April 30, 2009

You've got your blatant socialism/fascism at the Federal level well underway; here's some nice creeping socialism at the grassroots.

It's Syracuse's Say Yes to Education program, which promises free tuition, fees, and books to kids admitted to the participating colleges and universities - as long as they're not hicks. Only urban youth need apply for the free ride, and most of the participating institutions require no means testing. A few cut off the gravy train if the student's family earns over 75 grand.

At the heart of this pioneering program are two core components: a K-12 comprehensive support program aligned with the key barriers to college access, and the promise of free tuition, fees, and books for all participants.

Any Syracuse City School District student is eligible to participate in the Say Yes program as long as he/she completes high school and meets college entrance requirements.* 23 visionary colleges and universities in the Northeast have already committed their support to the Syracuse Say Yes project with the offer of free college tuition.

Best of all, it's a pilot program intended to be spread to cities across the country.

(Albany, New York) The controversy regarding "microstamping" of bullet casings continues among New York lawmakers. The issue has been raised before but never signed into law.

However, the microstamping bill is just one of a number of gun control measures being addressed this week.

The bills under consideration also create new rules for gun storage and weapons safety classes, require guns be childproof, require background checks for pawn shop gun purchases, prohibit bullets designed to fragment upon impact, ban weapons of .50 caliber or larger and empower courts to revoke gun licenses of individuals considered a threat to the public.

The bills on microstamping and banning .50-caliber weapons passed the Assembly. Next, they go to the Senate for more debate.

I've been following Geert Wilders' present U.S. tour with some earnestness. As you know, my once solid support of Mr. Wilders was thrown a loop over several people pointed out that he wished to ban the Quran as a book on par with Mein Keimpf.

The truth of the matter is that I agree with Wilders that the Quran is just as hateful -- yes, I've read it. I have two translations of it in my office including the watered down translation sent to me by CAIR -- as anything Hitler ever wrote, if not more so. The Quran calls for Muslims to convert or kill all non-monotheists and subjugate Christians and Jews. Hitler's genocidal tendencies weren't quite as ambitious.

While I agree with Wilders' basic premise, I cannot support the banning of any book based on the notion that it is hateful.

Many of you, though, argued that Wilders does not really want the Quran banned and that he was only pointing out the hypocrisy of the European left for banning politically fascist books, but not the Quran. As I've said in the past, if that is Wilders real argument then it's not a stretch of the imagination to assume that European newspapers might have an agenda in quoting Wilders out of context.

As I read the press release put out by Geert Wilders yesterday I was heartened to think that maybe you were right: Wilders does not have the fascist tendencies some have claimed. Here are a few quotes that give me optimism from the press release, as reproduced by Robert Spencer:

Freedom of expression is under attack. That is the theme I am addressing here in America this week as part of the Free Speech Summit being held in Florida under the sponsorship of the Florida Security Council. And it is clear that a serious discussion of the threats to our freedoms in the West cannot come too soon....

This attack on a friend and fellow legislator is of grave concern to me. CAIR’s assault on Rep. Hasner strikes at the very heart of our most basic freedoms. In fact, it is but the latest episode in that organization’s long-running and determined effort to silence its critics. Indeed, CAIR seeks to suppress all those who dare to challenge the theo-political-legal program that authoritative Islam calls “Shariah.” In so doing, they are seeking to impose what amount to Shariah blasphemy codes...

Thus the Islamists are infringing not only on this country’s constitutionally protected freedom of expression but also freedom of association.

From the above text, Wilders seems to be a liberal interested only in freedoms under attack by Islamists wishing to quash any speech critical of Islam. Kudos to him for that.

But what concerns me about Geert Wilders is that although he vehemently claims to be for free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association I am not so sure he understands these terms the way Americans understand them.

Here is the text of the acceptance speech Wilders gave when he received the Freedom Award and also published by my friend Robert Spencer. At first glance it gave me hope that those accusing Wilders of fascist tendencies were wrong.

Let me caveat this by saying that I disagree with Wilders' (and others) claim that Muslim emigration to Europe is part of an intentional campaign to conquer the Continent through al-Hijra. I do not believe that Muslims are flocking to Europe as a way to revisit the Battle of Tours. But this seems rather irrelevant to me because the results are the same: economic refugees who bring with them demands for the implementation of Islamic laws --- such as demanding laws to criminalize criticism of their prophet --- really are stealthily conquering the West. So stealthily in fact, that most of them do not even realize that they are part of a movement to bring back fascism!

Nevertheless, Wilders' call for a First Amendment is at first glance heartening:

If we do not stop the Islamization, we will lose everything: our identity, our culture, our democratic constitutional state, our freedom and our civilization. In Europe we are already losing the right to free speech, the right to criticize Islam. I think, criticisms of religions or ideologies always ought to be possible in a free world. Human rights exist for the protection of individuals, not religions and ideologies. I propose that all laws concerning hate speech be repealed in Europe. Europe ought to defend freedom of speech with at least as much passion as the United States. In fact, Europe should adopt the US as its model in this respect. The difference between the United States and Europe in the area of free speech is shown by my movie Fitna; a few months ago I was invited by Senator Jon Kyl to screen Fitna in the US Senate. In contrast, screening of my movie has been banned twice by the European Parliament. Let us see to it that freedom of speech is exercised not only in Washington DC but also in Brussels and Strasbourg. For this purpose I propose an European First Amendment.

But as I read further into the speech, then it becomes very clear that Wilders' is not reading the same First Amendment that I am reading. A few of his specific policy proposals are completely antithetical to freedom and to the First Amendment. And we are not talking about marginal disagreements over definitions here.

Wilders does, in fact, propose to do just what his critics say he wishes to do and just what he criticizes Muslims for wishing to do: ban free speech and free religion!

From the very same speech he made when receiving the rather ironically named Freedom Award:

2. Stop pretending that Islam is a religion. Islam is a totalitarian ideology. In other words, the right to religious freedom should not apply to Islam.

Even if Islam isn't strictly a "religion" in the way we normally define religion in the West. Even if it is a totalitarian ideology, so what? How is banning a political ideology any better than banning a religious ideology?

But Wilders is oddly contradictory here. See point number five which directly contradicts point number two above in which he calls for Islam to be banned:

6. We need an European First Amendment to strengthen free speech.

The inconsistencies get even worse. Recall that Wilders also called for freedom of assembly in yesterday's press release. But look at number 9 on his list of things Europe must do to stop Islamization:

9. Stop the building of new mosques. As long as no churches or synagogues are allowed to be build in countries like Saudi-Arabia we will not allow one more new mosque in our western countries. Close all mosques where incitement to violence is taking place. Close all Islamic schools, for they are fascist institutions and young children should not be educated an ideology of hate and violence.

I'm not sure how acting like the Saudis by banning religious houses of worship we don't like is somehow a good thing. The Saudis are fascists, plain and simple. But a Europe which banned the building of mosques would be not such a far cry from Saudi Arabia.

Why should the government be involved in any decision to build or not build any church, synagogue, or mosque? Is it a uniquely American notion to think that the government should have no say whatsoever in how religions should be practiced and where and when buildings to house worshipers in should be built?

The hypocrisy of the Saudis is well known but there are common sense measures that we could take which would effectively halt the spread of their virulent Wahab and Salafi philosophies. We could, for instance, not allow any clerics into the West on religious visas from countries which prohibited Western missionaries from openly preaching the religion of their choice. This would give the Saudis and other Islamic countries an incentive to accept basic notions of freedom.

You want to send your clerics here to convert we infidels to your religion? Fine, we only ask that you reciprocate and allow your citizens to choose which ever religion suits their fancy without fear of being stoned to death or declared an enemy of the state.

The point being that I oppose Saudi Arabia because it is not free and it is spreading its fascist ideology abroad. It is unclear to me how making America and Europe less free is somehow a way to fight Islamist fascism.

Geert Wilders appears to be stuck with the same European mentality which wishes to ban any movement that it sees as dangerous or antisocial. In fact, many European countries today ban pro-Nazi or pro-Fascist parties and books. Europeans are not free as long as they are not allowed to join movements such as National Socialism which the state (correctly) views as antithetical to democracy. But the principle holds true with Islam as well.

What we need in the fight against political Islam are not laws making us less free. This is an ideological fight. Ideas need to be fought with ideas. We didn't ban the CPUSA, yet we won the Cold War anyway.

What we need is the ability to openly criticize those aspects of Islam which are antithetical to freedom. On this front Geert Wilders should be lauded. He has been groundbreaking in his refusal to back down from criticizing the fundamental problematics of Quranic versus and of the Sunnah of Muhammad.

But when Geert Wilders calls for not extending the same freedoms to Muslims that he expects Muslims to extent to him he has crossed a line and taken on the worst attributes of those who he claims are worth fighting. And for that he should be condemned.

UPDATE: Looks like the ADL noticed Wilders' hypocrisy on the issue of free speech, too.

UPDATE: I linked CJ above, and thought it would be good to give Robert a chance to respond. He sort of preemptively did already in February with this post.

Let me point out that if you read to the end, Spencer does not support Wilders' call for the Quran to be banned. However, I disagree with the conclusion that Geert is not being inconsistent. I think he is. Glaringly so.

UPDATE: As always, thanks to CJ for the link. Let me clarify my position on the blog war going on between Charles and Robert: I'm not part of it.

I disagree with Robert sometimes, and I disagree with Charles sometimes. This fight gets us nowhere. I would urge both parties to take a breather from commenting on one another for a period of time and cool down.

Let me also remind readers that Geert Wilders position on the legal remedies to Islamization are dead wrong. But they are not outside the mainstream in Europe. In fact, as I mentioned in my original post above, the vast majority of political parties on both the Left and Right in Europe do not support free speech as we know it. Hence, my frequent criticisms of Europe based in my own libertarian underpinnings.

Having said that, I think CJ is being unfair to those that support Geert Wilders. I actually support much of what Wilders is doing. That support is obviously not unequivocal. I would urge those that support Wilders to make it clear that your support is not unequivocal either. I think CJ and I are on the same page there.

