."
"I live in an iron cage covered by a tent under American democratic rule. You are supposed to come see my cage," he told Amin. "Please, Mr. Judge, do not accept any insult to Iraq. It doesn't matter if he insults Saddam Hussein, because the Americans and the Zionists want to execute Saddam Hussein. What does the execution of Saddam Hussein matter? He has given himself to Iraq from the day he was at school and has been sentenced to death three times already. Saddam Hussein and his comrades are not afraid of execution." […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

(Yesterdays performance by Sadaam took two posts to cover, including adequate comment, Rowdy Randy Repeating Chicago? and Lots of Fun at a Baghdad Trial! .)

Undoubtedly, the very humane Mikado would have provided much humane, harmless, and innocent merriment through the blustering of a cornered rat.

A more humane Mikado never
Did in Japan exist,
To nobody second,
I'm certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist.
It is my very humane endeavour
To make, to some extent,
Each evil liver
A running river
Of harmless merriment.
Chorus:
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
- The Emperor of Japan (In "The Mikado")

(Other sources of "innocent merriment" may be found in the other verses.)

Bible Calendar with Nude Erotic Photos

Philippians 1:15-18 KJV (15) Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: (16) The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: (17) But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. (18) What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Philippians 4:9 KJV Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

At times it is a bit difficult to be an imitator of Paul as he was of Christ (1st Cor. 11.1).

From a Yahoo! Reuters article, Erotic moments from Bible :

Erotic moments from Bible... Mon Dec 5, 2:48 PM ET
A German Protestant youth group has put together a 2006 calendar with 12 staged photos depicting erotic scenes from the Bible, including a bare-breasted Delilah cutting Samson's hair and a nude Eve offering an apple.
"There's a whole range of biblical scriptures simply bursting with eroticism," said Stefan Wiest, the 32-year-old photographer who took the titillating pictures.
Anne Rohmer, 21, poses on a doorstep in garters and stockings as the prostitute Rahab, who is mentioned in both New and Old Testaments. "We wanted to represent the Bible in a different way and to interest young people," she told Reuters.
"Anyway, it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that you are forbidden to show yourself nude."
Bernd Grasser, pastor of the church in Nuremberg where the calendar is being sold, was enthusiastic about the project which is explained online at www.bibelkalender.de . [The page seems to be currently not available either here or in Google cache. Too bad. We could have gotten a more complete explanation, probably via Bablefish.]
"It's just wonderful when teenagers commit themselves with their hair and their skin to the bible," he said. [My ellipses and emphasis]

These poor misguided folks even manage to insult the highly civilized and reasonably decent people of Philistia.

Actually it was not Delilah who cut Sampson's hair.

Judges 16:19 KJV And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

Among the civilized and moral people of Philistia, women did not cut men's hair, even if they were "good friends".

It is too late to pray for the civilized and moral Philistines.

But not too late to pray for these poor misguided fools in Nuremberg, who, after all, are a part of baptized humanity.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Lots of Fun at a Baghdad Trial!

Just as, according to the song, there was "Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake!".

This is not to reduce the solemnity of either occasion. As the esteemed composer, Thomas Makin, explained:

We thought it was a pleasant, humorous, little, pub song, but as the great writer James Joyce explained in his masterpiece of the same name: "Finnegan's Wake", the song, is an allegory of the birth, death, and resurrection, of the Universe.

Now, it would seem, that as Tim Finnegan rose from the dead through the revivifying power of what the old language calls the "water of life", Sadaam Hussein is predicting the revivification of "the revolution of the heroic Iraq":

"I am not afraid of execution," said Saddam, who then addressed the judge, saying, "I realize there is pressure on you and I regret that I have to confront one of my sons. But I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for Iraq. I'm not defending myself. But I am defending you."
At one point, Saddam appeared to threaten the judge, saying: "When the revolution of the heroic Iraq arrives, you will be held accountable."