But since most Europeans are wrong on the issue of free speech, I'm not sure why those that support Wilders should be singled out for special treatment? The last time I checked Helmut Kohl -- one of the great architects of the collapse of communism -- maintained a similar position on free speech as does Wilders; that is, he claimed to be for free speech but then carved out exceptions for unsavory political ideas.

I know context matters here and that Kohl was simply following a long line of thought going back to the laws we imposed as part of Allied victory, but that is the point: context matters. The war is over. The occupation has ended. It's time to let people in Europe be free.

In the European context Wilders fascist tendencies are no different than the fascist tendencies of most mainstream European political parties in the post-occupation era.

Not that CJ has ever directly called Robert Spencer a fascist, but I'm not comfortable with the guilt-by-association accusations either. Robert Spencer may be a lot of things, but his views on liberty don't seem too much different than my own. I've honestly avoided the subject because I have such deep admiration for both CJ and Robert.

I think CJ has correctly pointed out that some extremists in the European antifascist movement have tried to piggyback on to the antijihad movement for their own political gain. I think the same thing can also be said about any political movement, though, can't it? Being in academia I knew a lot of anti-war types, many of whom were shocked when I would point out that this or that protest was organized by this or that communist or socialist party.

My own comments section is often plagued by racists (looking at you Greyrooster) who I would gladly ban (and have, only to find that they change IPs within minutes) if I had awesome technology such as LGF and a few more hours a day to monitor them. Long time readers know that there were a few months there where we did away with commenting altogether just because we were sick and tired of all the asshats.

I should hope that we would not be judged by those who would use our posts pointing out the real problems of political Islam for their own racist agendas.

I do not believe it is fair to say that just because someone shared a stage with an unsavory character who may have ulterior motives -- especially when said unsavory character is from a foreign country with a complicated political party system that you may not completely understand yourself -- that you yourself are guilty of anything other than bad judgment.

I once shared a stage at an academic conference with a guy who argued that we should drop the word terrorism because it lacked precise definition since every country uses it to describe some group or another, including some countries which use it to describe the U.S. military. I responded by saying that even though we can disagree who the assholes of the world are that we shouldn't drop the word since we all know that there really are some people who fit the rather vague description of an asshole.

If there is a line for people who have exercised bad judgment in their lives, let me take cutsies and get in the front.

So, again, I have been avoiding this for some time. I really would like to see CJ and Robert allied once again. Frankly, I'm not sure I understand the roots of the conflict. But from my vantage point the differences here are not irreconcilable. I would simply ask CJ to quit passing judgment on Robert for associating with people that he himself would not associate with.

Please stop Charles. Seriously, I'm asking you as someone who you know admires much of what you are doing over at LGF. Hell, you helped inspire me to become a blogger. But I hope you can see that what Robert is doing is also important work which often compliments your own.

And to Robert I'd say to be very careful about the words you use and the politicians you associate with. Unlike Charles and myself I understand that you are far more involved in political movements and therefore attend a lot more events than we do. But be aware that there really are people who would use your criticisms of Islamic texts and traditions to deny Muslims of basic human rights.

And get it over with....

click for larger

Just like the good old days when mom and dad would drag you down to the neighbors so you could get those chicken pox, mumps, whatever over with.

Hat Tip: Mark.

Update: Photo Caption by Vinnie....who was too damn lazy to upload it himself....

Last thought, you always tell that mom and dad made you kiss the pig, but......

We can't even enforce the thousands of federal laws on the books, yet Congress just passed new "hate crimes" legislation even though states already prohibit the very crimes being "outlawed". STACLU:

The bill’s supporters, such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the ACLU, claim the law is needed because of the case of Angie Zapata. Zapata is a transgender woman whose lover killed her when he found out she was biologically a man. But this argument makes little sense, given that Zapata’s killer was swiftly convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by a Colorado state court, which found the killer guilty of both murder and hate crimes. (The federal hate crimes bill does not provide for the death penalty, and its maximum penalty is the same one that Zapata’s killer got: life without parole).

The bill’s Senate sponsors named the 2008 version of the bill after Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was killed in Wyoming. That was a cynically clever strategy. Hate-crimes laws are fairly popular: 45 states have hate crimes laws, and most of them ban hate-crimes based on sexual orientation.

It's as if these things called "states" were a foreign concept to liberals.

Because selling cocaine to the Zionist-Crusader infidels is just another way to wage the jihad. Allahu akhbar!

Hawkins has an interview with Mark Levin on his #1 bestselling book Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto:

I don't think it's a surprise that Barack Obama's closest confidant is David Axelrod, who's a bit of a PR Svengali. Right now, Barack Obama is behaving like Santa Claus. He is making all kinds of promises he will never be held to account for because they don't come due until the next generation.

UPDATE: Looks like the just some evil nut theory will hold.
-----

Sudden jihad syndrome in the Netherlands or just some nut? Given the myriad of threats against that country over the years by violent Islamists, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it was the former.

No reports on what could possibly have motivated someone to try to kill the Dutch Queen Beatrix and several other royal family members as they prepared to greet a crowd celebrating Queen's Day. Although all the royals seem unscathed, it appears that two four people were killed in the incident and many more hurt. What is not clear if those killed were innocent bystanders, one of those trying to kill the Queen, or both.

I'll keep scanning the media to see if more info is available.

Here's a video from Dutch TV showing the crash. You won't understand the narration but the video shows the small Suzuki Swift hitting a monument of some sort. The camera pans to the crowd where you can clearly see some injured bystanders. You can also see CPR being administered to one of the victims.

Developing......

UPDATE: AFP reporting four dead, not two. Also claim that drive is still alive so all killed were victims.

Police now are saying a) it was a deliberate attack, not an accident b) there is no indication of terrorist links.

But given that the police always say that individual acts of jihad aren't terrorism, who can tell at this point?

UPDATE: Various media sources claim the killer is 38 year old man with no history of mental illness. Still no word on a name. If you find a name, do me a favor and shoot me an email.

UPDATE: One child killed and at least one -- possible two -- of those killed were police officers.

Check out this pic. Hundreds of people were there with cameras, so I suppose we will be seeing many more images like it.

UPDATE: Pic of driver. Thanks to Dan.

Dutch media, citing neighbors, said the assailant recently was fired from his job and was to be evicted from his home. Police identified him as a 38-year-old Dutch man with no history of mental illness or police record, but they would not release his name.

Everyone wave by bye to Shain, Eljvir and Dritan Duka, for life...

Via NBC Philadelphia:Three brothers in the Ft. Dix terror trial all met the same fate Tuesday-- a life sentence in federal prison, where there is no parole.

Shain, Eljvir and Dritan Duka were all convicted of plotting an armed attack to kill American soldiers. They'd talked about Ft. Dix as a target.

“The hatred and contempt these young men hold for America and the rule of law was made abundantly clear during the investigation, at trial and even today as they spoke at their sentencings,” said Acting United States Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. “Not one word of contrition was heard from any of them, only more hatred and contempt. For their actions and their words, the sentences are appropriate to both protect the public from them and their deeply held, radical beliefs and to deter others who would act similarly,” said Marra.

Oh hell yeah, I bet da gangsta bros never let these punks live this down

Via Yahoo News: QUARTZ HILL, Calif. – Don't mess with a marching band girl, especially one armed with a baton. A 17-year-old high school marching band student beat up two assailants who tried to mug her as she walked to school in this high desert community about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, sheriff's officials said Tuesday.

The girl punched one of the men in the nose, kicked the other in the groin and beat both with her large baton before she ran away on Friday morning, officials said.

"The moral to this story is don't mess with the marching band girls

Oh, and by the way, I hope they catch em, we want to see the damage.

Oh, and a pic of the totally hot ass kicking color guard chick would be nice for research purposes.

Yesterday, Utica Mayor David Roefaro, a former funeral director, proposed that city residents charged with second- or third-degree criminal possession of a weapon be required to register their home and work addresses with the police department every six months for four years following completion of their punishment.

Registration will be required for those convicted of illegal possession of a loaded handgun, three or more illegal handguns, a handgun by a convicted felon, an assault weapon, or a disguised firearm.

Mayor Roefaro wants to call the city ordinance "Lindsey's Law" after a local police officer, Thomas Lindsey, who was killed during a traffic stop in 2007. Oddly, the Oneida County DA, Scott McNamara, said he didn't know whether the proposed law would have helped Lindsey.

It's my opinion that a gun-offender registry would NOT have helped Officer Lindsey. When fingers are pulling triggers, it's way past time to do background checks. With that in mind, I would suggest that the proposed gun-offender registry has more to do with politics than crime prevention.

In any event, the proposed ordinance requires approval of the Utica Common Council and it is scheduled to be discussed next month. If enacted, violations will be misdemeanors punishable by a possible one year in jail and $1,000 fine. (more)

April 29, 2009

From Stratfor:

Politics and moral arguments aside, the end effect of the memos’ release is that people who have put their lives on the line in U.S. counterterrorism efforts are now uncertain of whether they should be making that sacrifice. Many of these people are now questioning whether the administration that happens to be in power at any given time will recognize the fact that they were carrying out lawful orders under a previous administration. It is hard to retain officers and attract quality recruits in this kind of environment. It has become safer to work in programs other than counterterrorism.

Thank you, President Teleprompter.

Oh, and for the rest of you. Read it all at the link above. Chilling, no?

I used to do a lot of read this type of posts. But at some point I realized most of you pretty much read Ace everyday already, so links over there have become rarer and rarer since, well, what's the point?

But if you haven't read Ace's post on "moderate" reaction to the Specter defection, you really should.

If you don't go right now you're probably eight shades of gay.

While Barack Obama whines about tea parties and Arlen Specter returns home, the inconvenient truths of the real world intrude.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea threatened Wednesday to conduct nuclear and missile tests and start an uranium-enrichment program in addition to its existing plutonium-based one, unless the U.N. apologizes for criticizing its recent rocket launch, dramatically raising its stake in the worsening standoff over its atomic programs.