The above is from a Yahoo! AP article, Saddam: 'I Am Not Afraid of Execution'. As are the following descriptions of additional Fun at a Baghdad Trial:

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer [/] BAGHDAD, Iraq - The first witnesses in the Saddam Hussein trial offered chilling accounts Monday of killings and torture using electric shocks and a grinder during a 1982 crackdown against Shiites, as the defiant ex-president threatened the judge and tried to intimidate a survivor.
[…] Throughout the daylong session, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin struggled to maintain order among boisterous defense outbursts. Saddam and his co-defendant and half brother, Barazan Ibrahim, gestured and shouted together, "Long live Iraq!"
[…] Before the trial adjourned until Tuesday, Saddam repeatedly interrupted testimony and appeared to try to rally Iraqis against the U.S. occupation. [/] Saddam told [Chief Judge] Amin he hoped "that you will endure my frankness." [/] "How can a judge like yourself accept a situation like this?" Saddam asked. "This game must not continue, if you want Saddam Hussein's neck, you can have it!" Saddam said. "I have exercised my constitutional prerogatives after I had been the target of an armed attack.["]
[…] When the first witness Ahmed Hassan Mohammed spoke, Saddam told him: "Do not interrupt me, son." [/] "If it's ever established that Saddam Hussein laid a hand on any Iraqi, then everything that witness said is correct," he said. [/] He also told the court that he "would like (the witness) to be examined by an independent medical institution."
Amin had a difficult time keeping order during several clashes between the witnesses and the accused, with Saddam and his co-defendant and half brother, Barazan Ibrahim, gesturing and shouting together. In one instance, Saddam pointed to the sky with his right hand while he held Islam's holy book, the Quran, in his left.
At one point, Saddam and Ibrahim became so angry while Saddam sparred verbally with the judge and a second witness, Jawad Abdul-Azziz Jawad, that [as] guards tried to calm them. Ibrahim smacked [the guards] on the hands with a notebook. [/] Saddam himself became so angry that he threw some papers he was holding, and they eventually landed on the floor.
[…] Jinan Mushrif, a 49-year-old Baghdad housewife, said she got chills of pride when she saw Saddam and Ibrahim stand in the courtroom and chant, "Long live Iraq, long live the Arab state!" [/] "These are the real men of Iraq, not those who hide behind their bodyguards," Mushrif said with a laugh. [My ellipses and emphasis]

This and earlier Fun today at a Baghdad Trial is just the first day of the first trial.

The Happy Ending of "Finnegan's Wake":

[…] The corpse revives! See how he rises!
Timothy rising from the bed,
Sayin', "Whirl your whiskey around like blazes
Thanum an Dhul! Do you thunk I'm dead?"
Chorus:
Whack fol the darn O, dance to your partner
Whirl the floor, your trotters shake;
Wasn't it the truth I told you?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake!

Tim Finnegan had a much happier ending to his wake, actually, than poor Sadaam is apt to have after his several trials in Baghdad.

Character Witness Too Late to Save Dog

[Face] Transplant Doc Denies Woman Tried Suicide - Yahoo! News:

[…] Neighbors said the woman was an animal lover who bought a smaller dog after the attack. Her Labrador was put down.
[…] One of the patient's daughters reportedly told French media that the dog tried to wake her mother and had no intention of harming her -- a scenario that a local dog trainer said was probable.
'The dog undoubtedly wanted to re-establish contact with his master, in any way he could,' said Pascal Duplouy, who had no contact with the animal in question.
'When a dog is in a state of panic, it can scratch and scratch and scratch his master's face, to try to wake her, without realizing the harm it's doing,' he said. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Rowdy Randy Repeating Chicago?

Where he famously pleaded that the defendants should be found innocent because the trial was a circus. After onetime United States Attorney General Randy Clark, the defendants, and the defense lawyers, had, actually, turned the trial into a circus.

Will Sadaam Out Manson Manson?

He has already greatly outdone Charles Manson in terms of mass murder. And he is a much larger physical presence in the courtroom. And has the enormous acquired gravitas of a much longer and much more efficacious dictatorship over many more people.

Shades of the Great American Show Trials of the Youth Insurrection!

From a Yahoo! AP article, Saddam's Comments Highlight Unruly Session :