His name is Esam Omeish and right now he's running to become the Democratic nominee to the VA statehouse in the 35th district. You may remember him from the very brief interlude in which he was one of Tim Kaine's appointment to the Virgina Commission on Immigration. Within 24 hours video of Omeish calling for jihad was all over the internet and Omeish was forced to resign.

As Yid With Lid observes, Omeish is President of the Muslim American Society (MAS). In my mind the MAS is not as bad as the ISNA, but twice as bad as CAIR.

Marc Fisher continues:

Omeish is also a Muslim fundamentalist rabble-rouser whose videotaped rants urging crowds of demonstrators to adopt "the jihad way" led to his resignation from Virginia's state Commission on Immigration just 24 hours or so after Gov. Tim Kaine appointed him to the panel last fall.

Oddly enough, Omeish's campaign site somehow manages not to mention any of his activities on behalf of his brethren in the Middle East.

Omeish continues to maintain a presence at Barack Obama's official website. At first I thought this was some leftover from the '08 campaign, but it's not. Omeish's latest post is from yesterday. Each post links his own campaign website which, unsurprisingly, looks a lot like Obama's -- including the symbol that he's adopted.

Hope. Change. Jihad.

Thanks to Yid With Lid.

How Reaganesque. See, Republicans? He's not a leftwinger. He's a conservative.

Summed up:

"Yeah...um...taxes are necessary for a civilized society or something!" and "Bush sucks!"

As a followup to yesterday's post, here's the Faith Fighter video game where you get to be a religious figure of your choice. Keep with it, eventually you'll get to fight Muhammad and kick his ass.

Take this for Banu Qurayzah! And take that for 9/11!

Better yet, consider this a Fight Club homework assignment: play as Muhammad and lose intentionally.

I've put the video game below the fold because it is extremely wide and distorts the web page.

Have fun, and before you issue a fatwa and threaten to cut off my head remember this: I don't consider Mohammad a prophet and I don't really care if I offend you. Freedom of religion must, by definition, mean I can criticize religious figures and freedom of speech, by definition, must protect expression which offends.

I really think the world would be a better place had Mohammad never been born. I can't say the same thing about Buddha, Jesus, or even Moses -- who I have serious issues with.

Here's the game.

UPDATE: You know who's a real pussy? Xenu. But watch out for that Ganesha, that guy's got game.

Thanks to D Martyr.

The Truth' by Painter Michael D'Antuono which will be unveiled on President Obama's 100th Day in Office at NYC's Union Square.

I'd say our new President has been a bit above average on catching on to the job. He's made a few good moves. Some bad moves. Overall I give him a B-/C+ on getting up and running. Mainly because if you remember W didn't really know WTF he was doing till 9/11. Obama seems to be a quick study. Not immune from screw ups, but sharp.

On his efforts to lay the political groundwork to create a the new Neo-Commie USA. I'd say he gets an A.

Which means we're DOOMED! DOOMED I SAY....

Anyway, let er rip in comments, I know ya'll have feedback...

Translation: We Can!

Thanks to Kyros.

I like to keep up on terrorist sympathizers and the websites they run, that's why a few of us here have subscribed to Domain Tool's monitoring service. This way we know when the registration data on these websites changes or is renewed.

It looks like Yousef al-Khattab has renewed his "The Jew Report" which is a not-so-funny parody of us registered as stopjewishinternetterrorists.com. People like Khattab use perverted definitions of terrorism to make the claim that they "don't support terrorism". So, killing Jewish kids = "legitimate resistance" and Osama bin Laden is a "freedom fighter".

Khattab also finds the killing of American soldiers funny.

Ha-ha Joey. Why don't you tell that joke to the next veteran you pick up on your bicycle taxi?

I write this post only to say that I hope it stays online. How much does a bicycle taxi boy make, any way Joey? Must be hard to support a family on that salary. Not only do you have to pay for the privacy service you use to mask your registration data --- C'mon, we know who you are and where you live. What's the point? -- but you also have to pay for the domain.

If the intention of your antisemitic conspiracy website was to make people laugh then it's working. I am laughing. At you.

Thanks to Black Flag for turning me on to Domain Monitor.

When you subscribe to a YouTube account. And they post something. And you click it 'cause you subscribed so you are interested. Then it will go off your page. See how that works? I subscribe so I can see content I'm interested in.

And the stupid linkwhore (and I'm not against linkwhoring by any means) just won't quit promoting it back onto your page every effing day even though you've seen it there like twice already. So then you have to click it again and again to get the damned rerun off your page.

That's effing annoying.

STOP IT! ALL OF YOU!

(Yes I un-subscribed)

They somehow think that killing all the pigs in Egypt will help....

It won't. But this will.

See I'm interested in the flu. I had that terrible flu in about 69 or 70 as a small child. It was awful. Worse than this.

I almost croaked and it ruined pancakes for me for the rest of my life.

But every since I still kinda get the flu but its mild. Somehow I've lost pancakes but picked up a nice resistance. People get sick all around me yet I never take a vaccination and never get very ill with it. So this interests me and was part of the reason I added the flu category to Jawa after the Bird Flu scare.

This one could turn out to be pretty bad. Maybe not. But preventing it now is a bit late. Its sad that some die from it but that's not unusual. Remember Darwin was not totally wrong. There is always this struggle between species, I'm sure we'll survive this.

Now go stock up on chicken soup. If you get sick see if the doc will give you a little Tamiflu and a bit of the good cough syrup and get some couch/tube/fussovermeimightdie attention.

That is all.

Excuse the poor Google translation of the following Arabic language article, but you'll get the drift. There are analogies to the 94 Yemeni detainees in Gitmo. Primary among them is the limited options available to both the US and Saudi Arabia arising from Yemen's extremely poor track record on counter-terrorism. Indefinite preventative detention is not a viable plan, nor is unconditional release.

Yemen regularly extradites terror suspects to Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis are holding on to these 82 Yemeni prisoners.The US and Yemen have no extradition treaty (although Yemen has one with Spain). Even American citizens on the FBI's "most wanted terrorists" list like Jaber Elbaneh (Lackawanna dude) enjoy sanctuary in Yemen. The Saudis didn't put their Yemeni terror detainees through the rehab program, although Saudi rehab may be where most of the US's Yemeni prisoners are headed, over Yemeni objections.

Yemen's rehab program was discontinued in 2005 when some graduates reappeared as suicide bombers in Iraq. Graduates of the Yemeni program described it as a mechanism of expedited release with no real ideological transformation taking place or even expected. The premise of Yemen's program was that attacks in Yemen are illegitimate, but external attacks on civilians are not criminalized by Yemen's judiciary and the Yemeni president openly supports the violent "resistance to the occupation of Muslim countries."

Mareb Press: Students (82) Yemeni detainee accused of terrorism in Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni authorities to work to claim them and release them...The period of detention, "they said they were detained within the territory of Saudi Arabia, on mere suspicion and languishing for many years and without any concern to them and without any trial.

Yemeni citizens languish in prison after having been there since the very isolation of five years without trial or charge Confirming exposure to torture and inhumane treatment in the prison and the dignifying of the contemptible....

Americans bought enough guns in the first 3 months of the year to outfit the entire Chinese and Indian armies combined. Gateway Pundit has more

(Kandahar, Afghanistan) Earlier today, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid phoned the media (AFP) and read a threatening statement from Mullah Borador, deputy to one-eyed leader Mullah Omar. It warned of increased ambushes, suicide attacks and bombings.

‘Operation Nasrat’ (Victory), to be launched on Tuesday, would also target Afghan officials and international diplomats with a wave of suicide bombings and attacks, claimed a statement from the extremist militia. [...]

'Now that America and Nato intend to send more troops to Afghanistan, the Afghans also feel the need for a more speedy and strong operation to defend themselves and the freedom of their country,’ it said. [...]

‘Our targets will be the units of the invading forces, diplomatic stations, convoys, ranking officials of the puppet government, MPs, and employees of the defence, interior and intelligence ministries,’ it said.

Notably, the Taliban regularly issue notifications and threats of "new" operations.

April 28, 2009

(Rotterdam, Netherlands) A device called the Mosquito emits an annoying sound in the frequency range where it can typically be heard only by people under the age of 25.

Consequently, the Mosquito is used as a "teen repellent" to discourage youths from loitering on the streets and engaging in anti-social behavior.

According to 10-year-old Mohammed,

"It sucks! It gives me a headache. It's like when you've been listening to loud music for a long time and then you stop," he says. "This buzzing sound."

Despite opposition, police and local authorities are pleased with the Mosquitos, saying complaints of intimidation and vandalism have been reduced by 70 to 80 percent. (more)

(Akron, Ohio) The owner and manager of a local strip club, the Playhouse Bar, have been arrested after a 14-year-old girl was allegedly found by vice officers to be dancing topless.

Christopher Wier and Robert Mitchell face charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented performance and child endangerment.

What could these guys have possibly been thinking?

Bet you guys can't name the car make without clicking on the link.

One of the greatest paragraphs ever written at the New York Times:

When American forces in Iraq wanted to lure members of Al Qaeda into a trap, they hacked into one of the group’s computers and altered information that drove them into American gun sights.

See if you follow the logic of the company that released "Faith Fighter", a game featuring a fighting Jesus, Vishnu, and Muhammad. First, the Organization of the Islamic Conference called it:

...incendiary in its content and offensive to Muslims and Christians...

the game would serve no other purpose than to incite intolerance. [The head of the OIC] called on the Internet service providers who are hosting the game to take immediate action by withdrawing it from the web

So, how did the video games purveyors react? By yanking the game and apologizing for offending Muslims:

Today after an official statement by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) we decided to remove the game Faith Fighter from our site.

If wishing to establish global censorship based on a religious edict isn't fundamentalism, I don't know what is.

But within 24 hours the group issued this very ironic clarification:

We are not "bowing to the foundamentalists" [sic], we have no sympathy for any religion but we are aware that muslims are victim of widespread racism in the western world. This islamofobia is functional to the imperial interests in Middle East and all over the world.

It's even more ironic given that they use the word irony over and over again in their official statement about the video game. The irony here is in using the phrase "bowing to fundamentalists".