Saddam's Comments Highlight Unruly Session By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
Saddam Hussein railed at the judge Monday, and the former president's lawyers briefly walked out of court before the first witness testified that Saddam's agents carried out random arrests, torture and killings in an Iraqi village.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who is helping represent Saddam, told the judge he needed only two minutes to present his argument.
But Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin at first said only Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, could speak. Amin said the defense should submit its motion in writing and warned that if the defense walked out then the court would appoint replacement lawyers.
After the defense lawyers left, Saddam, shaking his right hand, told the judge: "You are imposing lawyers on us. They are imposed lawyers. The court is imposed by itself. We reject that."
Saddam and his half brother Barazan Ibrahim then chanted "Long live Iraq, long live the Arab state."
Ibrahim stood up and shouted: "Why don't you just execute us and get rid of all of this!"
When the judge explained that he was ruling in accordance with the law, Saddam replied: "This is a law made by America and does not reflect Iraqi sovereignty."
It was the third court session in the trial of Saddam and seven co-defendants — accused in the 1982 killing of more than 140 Shiites after an assassination attempt against the president in Dujail — where Saddam at times appeared to be in control of the court as much as the presiding judge.
After the lawyers spoke, the first witness to take the stand, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed, began his emotional but often rambling testimony. He said that after an assassination attempt on Saddam, security agencies took people of all ages from age 14 to over age 70. They were tortured for 70 days at the intelligence headquarters in Baghdad before being moved to Abu Ghraib prison where the abuse continued, he said.
[…] "Reconciliation is essential," Clark told the court. "This trial can divide or heal. Unless [this trial] is seen as absolutely fair, and fair in fact, it will divide rather than reconcile Iraq."
Clark then said all parties were entitled to protection, and the measures offered to protect the defense and their families were "absurd." Clark said that without such protection, the judicial system would collapse.
Al-Nueimi then spoke about the legitimacy issue, arguing that court is not independent and was in fact set up under the U.S.-led occupation rather than by a legal Iraqi government. He said the language of the statute was unchanged from that promulgated by the former top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and was therefore "illegitimate."
The first witness earlier exchanged insults with Saddam's half brother, telling him "you killed a 14-year-old boy." [/] "To ####," the half brother, Ibrahim, replied. [/] "You and your children go to ####," the witness replied. [/] The judge then asked them to avoid such exchanges.
As the testimony continued, Saddam's lawyers objected that someone in the visitors' gallery was making threatening gestures and should be removed. Ibrahim leapt to his feet, spat in the direction of the gallery, and shouted, "These are criminals." [/] The judge ordered the person removed from the gallery and questioned.
[…] At the start of Monday's session, Saddam walked into the court with a smile, carrying a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, and greeted everyone there. [/] Most of the defendants and several of the defense lawyers, including Clark, al-Dulaimi and al-Nueimi, stood up out of respect when Saddam walked in. [My ellipses and emphasis]

The trial is being broadcast live to the Iraqi people and their neighbors, I believe.

This is a blessing rarely available in our country. Except for Judge Judy and, possibly, that epitome of American jurisprudence, the murder trial of O. J. Simpson.

With some dozen or so Sadaam trials being planned and with the current delaying and rowdiness tactics of the defense, this apt to be the longest running and most popular real reality television presentation of all time.

Sadly, Sadaam will probably die of old age before the ratings drop.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Professor Loses Weight With No-Diet Diet

Professor Loses Weight With No-Diet Diet - Yahoo! News:

"Professor Loses Weight With No-Diet Diet By BROCK VERGAKIS, Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - When Steven Hawks is tempted by ice cream bars, M&Ms and toffee-covered almonds at the grocery store, he doesn't pass them by. He fills up his shopping cart.

It's the no-diet diet, an approach the Brigham Young University health science professor used to lose 50 pounds and to keep it off for more than five years.
Hawks calls his plan 'intuitive eating' and thinks the rest of the country would be better off if people stopped counting calories, started paying attention to hunger pangs and ate whatever they wanted.

As part of intuitive eating, Hawks surrounds himself with unhealthy foods he especially craves. He says having an overabundance of what's taboo helps him lose his desire to gorge.

There is a catch to this no-diet diet, however: Intuitive eaters only eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full.

That means not eating a box of chocolates when you're feeling blue or digging into a big plate of nachos just because everyone else at the table is.

The trade-off is the opportunity to eat whatever your heart desires when you are actually hungry."

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Here's to Post [Korean W]ar America, We Never Really Knew Ye

Here's to Postwar America, We Never Really Knew Ye - New York Times:

"The three high-profile movies about real people that opened this fall - George Clooney's 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' Bennett Miller's 'Capote' and James Mangold's 'Walk the Line' - take place mainly in the hard-to-define, decade-straddling era between Korea and Vietnam. Mr. Clooney's movie, the most concentrated of the three, flashes back from 1958 to 1954, a pivotal moment in the career of its subject, Edward R. Murrow. Mr. Miller's begins in 1959, with a murder in rural Kansas, and ends in 1966, with the publication of 'In Cold Blood,' Truman Capote's book about the crime. 'Walk the Line,' the most conventionally biographical of the three, charts the rise of Johnny Cash, dwelling for most of its running time on the span of his career between 1955, when Sam Phillips signed him up at Sun Records, and 1968, when he married June Carter and performed his famous concert at Folsom Prison.

This might seem like more of a coincidence if last year's biopics - 'Ray,' 'Kinsey,' 'Beyond the Sea' - had not also concerned American celebrities of the postwar era, and if a passel of other recent period pictures, from 'Mona Lisa Smile' and 'Far From Heaven' to 'What Lies Beneath' and the forthcoming 'Brokeback Mountain,' did not mine the same historical ground. Everywhere you look, it seems, you see women in A-line skirts and men in narrow-lapelled sack suits, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and drinking highballs, talking on black rotary-dial phones and traveling the country in wood-paneled buses, accompanied by a soundtrack of appropriate pop, country and R & B tunes. And some of the era's cachet surely resides in the deep reservoir of visual and aural styles it offers. In a way that subsequent decades are not, the late 50's and early 60's seem permanently cool.

But that perception is itself most likely the product of a particular generational perspective. The years in question coincide with the formative years of the baby boomers, a cohort whose endless self-discovery has dominated American popular culture for as long as some of us can remember. Perhaps more relevant, for Americans born in the 1960's - including Mr. Clooney, Mr. Mangold, Mr. Miller and this critic - the Eisenhower and Kennedy years lie just over the horizon of living memory, and therefore are likely to exert a particular fascination. Characters like Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Edward R. Murrow and Truman Capote are at once tantalizingly close and intriguingly remote. We may recognize their names, faces and voices, but still wonder where they came from and who they really were."

First Face Transplant Super-Amazing

Two women, both aged 38, independently attempt suicide. One is successful. And her family donates her face to repair the grotesque and crippling injuries of the unsuccessful suicide.

And the world's first face transplant results.

The pet Labrador who caused the horrific injuries was destroyed. But it appears that the dog was instinctively trying to revive the woman who had intentionally overdosed on sleeping pills. (Possibly biting the nose and mouth of a comatose dog is often helpful, so dogs have been given that instinct.)

You cannot make this stuff up.

Romans 9:15-16 KJV For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (16) So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

From an Independent [U.K.] article, World's first face transplant :

Donor for world's first face transplant had hanged herself [/] By Anthony Barnes and Tom Anderson [/] Published: 04 December 2005
The donor whose features were used for the world's first face transplant had committed suicide just hours before the operation.
As Isabelle Dinoire, 38, the recipient mauled by her pet labrador, was eating strawberries and chocolate yesterday following the operation, it emerged that the source of her new nose, lips and chin had hanged herself.
The woman, also 38, was brain dead when she arrived at a hospital in Lille last weekend, at which point preparations for the groundbreaking surgery began. [/] Her family gave consent for the operation.
Ms Dinoire was given her new start in a 15-hour procedure that ended on Monday morning. Speaking yesterday for the first time since the operation, she said: "I am very grateful to this woman. I thank her family for giving their permission for this operation. I thank them from the bottom of my heart."
She had suffered her appalling injuries after she lost consciousness following an overdose of sleeping tablets, which she has now confirmed was an attempt on her own life. Her dog, which has been destroyed, is thought to have been trying to revive her.
Now recovering from the surgery in the Eduard Herriot hospital in Lyons, she has been able to admire the work of the surgeons who had to ensure a match for skin tone and quality.
"I have been looking at my face in the mirror. It is very impressive. They have given me my face back," she told The Sunday Times.
[…] Prior to her surgery, Ms Dinoire had to wear a mask in public because of her shocking appearance, which led to teasing by those who saw her who assumed she was obsessed with germs. The injuries meant that she had trouble eating, breathing and talking with her lips completely absent. She had been on a waiting list for the surgery since August.
"As doctors, if we have the possibility to improve [the condition of] our patient, that is what we do," said Dr Jean-Michel Dubernard, the team leader who performed a controversial hand transplant in September 1998. He said he initially had doubts about performing such an operation but when he first saw her face he realised there was no other option. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Reply to a Friend

Adult Christian Forum #88324.279:

{{___ I prayed for your ministry today.}}

Thank you very much. I am thinking of getting a bit more active in the more important things.

I am contemplating a new blog entitled 'Love Believes All Things'. Pray for me.

{{___ You're right, 'new-fangled people' are cleaner today!}}

But the point, of course, is that it is neither moral improvement nor deeper insight into biblical truths that accounts for the general trend.

It is rather because of the temporal blessings of our time in the areas of improved technology and economic abundance.