Also, this is the same group that hacked into an al Qaeda support video game called The Night of Bush Capturing and with minimal alterations created The Night of Bush Capturing: A Virtual Jihadi.

Offending Americans and thousands of Iraqis killed by terrorists is no problem.

On the other hand, offending Muslims is bad because, um, Islamophobia has killed how many people exactly?

PS-I've played the game as Muhammad. The problem with playing as Muhammad is that I want my ass to get kicked by Buddha every time. Go figure.

Thanks to Benny.

Or else they'll murder a British hostage.

Via AFP: DUBAI (AFP) — Al-Qaeda's North African branch has threatened to execute a captive Briton if the British government does not release a Muslim cleric within 20 days, SITE Intelligence Group reported on Sunday.

The threat to kill the Briton came in a statement by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb posted on jihadist forums on April 26, said SITE, a US group which monitors Islamist websites.

The authenticity of the statement could not immediately be verified.

The Al-Qaeda group, according to SITE, is seeking freedom for Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, currently held in a British prison.

"We declare that the organisation still holds the British tourist and the Swiss tourist until the achievement of our legitimate demands," SITE quoted the Al-Qaeda statement as saying.

The statement did not set out the terms for the Swiss tourist's release.

"There is a level of activity that is troubling, disturbing,"

US military officials have noticed that a growing number of al Qaida terrorists are moving from the Pak-Afghan border to to areas of Africa, specifically Somalia. Large areas of Somalia are ruled by al Shabaab, a terrorist group linked to al Qaida, which has implemented islamic law. US counter-terrorism officials are worried that the battle hardened terrorists will train al Shabaab in sophisticated terror tactics.

In recent months al Qaida has focused more energy on Somalia. Last month an audio video of Bin Laden called for the overthrow of the Somali government. Al Zawahiri had also released a video calling for more support for al Shabaab fighters.

In fact, al Shabaab has already pledged allegiance to al Qaida and have formulized ties with al Qaida.

This is especially worrying since dozens of Somalis from the US, Canada and Britain have gone to Somalia to fight for al Shabaab.

Sign on San Diego

WASHINGTON — There is growing evidence that battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into East Africa, bringing sophisticated terrorist tactics that include suicide attacks.

The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, fuels concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan – a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan their threatened attacks against the western world.[...]

The foreign fighters moving into East Africa complicate an already-rising crescendo of terror threats in the region. Those threats have come from the Somalia-based al-Shabab extremist Islamic faction and from al-Qaida in East Africa, a small, hard-core group also known by the acronym EEAQ. [...]

Al-Qaida has the skills while al-Shabab has the manpower, said one senior military official familiar with the region. The official said EEAQ appears to be a small cell of a few dozen operatives who rarely sleep in the same place twice and are adept at setting up temporary training camps that vanish days later.

What worries U.S. military leaders, the official said, is the that EEAQ and al-Shabab may merge in training and operations, potentially spreading al-Qaida's more extremist jihadist beliefs to thousands of clan-based Somali militants, who so far have been engaged in internal squabbling.

Samir Kahn says Swine Flu Allah's curse on the U.S. for being infidels or something.

So, what explains your inability to move out of your mom's basement and/or to get laid?

And Samir isn't the only eHadi who sees Swine Flu as God's punishment on the Great Satan.

It's not so much irony as it is stupidity that credits Allah's hand in every minor problem the U.S. faces (a flu "epidemic" that has killed no one, a recession that has increased unemployment marginally) and yet all of the major problems facing the Islamic world (entire nations impoverished, epidemics that kill tens of thousands, natural disasters which kill tens of thousands) are either overlooked or blamed on the J-O-Os.

Good riddance to Arlen Specter. From Specter's press release:

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

So, why is Specter changing parties? No, this isn't about the Republican party becoming more conservative. It isn't. We just went through 8 years of "compassionate conservatism" where the party abandoned it's core principles of fiscal responsibility -- the very uniting principle which forged the Reagan big tent.

Arlen Specter's one and only concern has always been Arlen Specter. He's a political opportunist with no core values.

Moderation is not a core value, it is simply taking someone else's values and saying um, okay, but why don't we do less of what you're talking about?

I'd say this was good news, but do you really think Toomey has a chance of beating him in Pennsylvania? This is a state which voted Obama over McCain 55 to 44%.

UPDATE: Just finished the entire press release and my gut instinct about the switch was right on. I'll give Specter some props for admitting the real reason he's jumping ship is that he's afraid he'll lose in the primary:

Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.

As Michelle says, Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

UPDATE: AllahP on the same page and also calls Specter out on the "party left me" lie. Hot Air notes further that both The One and VP Slick were deeply involved in wooing Specter. Who could have seen that one coming?

And Drew breaks out the flaming skull.

So, again I ask, is this good news or bad news? What's the probability that Tooney could win in Penn?

UPDATE: Wow, I'm not half as insightful as I think I am. Michael Steele:

Let’s be honest-Senator Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.

UPDATE: Hold the phone. Dan over at Riehl World view notes that Specter is up against one of Obama's guys in the Democratic primary. So, maybe Spcecter won't even be on the general election ballot?

That would be classic cosmic justice: Specter leaves Republican party fearing loss in primary only to be defeated in Democratic primary.

UPDATE: Filibuster proof majority? That's why Specter's defection might be a bad thing.

UPDATE: Heh!

A Pali sentenced to death for treason. How do Palis define treason? Selling land to Jews. You'll note this isn't Hamas in Gaza killing Palestinians, this time it's Israel's "partners in peace" the Palestinian Authority.

What, you were under the impression that Fatah was some sort of liberal organization committed to human rights?

President Dmitry Medvedev, blogger. The good news keeps getting better as the Kremlin also has a blog.

And what does Russia's titular head think of the internet?

I don't think you'll be shocked to know that he opposes American's imperialist dominance on the web:

"The Internet should not be an environment dominated by rules set by one country alone, even the strongest and most advanced country,” he says. “There should be international rules drawn up through collective effort, and the worldwide web should continue to develop as it has done so far – as a common environment. Only this way can we counter terrorism, xenophobia, and other unlawful activity on the Web.”

I'm not sure what else to call the use of an airborne poison at a girls school other than a WMD attack. The question mark remains in the post title because a) local officials only suspect the girls were poisoned; b) this is Afghanistan where locals are prone to exaggeration; c) we don't know if it was the Taliban.

If it was an airborne WMD attack, though, who else but the Taliban could it be?

Fred over at Rantburg suspects it will turn out to be nothing. We'll have to wait and see, but I wouldn't put this past the Taliban.

No deaths is about what I expect would be the result of the Taliban releasing an airborne poison given that they're, you know, retarded:

Five Afghan teachers and 40 of their pupils, most of them girls, have been admitted to hospital with severe headaches after a suspected airborne poison attack, the Public Health Ministry said on Monday.

They fell ill on Sunday afternoon during a ceremony at a school in the Sadiqi district of Parwan province, some 70 kilometres north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. "Among them there are five adults and 40 children, most of them girls, who have been affected," Dr Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry said. "For the time being, it seems to be airborne poisoning. But it's not confirmed yet what the actual reason is," Fahim said.

With all eyes focused on the Somali piracy problem this story serves as a reminder that a bigger threat is looming from the Horn of Africa: violent Islamism.

Libertarian Republican noted two days ago the relationship between President Obama's first cousin, Kenya's new Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the Mungiki Islamist movement, and al Qaeda's Somali affiliate, the al-Shabaab:

The Mungiki are now leading a violent uprising in nothern and central regions of the Nation, while also fanning violence in the slums of the Capitol City in Nairobi. Mungiki rebels who support the imposition of strict Sharia Law, have brutally hacked to death hundreds of villagers in remote regions who've opposed their local rule. It is rumored that Odinga approves of the actions.

Some news reporters and bloggers out of Africa have also suggested that the Mungiki are being supported by outside Muslim extremists groups, from Somalia, Sudan, and Ethopia. The Mungiki's "Mafia style" operation is transporting weapons and funds from these sources into the hands of Mungiki fighters on the ground inside of Kenya.

The [al-Shabaab], which has refused to recognize President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's government threatened Monday to annex parts of northern Kenya and implement Islamic Sharia law. Nairobi on the other hand has begun strong measures to counter such an attack by deploying extra troops to man the Kenya-Somali border and maintain the disarmament of residents in the province....

Nairobi said recent abductions of several Kenyans at the border town of Mandera forms part of a wider scheme to force a reaction from the Kenyan government.

Described by Washington as a terrorist organization with close links to al Qaeda, al-Shabab officially informed Nairobi of its intentions to invade Kenya's Northeastern Province and make it part of their country and rule it with their religious laws.

Thanks to Libertarian Republican.

In my American Presidency class I spend two weeks on what some call the postmodern presidency. I tend to emphasize the inevitable disappointment the American public has because of the inherent disconnect between our expectations of the President as superhero and the realities of any one person's ability to control the economy, foreign relations, and resolving global crises.

The capstone of this portion of the class is watching Air Force One and using Harrison Ford's character as the embodiment of the archetypal superhero President. A guy who personally kills terrorists with his bare hands while delivering one liners and simultaneously saving the country and his family.

I guess Brian Williams was sitting somewhere in the back row because, for the likes of me, I can't recall ever seeing him in class.

Via Don Surber:

ATAA Jewellers in Glasgow now demands that customers show their faces. It is owned by Muslims.

It is not reverse multicultural diversity.

It is not assimilation.

It is safety.

Men in veils have robbed the store.

“The store owners decided to act after two Asian men wearing traditional Muslim women’s clothes – including niqab veils – made away with thousands of pounds worth of jewelery earlier this month,” the London Telegraph reported.

This Muslim stuff gets more confusing every day, Rob the Kufr its not a sin. Then rob fellow Muslims, its what ???????

Maybe cause they buy diamonds from the Joooos? I'm confused.

Or at least just people who like, pay taxes.Via Philly.com:

The $3.5 trillion plan for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 embraces several of Obama's top goals besides health-care legislation, including funds for domestic programs and clean energy, and a tax increase for individuals making more than $200,000 a year or couples making more than $250,000.