Better Plumbing Effects Sexual Practice

I thought that post .272 on Adult Christian Thread 88324 ought to be made more widely available for comment.

________________________________________

One thing seems pretty obvious, once you think of it.

(I did not check the 200 some odd posts to see if someone else thought of it.)

The increasing prevalence of oral sex among decent people is a result of technological and economic improvements in the availability of aids to personal cleanliness.

The general availability at trivial costs of such things as hot and cold running water, bath tubs, showers, and scented soap has made aversion to oral sex a rather old fashioned thing in the view of new-fangled people.

_______________________________________

My poll response and explanation (.3 above):

** Yes, it is! ** (Qualified as follows.)

I would generally call it a fault, rather than a sin. I do not accept the standard English dictionary and Bible dictionary definitions of "sin" but have a preference for the non-traditional biblical definition, particularly as found in First John and Romans 6-7.

And I would call it a technical fault, particularly if ejaculation takes place later in the proper place.

Even the young women who practiced prostitution in Franco's Spain, being often well instructed in moral theology, were sometimes known to direct, "Fini aqui".

FBI Plants Fake Candidate in W.Va. Race - Okay with Judge

FBI Plants Fake Candidate in W.Va. Race - Yahoo! News:

But less than a month before the May 2004 primary election, Esposito dropped out, saying he had to withdraw because of his ailing mother-in-law.

The real reason surfaced only later: The FBI had planted Esposito among the field of candidates to help find evidence of vote-buying in southern West Virginia.

Federal prosecutors say the gambit worked.

They allege Esposito gave $2,000 in government-supplied money to a resident who had offered to bribe voters on his behalf.

They also credit the undercover sting operation for last year's guilty pleas by the sheriff of Logan County and the police chief in the coal-mining city of Logan, who both admitted to election violations.

Judge David Faber rejected arguments from Harvey's lawyer that the government had acted improperly by putting up a sham candidate.

Esposito, 54, began cooperating with investigators in July 2003, when he agreed to plead guilty to a federal corruption charge. Esposito, an attorney, had failed to notify authorities of criminal activities involving a former county magistrate.

Esposito entered the state House race in January 2004, after losing his bid for a fifth term as Logan mayor. He faces up to three years in prison for the corruption charge and a $250,000 fine at his sentencing Jan. 10. His lawyer, John Carrico, did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday.

Investigators believed that "if Esposito were to become a candidate for elective office, a virtual treasure trove of evidence could result," Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Booth Goodwin II said in a federal court filing last month. "The undercover investigation has yielded important results."

Because Esposito had not dropped out until mid-April 2004, his name remained on the May primary ballot. He received 2,175 votes, coming in last among 10 candidates.

Harvey's lawyer, Greg Campbell, urged the judge to dismiss the vote-buying count against Harvey, 55, who faces trial Dec. 14.

'I can't understand why it's all right to corrupt an election when you're investigating corruption in elections,' Campbell said Friday.

FBI Plants Fake Candidate in W.Va. Race - Okay with Judge

Farewell to Soccer Star Best

From a Yahoo! AP article, Farewell to Soccer Star Best :

Thousands Bid Farewell to Soccer Star Best By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer

His casket draped in a Northern Ireland soccer flag, George Best received a farewell Saturday from more than 100,000 fans lining the streets in this country's biggest display of public mourning.

The 59-year-old former star for Manchester United, who died Nov. 25 after decades of alcohol abuse, was given a state-style funeral inside Stormont Parliamentary Building on a hill overlooking the city.

Mourners, many too young to have seen Best in his 1960s heyday, lined the 3-mile route from his family home in Protestant east Belfast. They applauded and tossed bouquets and soccer scarves into the path of the hearse, which bore floral wreaths reading "Legend," "George" and "Dad."

Former United teammates and ex-Northern Ireland players carried the coffin up Stormont's steps for a service televised live throughout Britain and Ireland. It featured tearful poems from son Calum and tributes from best friend Bobby McAlinden and former teammate Denis Law. Two London doctors who helped keep him alive after a 2002 liver transplant also spoke.

Best was to be buried at Roselawn Cemetery on the Belfast outskirts alongside his mother, Ann, whose life also was cut short by alcoholism.

Law combined up front with Best and Bobby Charlton on the Manchester United team that won the Champions Cup, the year Best was crowned European Footballer of the Year. He recalled how his friendship with Best blossomed once they both reached their 30s and frequently took trips together.

Law affectionately remembered Best's habit of failing to keep appointments or showing up sober.