But the plan would allow Obama's signature $400 tax cut for most workers and $800 for couples to expire at the end of next year. Even after squeezing the defense and war budgets to levels that are probably unrealistic, the plan would cause a deficit of $523 billion in five years.

"I think this is a good budget," Conrad said. But, he added, "much more will have to be done to get us on a more sustainable course," including slowing the growth of benefit programs like Medicare.

Instead it will stick to its regular programming, a drama titled "You Lie to Me". HA! Couldn't think of a better show to substitute for President Obama's press conference.
H/T: Smorgasbord Yahoo! News

The network is turning down the president's request to show his prime-time news conference on Wednesday. The news conference marks Obama's 100th day in office. Instead of the president, Fox viewers will see an episode of the Tim Roth drama "Lie to Me."

April 27, 2009

(Karachi, Pakistan) With swaths of territory now being ceded to the Taliban, the fundamentalists apparently believe they have been given free reign to harass and kill Christians everywhere. On the night of April 21, more than 100 masked Taliban entered a Christian community in Karachi and raided homes.

Going door to door, the armed Taliban terrorists grabbed the elderly and women by the hair, pulled them into the streets and ordered them to convert to Islam. The women were beaten with clubs and whips and sexually assaulted. Homes were set on fire.

Two Christians who resisted were murdered, execution-style, in front of their families.

It's expected that more and harsher incidents of violence against Christians will occur as long as the world keeps smooching Taliban tail. (more)

It's been nearly a week and the Iraqis still insist they have the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, in custody. If the guy they have in custody isn't him, someone will have a whole lot of egg on his face.

In the past when such claims have been made, we've heard corrections within a day or two. Which makes me think that it might be time to break out MC Hammer?

Iraq has confirmed the identity of a suspect captured last week as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, believed to be head of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaeda-linked group, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Hell, you can never have too much Hammer!

If it does turn out to be him would it be too much to ask that they do to him what they did to Saddam Hussein? You know, a very messy hanging.

Presumably speaking to moderate Muslims, a grey-bearded Egyptian cleric, Safwat Higazi, has called for a boycott of all Starbucks franchises in the Middle East in a protest over the coffee shop's logo.

According to Higazi, the logo is a Jewish political statement and he wants to shut down all Starbucks coffee shops in the Arab world.

"The girl in the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther," he insisted. "This queen is Queen of the Jews." [...]

"This is the crown of the Kingdom of Persia. This girl you see is Esther, Queen of the Jews in Persia."

Heh.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have abandoned any serious attempt at health care reform in California.

Instead, they're waiting for President Barack Obama to push national reform through Congress ...."

It's slipped my mind while being on the tip of my keyboarding fingers. What's it called when a failed project is repeated with the expectation of different results? Erudite readers will know.

Is this what post-invasion Iraq is destined to look like?

You're welcome.

First the catfight, then world peace.

Mild NSFW warning. No nudity, but .... catfight.

Meow.

Someone wanted this photo-op badly enough they terrified thousands getting it....and....based on the reaction....9/11 is still not to far from the surface ...even after 8 years.

Via NBC New York

It wasn't even a drill. It was a photo op.

And the Pentagon told local authorities, but said they couldn't share the information with the public.

An Air Force One lookalike and two F-16s buzzed the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor this morning, halting work on nearby construction sites, causing resident and office workers to flee their high-rises and giving thousands of people in downtown Manhattan and New Jersey a major fright. At least two people were treated for minor injuries at Jersey City Medical Center after falling during the rush to exit their high-rises.

"Everybody panicked," said Daisy Cooper, a Merrill Lynch worker in Jersey City, who lost a nephew on 9/11. "Everybody was screaming and we all ran downstairs. I'm devastated. ..Everybody was running, we didn't know why we were running. We just knew it was a plane, there we go, 9/11 again."

Update by Rusty on Howie's lazy behalf: Here's the video. It wasn't just an F-16 -- hence I changed the title of the post. My understanding is that it was Air Force One's backup plane. His Oneness was not on it.

UPDATE: It was Air Force One, kinda sort of. Air Force One isn't an airplane it is a designation given to any airplane the President is on. So, this is one of the planes that is Air Force One, only since Obama wasn't on it, it wasn't.

Comprende?

UPDATE:White House apologizes they owned this royal screw up.

Are you ready to swing, baby? The Egyptian sex-tour industry just got a thumbs up from the most unlikely of places: one of Sunni Islam's most respected clerics:

Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa announced that "travelers marriages,” known as nikah mesyar in Arabic, are legitimate unless banned by the state....

Some traits of the mesyar marriage are reminiscent of the nikah mutah ["temporary marriage"], practiced by Shiite Muslims. The differences are that the mutah is based on a contract with a fixed date of expiry and it does not require witnesses while a mesyar is open-ended and requires two witnesses to be present.

Even if one doesn't support some kind of contractual relationship between two consenting adults which legitimizes what would otherwise be an illegitimate relationship, they are still two consenting adults. When two adults consent, the state has no legitimate claim to intervene.

I played the lottery once. I didn't win. Apparently Sen. Diane Feinstein's husband is three for three when it comes to procuring lucrative government contracts. Funny how those odds seem to be stacked in his favor.

A frame from a video showing a woman murdered by the Taliban for allegedly committing adultery.

In this video the Taliban murder a man and woman who have been accused of adultery.

I'm going to embed the YouTube version of it. I'm guessing it will be taken down pretty quickly. All of the copies of the video that I've seen carry the same Dawn News watermark on it and the Pakistani news agency has chosen to censor out the most graphic part where the woman and man are actually gunned down.

If any one finds the original uncensored video let me know.

It's amazing to see how Muslims react to the video as if they didn't know that the death penalty was specifically prescribed by Muhammad himself for the sin.

On the one hand its good to see all the negative reaction to this, especially by Pakistanis. On the other hand, it's as if these same people were completely ignorant of just what sharia means.

Islam Online responds to a question about adultery by quoting a hadith recorded by all of the most authoritative authors, including Al-Bukhari :

It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except for one of three sins: a married person committing fornication, and in just retribution for premeditated murder, and [for sin of treason involving] a person renouncing Islam, and thus leaving the community.

As for the punishment specified in the Shari`ah for the married adulterer or adulteress, it is stoning to death.

It boggles the mind. One cannot agitate for sharia and then claim horror when sharia is implemented. This is only a week after the Taliban called the faithful to watch them behead three accused of apostasy.

I'll also point out, as Allah P did, that the Taliban wanted reporters to see this.

That is, it is a point of pride for them when they kill the innocent. Contrast that to our shame when our military forces accidentally kill civilians.

Actually, if you read closely, Pakistan's President is saying that he has no idea where bin Laden is and that he could be dead.

But what the heck, I'm in a glass half full kind of mood and the WaPo headline is "Bin Laden could be dead, whereabouts unknown: Zadari".

So, bin Laden is dead!!

Always lead with the unconfirmed and misleading rumor WaPo. It's a formula, but it works!

It's almost as if the MSM is really no better than we pathetic bloggers. Which is kind of the point we've been trying to make for years and years now.

So, is bin Laden dead? I've no idea.

I'd like to think that he's presently in the lowest circle of hell being gang raped by 72 vicious virgin goats. I have no way of confirming it either way. For all I know he's in some cave in Pakistan and it is the goats that are afraid.

We haven't seen a true video of him in years, only audio. The experts seem to think that it's him. My opinion of audio analysis? It's like voodoo, only with a lot more references to algorithms.

But given that bin Laden's present state of animation are unknown, then it comes down to assumptions and the risks associated with being wrong. In this case I'd say that the safer move would be to assume that bin Laden is alive, since the results of an error here are that he's dead and that we've wasted money in a search to find him. Worst case scenario being we find Zawahiri or Adam Gadah instead.

So, be afraid goats. Be very afraid.

UPDATE: Umm, maybe he is dead? One can be agnostic on the issue if you're a blogger (like me), but it's not a tenable position for those working in intel: either you keep searching for bin Laden or you don't. If the former, then the underlying assumption is he's alive. If the latter then he's dead.

An Iranian container with arms bound for Hamas has reported been torpedoed near the Sudan. US or Israeli forces are suspected of carrying out the attack.

If I had to guess, I would say it was an Israeli sub. Haaretz

An Iranian vessel laden with weapons bound for the Gaza Strip was torpedoed off the coast of Sudan last week, allegedly by Israeli or American forces operating in the area, the Egyptian newspaper El-Aosboa reported on Sunday.

Anonymous sources in Khartoum told the newspaper that an unidentified warship bombed the Iranian vessel as it prepared to dock on Sudan before transferring its load for shipment to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

These sources said they suspects U.S. or Israeli involvement in the attack, but neither Washington nor Jerusalem have released a statement yet on the matter. The Israel Air Force, meanwhile, is suspected of attacking a convoy of Iranian arms that passed through Sudan en route to Gaza in January, according to reports released in March.

AuschwitzLOL, AKA Joey Cohen, AKA Yousef al-Khattab.

Gee Jooosef that was kinda personal...

Buh bye.

I do have friends you know.

April 26, 2009

This is a good round up in the New York Times about the problem of returning Yemenis from Gitmo to Yemen where support for "resistance" is governmental policy, prisons have a revolving door and jihaddists are defined by their willingness to negotiate with the government (and we see how well that's working out in Swat).

Commenting on the NTY article, The Weekly Standard notes Yemeni detainee al-Hilal, a top Political Security Officer with foreknowledge of 9/11, phoned home from Gitmo and accused Yemeni President Saleh of using the detainees as bargaining chips, and two days later, al Hilal's two young sons were killed (playing with a hand grenade?) while home alone.

Speaking of bargaining chips, the Miami Herald reports the Defense Department's request for $83.4 billion in supplemental funds included $81 million to fund President Barack Obama's order to move or release the 240 or so detainees by Jan. 22. The Yemeni govt puts the price tag at about a mil per detainee to take them back but notes the Obama administration appears to have rejected its offer.

The Obama administration’s effort to return the largest group of Guantánamo Bay detainees to Yemen, their home country, has stalled, creating a major new hurdle for the president’s plan to close the prison camp in Cuba by next January, American and Yemeni officials say. “We’re at a complete impasse,” said one American official who is involved in the issue but was speaking without authorization and so requested anonymity. “I don’t know that there’s a viable Plan B.”

The Yemenis not only are the biggest group of detainees, but also are widely seen as the most difficult to transfer out of Guantánamo. Other countries are wary of many of the Yemeni detainees because jihadist groups have long had deep roots in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world and the homeland of Osama bin Laden’s father. If the Yemenis are not sent home, there may be few other options for many of the 97 men, detainees’ lawyers and human rights groups say...The Bush administration also failed to reach a deal with President Saleh, but the Obama administration had hoped to get increased cooperation from Yemen, which critics say has a history of coddling Islamic extremists and releasing convicted terrorists. Complicating the task is the fact that security in Yemen has been deteriorating for more than a year, with several terrorist attacks, including a suicide bombing outside the American Embassy compound in September that killed 13 people.

And then there's Yemen's role in piracy and instability in Somalia, the collective punishment of its civilians n Sa'ada, the institutionalized looting of the South, and Yemen's role in smuggling substantial quantities of drugs, weapons and persons all over the region.

April 25, 2009

(Shreveport, Louisiana) Similar to the sex offender registry, a gun-offender registry has been proposed as a city ordinance by Shreveport Police Chief Henry Whitehorn.

The registry would require people convicted of gun-related crimes to register with police to let them know where they are living. Eventually, it could turn into a public online registry with photographs and statistics.

From Ali Sukhanver in Pakistan:

Recently it was reported by some of the private TV channels, including Samaa and the Geo News that at Ring Road in Hazarkhawni, Peshawar on 12th April, 2009, at least 12 trailers loaded with supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan were set on fire by Taliban, resulting in the killing of a driver and injuring two cleaners.

In this incident one of the drivers told the Taliban that there was a Holy Quran in one of the trailers but the Taliban did not pay attention to it and set the trailer on fire. The copy of the Holy Quran was also burnt as a result.

The TV channels displayed the burnt pages of this most sacred book. There was a severe protest against this un-Islamic act of the Taliban. Apparently the militants who did this shameful insult to the Holy Quran posed to be the Taliban but it is almost impossible for a common Muslim to accept that the people who introduce themselves as the representatives of Islam can perform such disgusting act.

I suggest that the incident will be overlooked by the mainstream media. Maybe someone should draw a cartoon.

Via email:

Um no one is blogging this weekend?

Okay, Rusty, I'll let the proles know that this is my tenth straight day without a cigarette.

Now blog something yourself, or go away. Homo.

Caption this photo of Iran's new Wookie army. The winner receives a nice big fatwa.

Thanks to Soccer Dad.

UPDATE 4/25/09: Fatwas Issued!

The "i will cut ur neck" fatwa issued against Are You Sure? for

You know, Jasmine, I've changed my mind. We should never have complained about the burqas.

Hairy Beast Uniforms:

When you're feeling lonely for that special goat, have your comrade don his HBUs.

The Anti-Brazilian Brigade.

And NO, they are not Lesbians. Apparently there is NO homosexuality in Iran.

Um, now would be a good time to go get that paper bag before the hyperventilation begins. As per the last post, I really can't write anything coherent at the moment. It's that disturbing.

So, go read Allah P's post, if you haven't already, with the caveat that said paper bag is firmly placed in front of your face.

Then, if you haven't already had a stroke, click on over to Roggio's post that he put up a few days ago about the group the soon to be released Chinese terrorists are affiliated with.

I meant to link it then, but unfortunately there was no paper bag in the general vicinity of my computer screen. If I don't blog any more today you know why.

Britannia Radio:

Notably the top site resulting from a Google search for “Zionist terrorists,” is ummah.com. Other top sites include revisionhistory.org, angryarab.blogspot.com, and revolutionmuslim.com.

I haven't blogged on this intentionally. I'm literally too pissed to write anything coherent.

So, go read Steve's post on Obama's plans to release more photos which our enemies will then use in propaganda to recruit more terrorists to kill us.

April 24, 2009

Update on: CNN Cries Copyright, YouTube Pulls Founding Bloggers Susan Roesgen Video

I wish them luck.

Yesterday, we officially filed our DMCA counter-notice in the matter of CNN’s censorship of Founding Bloggers’ coverage of the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party. A copy of the counter-notice is available at Ben Sheffner’s blog Copyrights & Campaigns, where he’s been devoting much of his valuable energy toward documenting and publicizing what CNN has tried to do in this case. Read the rest

You know how Leftists are always making the (false) claim that the US sponsored Osama bin Laden during the 1980s -- the inference being that somehow we are morally culpible for "making" bin Laden and therefore that 9/11 somehow is our own fault?

Well, unlike that false urban legend about US sponsoring Islamist terrorists, it's my sad duty to report that today the US is sponsoring Islamist terrorists. Directly.

I've mentioned Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys in the past, but today he officially returned to Somalia to join the US and UN sponsored reconciliation government, but let me recap why his return means that the US is now directly funding terrorists.

Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys was once heavily funded by Osama bin Laden, helped shield the US embassy bombers form justice, and is on the U.S. State Department's list of designated terrorists:

Designated on November 7, 2001...

Hassan Dahir Aweys

But it's not just the U.S. that has designated Aweys a terrorist. So, too, has the UN:

A U.N. Security Council resolution has designated Aweys as a terrorist

The very same government that is backed by the US:

The United States will help pay for the fledgling Somali government's domestic security force as Washington looks to bolster the fragile country's peace process, said a top U.S. diplomat on Thursday.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Phillip Carter said the Obama administration wanted to focus on long-term security for Somalia while at the same time fighting piracy off its shores, which included a brazen attack last week on a U.S.-flagged container ship.

I wonder if OFAC can impound State Department funds headed for Somalia?

I, for one, would like to thank Obama for clarifying his position on terrorism. It's crystal clear, I think, that the starry eyed Bush era doctrine of treating the terrorists and the states that sponsor them as one as the same is over.

Goodbye War on Terror, hello funding those very same terrorists!

Now, one might make the argument that the terrorists of the Islamic Courts Union (ICC), who make up most of the new government's cabinet position, are better than the terrorists of the al-Shabaab, who Aweys has apparently turned his back on. The former only being those who have been funded by al Qaeda and who have, in return, refused to turn over known terrorists to the US for prosecution while the latter is the actual local franchise of al Qaeda.

In other words there is a pragmatic argument that our policy of opposing the ICC failed and that they are a better alternative than the al-Shabaab.

This rests on the assumption that we must have one terrorist organization in power or another one.

Call me crazy, but there has got to be some kind of policy that would mean my tax dollars were not going to bolster a terrorist state. I seem to recall that before 9/11 that we gave some funding to the Taliban, ostensibly to help them eradicate poppy fields, but really as a way of reaching out to the so-called "moderates" within the group. That worked out real well, didn't it?

I cannot think of a better or more overwhelmingly clear example of the return to pre-9/11 thinking under the current administration than the choice to fund a government which includes wanted terrorists in top leadership positions.

I don't know what the proper solution to the Somali crisis is, but I would beg the Obama to rethink the State Department's Somalia strategy and not make the same mistakes that led to 9/11 in the first place.

No suprise.

Into luxury paper.

Ironically I found this story at Death by 1000 Papercuts.

He threatened he would turn the April 15th “tea party” into a “blood bath.”

Damn crazy twoofer.

Higher quality copy here at ABCNEWS:

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that “the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban,” but the spokesman[Taliban], Haji Muslim Khan, said that Taliban anger was partly caused by the presence of female American soldiers in the region. Mr. Khan said that Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, “should think about Western white women [what, you color blind?] who take up arms and come from 20,000 miles away to fight against us here.

h/t HA's headline thingy

Ed Morrissey's exclusive interview with Commander David Rehbein of the American Legion, who had just come out of a meeting with Janet Napolitano.

He was a true American hero.

Pat Tillman put his professional football career on hold to wear our country's uniform. Five years ago, while serving in Afghanistan, he lost his life to friendly fire, trying to protect his soldiers during an ambush.

I served in Tikrit, Iraq, from 2004 to 2005, and Tillman's story has always inspired me. To honor his legacy of courage, leadership and sacrifice, I joined Team IAVA at the 5th Annual "Pat's Run" on April 18th in Tempe, Arizona. As a fellow veteran, Arizona State alum, and huge football fan, Pat's Run is something I look forward to all year.

Cara Hammer
Iraq Veteran
IAVA Member Veteran
Tempe, Arizona

RIP Pat Tillman.

We just don't take waterboarding srzly.

Huffpo also chimes in towards end of vid.

Via Breitbart

Waste, in comments, reminded me an important part I left out:

"Actually the water boarding used covered the breathing passages with a material to prevent water from entering those passages. So water didn't actually enter breathing passages"

Gotta roll with the cartoon theme today.

Meet the brothers Ahmed and Salim, two normal everyday teenagers who have Facebook accounts and are wicked good at Guitar Hero.

Also, they're terrorists.

There are six episodes in all, including one already banned by YouTube, and if you can get past the canned laughter they're all pretty funny. I especially love episode three where Salim decides to commit suicide since he has no Facebook friends, so his father straps him up with a suicide belt and sends him down to the coffeehouse to blow up the cast of the TV show Friends --- hilarity ensues.

But I'll go ahead and embed episode 1 since it will give you a feel for what the rest of them are like.

McClatchy has a feature article on the cult following the cartoon has in Israel. The hook is that one group sees it as hate while another sees it as humor. Been there, done that, no need to comment.

What is worth linking is the other inevetibale result of anything that portrays terrorists as Muslims: death threats from the religion of do not call any of us terrorists or we will blow you up!

You can get murdered for a cartoon like that," said Trager, a self-described atheist. "I despise all religion, but no other religion would do that over a cartoon. That's why we're passionately more aggressive towards the Muslim faith." ...

We love the negative feedback," Trager said. "We love the death threats. We're surprised we're not dead yet."