"I can't count the number of times he let me down," he said. "He didn't turn up, or he did turn up — and wasn't on this planet."

But Law said Best's legendary charm would win him over. After one night on a trip to Portugal, Law said he found Best in the hotel bar the next morning.

"There he was sitting in the bar, with a cheeky smile on his face, glass in hand. Before I could say anything, he'd said: 'Hey little man, I've just ordered you a nice pot of tea'," Law recounted.

At the request of the Best family, 10 fans were picked at random from the crowd outside to join about 300 family members, friends and dignitaries packed to capacity in the Grand Hall of Stormont. Those outside on a wet and chilly day followed the ceremony on three giant TV screens. Many mourners had traveled overnight from England and the Republic of Ireland.

Best joined Man United at 17 and became a phenomenon with his effortless pace, dribbling and guile that left defenders in his wake. With rock-star looks and a hearty appetite for partying, Best walked away from the game in 1972 to run nightclubs, fashion shops and other ill-fated business ventures.

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars," he once said. "The rest I just squandered."

He returned to soccer, largely to regain the money he had lost, pursuing assignments in the now-defunct North American Soccer League and with Hibernian in Scotland. He lost the Hibernian job after missing two games because of hangovers.

Best made 37 international appearances for Northern Ireland. But the team had few other stars and Best played in neither the World Cup nor the European Championship.

Calum, Best's only child from the first of his two failed marriages, reduced many to tears as he read two poems, one of them mailed to Best's family home from a local woman only the night before.

"The golden days, they went so fast," the son said. "The precious times, why can't they last?"

It Is All Bush's Fault! - VII

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

From an MSNBC.com article, Officials: CIA missile strike kills al-Qaida No. 3 :

Officials: CIA missile strike kills al-Qaida No. 3 [/] Terrorist group's operational leader Rabia killed in Pakistan
By Robert Windrem and Carol Grisanti [/] NBC News and news service [/] Updated: 9:18 a.m. ET Dec. 3, 2005

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The operational commander of al-Qaida and possibly the No. 3 official in the terrorist organization, Hamza Rabia, was killed early Thursday morning by a CIA missile attack on a [not-so-]safehouse in Pakistan, officials told NBC News.
Pakistan's president later confirmed the militant leader's death. [/] “Yes indeed, 200 percent. I think he was killed the day before yesterday if I’m not wrong,” President Pervez Musharraf told reporters as he arrived in Kuwait on an official visit on Saturday.
[…] The sources told NBC News Rabia was one of five men killed at a safehouse located in the village of Asorai, in western Pakistan, near the town of Mirali.
[…] Local residents said that the men were killed by an unknown number of missiles fired by an unmanned Predator aircraft. The witnesses said that missile remnants bearing U.S. markings remain in the area. They also said they had heard six explosions, but it is uncertain how many of these were the result of missile attacks and how many may have been the result of the missiles detonating explosives inside the safehouse.
[…] Rabia had moved up al-Qaida ranks [/]
Rabia has been sought by both U.S. and Pakistani officials for more than two years. Pakistan has offered a $1 million reward for his capture. He is believed to have participated in the planning for two assassination attempts against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Dec. 14 and Dec. 25, 2003. At that time, Rabia was believed to be the chief deputy to Abu Faraj al-Libbi, al-Qaida's operational chief and the No. 3 man in the organization. In May, Pakistani security forces captured Abu Faraj and turned him over to the United States.
[…] NBC News Investigative Producer Robert Windrem contributed to this report from New York, with reporting by NBC News Producer Carol Grisanti in Pakistan. Reuters also contributed to the report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10303175/ [My ellipses and emphasis]

It inexpressively sad and very depressing to see an enterprising and rapidly advancing young leader come to a sudden and early demise.

But, of course, It Is All Bush's Fault!

And it is also sad and depressing to hear the President of Pakistan describing poor departed Hamza Rabia as 200% dead. Surely, to all champions of decency, that is overkill!

But, that too, sadly, Is All Bush's Fault!

Friday, December 02, 2005

It Is All Bush's Fault! - VI

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

From a Washington Post article, Democratic Lawmakers Splinter on Iraq :

Democratic Lawmakers Splinter on Iraq [/] Many Surprised as Pelosi Calls for a Fast Pullout
By Jonathan Weisman [/] Washington Post Staff Writer [/] Friday, December 2, 2005; A04
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's embrace Wednesday of a rapid withdrawal from Iraq highlighted the Democratic Party's fissures on war policy, putting the House's top Democrat at odds with her second in command while upsetting a consensus developing in the Senate.
For months now, Democratic leaders have grown increasingly aggressive in their critiques of President Bush's policies in Iraq but have been largely content to keep their own war strategies vague or under wraps. That ended Wednesday when Pelosi (D[emocrat]-Calif.) aggressively endorsed a proposal by Rep. John P. Murtha (D[emocrat]-Pa.) to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, leaving only a much smaller rapid-reaction force in the region.
The move caught some in the party by surprise. It threw a wrench into a carefully calibrated Democratic theme emerging in the Senate that called for 2006 to be a "significant year of progress" in Iraq, with Iraqi security forces making measurable progress toward relieving U.S. troops of combat duties. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D[emocrat]-Nev.) said last month that "it's time to take the training wheels off the Iraqi government."
What's more, House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D[emocrat]-Md.) issued a statement Wednesday that was in marked contrast to Pelosi's. "I believe that a precipitous withdrawal of American forces in Iraq could lead to disaster, spawning a civil war, fostering a haven for terrorists and damaging our nation's security and credibility," he said.
Marshall Wittmann, a former Republican political strategist now with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, said Pelosi may have resurrected her party's most deadly liability -- voters' lack of trust in the party on national security.
"If Karl Rove was writing the timing of this, he wouldn't have written it any differently, with the president of the United States expressing resolve and the Democratic leader offering surrender," Wittmann said, referring to Bush's top adviser. "For Republicans, this is manna from heaven."
David Sirota, a Democratic strategist in Montana long critical of the party leadership's timidity, fired back: "It is not surprising that a bunch of insulated elitists in the Washington establishment -- most of whom have never served in uniform -- would stab the Democratic Party in the back and attack the courage of people like Vietnam War hero Jack Murtha and Nancy Pelosi for their stand on Iraq."
[…] Some Democrats continued yesterday to finesse their position. At a White House appearance after an event honoring civil rights leader Rosa Parks, Sen. John F. Kerry (D[emocrat]-Mass.) said: "If you just continue along the road we're going now without a more concrete transfer of responsibility -- a target schedule by which you begin to turn over provinces, by which you specifically begin to shift the responsibility -- I think a lot of people fear that it's going to be more of the same." [/] He added: "I'm not asking even for the specific timetable of withdrawal. I'm asking for a specific timetable of transfer of authority."
Pelosi hesitated for nearly two weeks before endorsing Murtha's call for the withdrawal of 160,000 U.S. troops, while she and her aides assessed the political fallout from his action. "What he has said has great wisdom," Pelosi said of her colleague on Wednesday. "While the president is digging a hole, Mr. Murtha is speaking from the light of day about the realities in Iraq, and so yes, I am supporting Mr. Murtha's proposal."
Her pronouncement Wednesday, more than anything, was proof that "the frustrations of the activist wing of the Democratic Party have boiled over," said a prominent Democratic pollster, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering clients.
Aides to Pelosi said yesterday that they are confident she and Murtha speak for a broader group. Since Murtha announced his position, he has received 14,000 e-mails, faxes and phone calls, 80 percent in support, aides said. Over Thanksgiving week, Murtha received a standing ovation in a Dallas Starbucks.
Staff writer Bradley Graham contributed to this report. [My ellipses and emphasis]

It inexpressively sad and very depressing to see a major party unable to make up its mind about a major military conflict that has been going on for almost three years.

But, of course, It Is All Bush's Fault!

And it is also sad and depressing to hear the Senate Democratic Leader proclaiming to the world, including Muslim and non-Muslim, allies and enemies, that the brave men and women risking their lives as American allies are "on training wheels". Not exactly encouraging our friends. Not exactly discouraging our enemies. Not exactly the way to win friends and influence in the Middle East, and indeed, in the rest of the world.

But, that too, sadly, Is All Bush's Fault!

White House calls Democrats irresponsible on Iraq

Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk:

"White House calls Democrats irresponsible on Iraq / Thu Dec 1, 2005 9:43 PM GMT / By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House called irresponsible on Thursday those Democrats who said that President George W. Bush lacked a strategy on Iraq, as Sen. John Kerry said a policy shift was needed to reflect realities on the ground.

Some partisan squabbling was heard the day after Bush laid out his 'plan for victory,' although Democrats were not as uniformly dismissive of Bush as they had been."