Note to Tom Trager Or Paz: ixne on the traveling outside of Israel for awhile. It might get you killed.

Thanks to Dave C.

UPDATE: I didn't even know Dave C. had a blog (or if I did I had conveniently forgot it) or I totally would have linked him the first time. So, apologies, here's Dave C's post.

PS-On second thought, I'll go ahead and embed the episode that was banned on YouTube on the general principle. It's still up over at Daily Motion.

Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch:

"I thus have a compromise suggestion; let's agree to end waterboarding and instead put al-Qaida terrorists in a room with Hillary Clinton; a far worse punishment than any technique employed by the CIA. When Bill Clinton experienced this torture he cracked and confessed to Mrs. Clinton his involvement with Monica Lewinsky. In this way, we can get the prisoners to spill the beans much faster, and teach them a lesson to boot. Just ask Bill Clinton, who must be pleased to be roaming free these days, as his nominal wife crisscrosses the globe," Klayman said.

I love William's take on this article he sent in on the Durban II Conference.

Conference organizers believe that the hidden hand of the Jews are behind a secret organized campaign to smear the good name of a conference which allegedly wants to help end global racism.

Antisemitic racist stereotype: Jews control world media.
Anti-racism conference: Jews control world media.

It's ironic on a level so cosmic that only the UN could fill irony shoes that big.

To the story:

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay denounced Friday what she called a "widespread and highly organized campaign of disinformation" surrounding a U.N. conference on race...

"Already the propaganda machine is starting to wind up, to term this conference a failure. And I quote, a 'hate-fest', and all the rest of it. This is extraordinary," she told a news briefing in Geneva.

One activist group -- the French Union of Jewish Students -- had registered 194 people to attend, she said, adding: "So these are clues that give me an idea that there was certain orchestration in the kind of disinformation."

Her office stripped that group of its accreditation on Thursday for attempting to disrupt the conference, along with the accreditation of two other groups.

I don't mean soldiers in the Army -- we have tons of videos showing life in Iraq -- but those are more like home movies.

This video was released by DVIDS, the military's official press outlet. It's not the funniest thing I've ever watched, and it really is home video quality, but the fact that the Army is finally letting soldiers do stuff like this says that maybe they're getting this whole YouTube thing.

Lather, rinse, repeat, kill.

Joined at the hip with those who do not have America's best interest at heart is my definition of teh hipness.

During his first 100 days as president of the United States, Barack Obama revealed how different he is from all the white men who preceded him in the Oval Office, and the differences run deeper — in substance and style — than the color of his skin.

Barack Hussein Obama is the nation’s first hip president.

This, of course, is subject to debate. But watch him walk. Listen to him talk. See the body language, the expressions, the clothes. He’s got attitude, rhythm, a sense of humor, contemporary tastes.

“Hipness is what it is! And sometimes hipness is what it ain’t,” goes the famous song by Tower of Power. “There’s one thing you should know. What’s hip today might become passé.”

I don't know when non-sequiturs became the most popular form of comedy, but I like it.

It just smells like funny.

Thanks to Howie.

Come on Mr. President. You saved the captain and I gave you credit. You're talking all about Pakistan and the Taliban. Not sure you have any idea what to do about it.

But some have speculated that al-Qaeda in Iraq would wait till Bush was out of office and test the waters then.

Well they are testing, and you have been silent.

Its your move Obi-One.

Be grateful for the pwnage you are about to receive for the next 5+ minutes.

Fatwa?

(Düsseldorf, Germany) The trial of four alleged terrorists, ringleader Fritz Gelowicz, Adem Yilmaz, Daniel Schneider and Atilla Selek, began Wednesday with each facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, plotting terrorist attacks and membership in a terrorist organization, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU).

The home-grown terrorist cell reportedly wanted Germany to withdraw troops from Afghanistan -- and to kill Americans.

Under tight security, four men aged between 23 and 30 took to the dock on Wednesday in Düsseldorf to answer accusations of plotting a spate of bombings in discos, restaurants, airports, the Federal Prosecutor's Office and US army installations.

The alleged plot, which was in its final stages when it was thwarted by police in September 2007, would have been the most destructive in Germany's postwar history.

After receiving a tip from an American intelligence source, the three Germans and a Turk were arrested in a raid which found them ready to strike. Police discovered hydrogen peroxide-based explosives with more potency than used in the 2004 Madrid bombings or the 2005 London attack.

Targets for their terror attacks reportedly were the American airbase in Ramstein and cities of Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich.

Pigman-style.

Posted by Stable Hand at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2009

What in the hell is this administration doing. Releasing those pictures will only give the terrorists fodder for their propaganda. It sure as hell isn't going to help our troops who are in harms way!

Instead of releasing the rest of the enhanced interrogations memo's showing what information was gained they are releasing this? Unbelievable:

The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. personnel during the Bush administration.

At least 44 pictures will be released by May 28 ?[unknown what the question mark denotes...ed] making public for the first time images of what the military investigated at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Defense Department officials would not say exactly what is contained in the photos, but said they are concerned the release could incite a backlash in the Middle East.

The photos, taken from Air Force and Army criminal investigations, are apparently not as shocking as the photographs from the Abu Ghraib investigation that became a lasting symbol of U.S. mistakes in Iraq. But some show military personnel intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them. Military officers have been court-martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint.[
"This will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration's claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational,"said Amrit Singh, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the agreement as part of a long-running legal battle for documents related to Bush-era anti-terror policies[...]

"My sense is the president was trying to please a lot of audiences at one time and that over the last (week) he has totally failed to put the mind of the intelligence community at ease," said Mark Lowenthal, a former senior adviser to one-time CIA Director George Tenet. "He is going to end up with a national clandestine service that will not be willing to do anything because they feel he will not be there for them when they need him."

Update: AJ Holder doesn't know what memo's Cheney is talking about. Can you say selective memory Holder?

Republicans—including former Vice President Dick Cheney—have urged the Obama administration to release other, still-secret documents detailing what intelligence was gained from the controversial interrogation techniques.

"I think you have an obligation to release the rest of the memos," said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.

Holder said he wasn't sure exactly which memos Cheney is referring to, because he hasn't seen them. The attorney general suggested such classified documents may exist at other agencies.

"I'm the attorney general and I don't control many of the memos you might be talking about," said Holder.

When the Obama administration released the memos last week, the president declared no CIA operatives who followed the memos' instructions would be prosecuted. The administration has not offered the same assurances to the memo authors or the Bush officials who oversaw the program.

Congressional Democrats have expressed a strong desire to conduct their own investigation of those officials.

At Thursday's hearing, members of both parties asked Holder if he plans to seek charges against those officials.

"I will not permit the criminalization of policy differences. However, it is my responsibility as attorney general to enforce the law. It is my duty to enforce the law. If I see evidence of wrongdoing I will pursue it to the full extent of the law," Holder said.

Officials are still awaiting the results of an internal Justice Department investigation into the actions of the memo-writers.

Steven Crowder's new vid:

lulz

Meanwhile Soprano's star Vince Curatola who played Johnny Sack isn't too pleased with Perez:

"I wish he'd come after me that way."

Click the image above.

Thanks to AllahP. I had a whole post about this ready to publish, complete with the reasons why the Indians don't have the stomach for the type of conflict, but then the post got eaten by the Windows monster and now I have to get going.

The gist of it was that now might be a good time to short any futures you have in the Kashmir real estate market. Take the money you make and invest it in .223 rounds.

PS--Oh, and also, behold what Talibanization looks like in practice.

Wagner's Die Walküre as performed by some sort of unholy Star Wars/Tron loving opera troop.

Thanks to Locomotive Breath.

Via Politics and Finance:

A Liberal has to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

Hooray! Another asshole downsized!

A bit of background on Ted Rall here.

Hat Tip: herroyalwhyness.

There are three interpretations to statements made by Harvard's Muslim chaplain, Imam Taha Abdul-Basser, about the position of Islamic law on apostates.

a) Traditional Islamic law calls for the death penalty for apostates everywhere, but Abdul-Basser does not support that position as he is a liberal cleric.

b) Traditional Islamic law calls for the death penalty for apostates, but only in majority Muslim countries, and this is the position supported by Abudul-Basser as he is a "moderate" cleric.

c) Traditional Islamic law calls for the death penalty for apostates everywhere, and this is the position supported by Abdul-Basser as he is a lying cleric.

Only position a above is tenable on a college campus. The problem with the imam's answers for clarification about his position is that one can read it as either a or b. That is, it sounds like he is denying that he supports killing Muslim apostates until you read on and he describes how such killing is only practiced in Muslim countries and he would never support such laws here in the US.

Which sounds kind of like a non-denial denial of position b above.

Imagine, if you will, a Catholic priest arguing that while he does support freedom of religion in the U.S. and in other majority Protestant countries, that Catholics should return to the Dark Ages in countries where they are the majority and start killing apostates, too.

But let us suppose that Abdul-Basser's position is that of "a" above. He's horrified at the thought of killing apostates.

But in so doing he has admitted what many in the West are afraid to speak out loud: that Islamic law has never traditionally allowed Muslims to be free.

Which, I think, is telling.

Whether or not Islam as a religion can be separated from Islam as a legal code is up for Muslims to decide. I hope that the Dean's World author, Azziz Poonawalla, quoted in the article is right and that it can be. Certainly millions of Muslims around the world hold this position.

What we who are outsiders to this debate cannot do is sugarcoat the reality of Islamist movements who wish to impose Islamic law. Even so-called "moderate" Islamists are enemies of fundamental human rights such as the right to join or leave religious communities and the right to criticize those communities openly.

It's Thursday, and I guess that means a day devoted to snuff films coming out Dar al Islam.

This hour's video features a member of one of the UAE's many royal families torturing some poor guy.

UPDATE Video yanked. But another one put up.

Apparently in this part of the world wealth doesn't make you more civilized, it just gives you better toys with which to practice your barbarity.

Thanks to Kim Priestap who has more commentary.

UPDATE: I thought I had seen the video before. This was making the rounds at the Islamist websites as more evidence of why yet another "murtad" (apostate) Arab government should be overthrown.