"This is amazing. The White House code breakers have been able to decipher what John Kerry is saying" -Lucianne.com Must Reads

China cracks down in 'Asian Las Vegas'

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | China cracks down in 'Asian Las Vegas':

"Chinese authorities have arrested almost 1.2 million people suspected of illegal betting offences during a nine month crackdown, state media reported today.

The arrests were part of a nationwide anti-gambling campaign from January to September in which police seized �166m and investigated 163,000 cases.

The crackdown was aimed mainly at preventing public officials from gambling away public money in Macau, the small special administrative region in southern China that is becoming known as the 'Las Vegas of Asia'.

Bright lights: free market economics and authoritarian Chinese rule have proved an ideal mix for the growth of gambling in the former Portuguese colony of Macau."

The Coffee Fool

The Coffee Fool: "Nearly all of the coffee out there is stale. The good news is that stale coffee is drinkable if you've never had truly fresh coffee. The bad news is that once you've tasted truly fresh coffee, you'll be forever hooked. It will make you giddy every time you go to make a pot. Tingle right down to your toes. Reverberate around your head like a funky aura. That's because coffee, just a few days out of the roaster, is nature's most flavorful drink - more complex than even wine - containing well over 900 flavor compounds to dance on your taste buds. But after a few weeks, you'd be lucky to see half that number."

Thursday, December 01, 2005

It Is All Bush's Fault - V

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

From a Yahoo! AP article, Insurgents Attack U.S. Bases in Iraq :

Big scary headline:

Insurgents Attack U.S. Bases in Iraq By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

Less than scary details:

Insurgents attacked several U.S. bases and government offices with mortars Thursday before dispersing in the capital of western Iraq's Anbar province, residents and police said.
The attacks in Ramadi occurred as local tribal leaders and U.S. military officials were to hold their second meeting in a week at the governor's office in the city center. The insurgents apparently tried to shell the building, but reporters inside said there was no damage or injuries.
[…] Police Lt. Mohammed al-Obaidi said at least four mortar rounds fell near the U.S. base on the eastern edge of the city, but that there were no reports of casualties.
An AP Television News video showed the insurgents walking down a shuttered market street and a residential neighborhood, as well as firing four mortar rounds. The masked men, however, looked relaxed and did not engage in any battles, and no U.S. bases or government buildings were shown.
Residents said that within minutes, scores of masked gunmen, believed to be members of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq group, ran into the city's streets but dispersed after launching attacks with mortars in what U.S. officers said may have been little more than a propaganda stunt.
The U.S. military reported that only one rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an observation post and there were no injuries of significant damage. Life in Ramadi quickly returned to normal after the shooting.
The insurgents did leave behind posters and graffiti saying they were members of al-Qaida in Iraq and claiming responsibility for shooting down a U.S. drone. There were no reports of any U.S. drones being shot down, though.
Ramadi is the provincial capital of Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold, where clashes between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi troops have left hundreds of people dead in the past two years. [My ellipses and emphasis]

But the "insurgents" now seem to be off their feed. Undoubtedly, It Is All Bush's Fault!

And "insurgents" is such an innocuous term, implying domestic disturbance only, for terrorists supported by funds, weapons, supplies, and troops from Iran, Syria, and the Saudis, and unemployed thugs who once tortured and killed under Sadaam Hussein. Shades of "agrarian reformers", Fidel Castro and Ho Cho Minh.

But this blatant misrepresentation is also, undoubtedly, All Bush's Fault!

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr dismissed Nouri al-Nouri, the ministry's chief inspector for corruption cases and human rights violations, on the order of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, an official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. [/] Al-Nouri, a Shiite Muslim, had been in the post since the handover of sovereignty to Iraqi in June 2004.
Al-Jaafari, a Shiite, ordered an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of up to 173 detainees after U.S. forces entered an Interior Ministry lockup on Nov. 13 and found that some of those being held showed signs of torture.

Looks like the Iraq government is serious about torture in Iraq. The United States government has been serious about torture in Iraq big time. Starting with the elimination of Sadaam's institutions of torture, murders, oppression, starvation, chemical warfare, and terror. Undoubtedly, It Is All Bush's Fault!

And notice the prejudicial religious and ethnic identification of two Iraqi officials. If they were American transvestites they would not be so identified.

But this blatant discrimination is also, undoubtedly, All Bush's Fault!

Pages

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Monday, December 12, 2005

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Friday, December 09, 2005

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Monday, December 05, 2005

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Friday, December 02, 2005

Thursday, December 01, 2005