Far from being an ABC exclusive, this one is all over the internet. For instance, see this website devoted to torture in the UAE.

Yet another post in which we hold our breath and pray, Please God, this time let it be true!. This would be, what, the third time the Iraqis have claimed that they've captured Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq?

The first time they caught an actor payed to play Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in al Qaeda in Iraq propaganda films. At that point they claimed there was no such person as al-Baghdadi, that he was fictional character meant to portray AQI as a home-grown movement.

The former leader of AQI was Jordianian born Abu Musab al Zarqawi who we killed.

The second time they said they caught the dude U.S. forces declined to comment and then we learned that it wasn't really al-Baghdadi.

So, again, we hope that he's really been captured this time. Especially give that just today his group was probably responsible for the killing of over 70 Iraqis and just a few days ago an audio message of al-Baghdadi was released in which he plead for Muslims to develop nuclear weapons.

AP:

Iraqi state television quoted military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi as saying al-Baghdadi was arrested in Baghdad. Security officials also told The Associated Press that he was captured....

U.S. officials could not immediately confirm the arrest.

Thanks to Howie.

UPDATE: Ed over at Hot Air has more commentary.

A video which claims to show Taliban troops in Pakistan's Swat valley murdering men accused of being "spies" for the government and the U.S. has emerged. It's really horrible and the only people who should watch it are Taliban sympathizers.

You'd think I'd be immune to the effects of these kind of snuff videos by now, but I'm not. The horror of Islamists beheading their victims in accordance with Islamic law for alleged "crimes" never really goes away.

So, if you think the Taliban are just a bunch of freedom fighters, watch this video.

If you think Islamic law is some kind of noble endeavor, watch this video.

Or, if you just need to be reminded of how brutal our enemies are, watch this video.

The truth is that bad things happen in war. Even our own troops sometimes make tragic mistakes and on rare occasions the occasional bad apple does something horrible.

But for Taliban apologists let me remind you of two key differences.

First, we do not produce these kinds of videos as badges of honor. You do. We are embarrassed and horrified when we learn that any of our soldiers ever operate outside the rules of war. Remember Abu Ghraib? As a nation, we were ashamed.

Second, we prosecute soldiers who murder prisoners while you celebrate them.

Like the Nazis and Communists before you, you are a bunch of barbarians. The sooner you are all dead, the sooner the world can rest.

Now, let me say something about the video. The video is new to me (I think). It shows a gang slowly sawing off the heads of several bound victims on a road. The second half is old footage of a young boy murdering a man as his Taliban mentors egg him on.

What is odd about the video is that during the opening credits the symbol of the al-Shabaab terrorist organization is shown. The al-Shabaab are in Somalia, not Pakistan or Afghanistan, and those doing the murdering in the video are clearly not from Africa. So, why the al-Shabaab symbol? It makes zero sense to me.

UPDATE: Here's a vidcap of the al-Shabaab logo in the video. The "total Video Converter" watermark is in the original video.

Also, does any one recognize the second logo?

UPDATE: Here's the second logo that appears

Here's the video.

WARNING: This video contains actual footage of our enemies murdering their victims by beheading them with knives. Contrary to what their apologists say beheading is not a quick way to die.

Proceed at your own risk.

v
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Last chance to bail.

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Original video here via Islamization watch.

At Jawa Report our policy has been not to do blogwars or takes sides in the disputes of other blogs.

But then we noticed this article at the Washington Independent. And we thought WTF? Maybe our policy is not, you know, blog whorish enough?

So Dr. Rusty Shackleford immediately declared jihad against Mike Pechar.

Pechar responded and I quote,

Wait a minute. For a blog war, doesn't some strong disagreement have to exist? I'm not aware of any at the moment.

To which Rusty said,

Doesn't matter. We need the hits.

THE HITS!

Then this morning I was just surfing the net and I came across this post by Iowa Hawk. Scroll through all those pics of incredible hot rods till you get to the image of the hot chick with giant boobies.

Seems harmless enough at first, but oh wait. As you can clearly see by following the links here and here, Jawa Report clearly discovered the hot chick with the giant boobies way way before Iowa Hawk. In fact it was I, Howie, who used paint to ad that awesome arrow thingy.

Well that seems like controversy enough for us and we hereby declare total and utter blog jihad on Iowa Hawk.

Our demands for blog peace are as follows.

1. 50,000 bushels of corn.

2. One big assed tractor tire.

3. One custom built giant hot rod sandcrawler, no wait 5 custom built giant hot rod sandcrawlers.

4. That Iowa immediately turn over the city of Ottumwa to our control, after which we will rename it Toche Station.

Surrender now Iowa Jedi, your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side!

(image of hot chick with giant boobies added below the fold for additional evidence and study)

Update: Er uh we're gonna need some sugar and yeast to go with that corn.

Hmmm, who's next IMAO maybe?

Astro-Turfing-R-Us is at it again.

Koz Kidz are using this line and asking others to use it as their sigs:

They tortured people to get false confessions to fraudulently justify our invading Iraq.

The reason I hope you'll do this is that finally we have one simple message that ties together the crimes of the Bush Administration in so clear a way that even low-information voters will get it.

Sampling of comments:

Perfect message, Seneca.
harsh interrogation my ass.
The GOP let innocent men die in order to let American soldiers die just so they could give good contract to Haliburton and impress daddy.

Democracy died after the 2000 election, and they're the ones who killed it. But for our sake -- for the sake of the people and our dead dream of democracy -- they were willing to pretend that they needed us on their side to send thousands of Americans off to die in a war with no end, steal our treasury, and, oh yeah, write all sorts of "memos" and "signing statements" that invalidate the Constitution. They were willing to pretend it was a democracy -- even if they had to lie, torture, and kill to do it. .................... We turn the country over to the cast of Hee Haw, of course they are going to ruin everything. Our environment, job market, economy, parks, and even our reputation as being a nation others could aspire to becoming. They burned it all to the ground. ................... I REALLY wanna have a beer with him. Just me and George in a locked room, with a couple of beers. Yeah. I even promise not to leave any marks touch him. Ok, I really DO promise not to touch him., and the door doesn't have to be locked. But the folks in the surrounding neighborhood might appreciate it if it was soundproofed, lol.

April 22, 2009

Dude, when even the normally nuanced and sympathetic MSM makes fun of your retarded jihadi magazine, you know you've done something wrong.

I'll remind readers that we broke the story about Samir Khan's Jihad Recollections magazine.

Point?

Had you been reading Jawa Report you would have known about the jihadi workout on April 6th.

Also, f*ck you Samir!

Oh, and Brachman continues to smack down another of the authors of Jihad Recollections here. In fact, should we expect you to be outing Abu Abdullah as-Sayf sometime soon, Jarret?

UPDATE: Image added because I don't think you realize just how gay* this is until you actually see it. And I mean flaming.

*I actually feel bad calling Ibn al-Mubarak, the author of this particular article, a queerbag. Not so much because calling someone a fag dehumanizes homosexuals -- which it does, and that's why I feel slightly bad -- but because it humanizes terrorist scumbags like al-Mubarak too much to compare them to homesexuals.

But they hate being called gay almost as much as they fear the vagina, so apologies to the gay community but I think I'm going to continue to use the term as a pejorative in cases such as these.

I'd call them vermin but that's way too insulting to vermin, and not nearly as insulting to the jihadis.

Revolution Muslim co-author, student at Georgia State University, future teacher, and known terror supporter Alex Stewart -- who goes by "Al X" or "Lion Bite" online -- writes in to let me know that I got his image wrong the other day when we outed him.

He claims that the image we ran of a guy watching porn wasn't him, but a relative of his. Which, if true, means Alex was watching another man watch porn. Nothing gay about that.

So, my apologies to Alex and his porn loving relative. If you happen to meet his relative, who he calls the "Creole Cowboy" on his now defunct webpage, buy that guy a beer. He needs it. You would too if you were related to Al X.

Please don't harass Alex's relatives. They have no control over the complete douche that he's become.

I have no way to verify what Alex really looks like, but he sends in these pics. Neither of them are really good and both of them kind of obfuscate his face. If you happen to see Alex around the campus of Georgia State University, or maybe shooting his mouth off at a street dawah at the Five Points MARTA station with the rest of the lunatics, do us a favor and snap a photo.

Update on AlQaeda Kidnaps Six Westerners (Identified: 2 Canadians, 1 Brit, 1 German, 2 Swiss)

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has released four hostages but unfortunately the Brit and other Swiss(male) is still being held. The article doesn't state if monies or demands were met.

Al-Qaeda's North African[AQIM] branch on Wednesday released in Mali two Canadian diplomats, a German and a Swiss tourist kidnapped several months ago, but held on to two other Europeans.

The kidnappers released Robert Fowler, UN special envoy to Niger and his assistant Louis Gay, who were snatched in December last year in Niger and two female tourists out of a group of four nabbed in January.

"Four of the six hostages were released," said a security source in the northern town of Gao, speaking on condition of anonymity[...]

Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb has said it intended to unify armed Islamist groups in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco as well as emerging groups in countries bordering the Sahara.

They include Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea.

The North African branch has raised concerns among Western countries after claiming a series of deadly suicide bombings in Algeria and other attacks in the region as well as several kidnappings.

Hillary was questioned on Dick Cheney's request to release all torture enhanced interrogation memos. As usual, she dissed him as she has done in the past.

Wow, this guy could be luckier than this soldier. The Sun

HERO Colour Sergeant Alan Dennis is the man the Taliban just can’t kill — after surviving being blown up for a SECOND time.

Two years ago the career soldier escaped from the wreckage of his Land Rover in a roadside bomb attack that claimed the life of a comrade.

Now he has cheated death again in Afghanistan following a grenade attack.

Once again miracle man Alan,35, was hurled into the air — landing under rubble in a trench.

But despite arm injures he recovered to return fire on the enemy and lead his men to safety.[...]

A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) blew up in front of him sending him flying through the air and slamming him down into a trench buried under rubble.

Undeterred by what he thought was a broken arm, and under a constant hail of bullets, he grabbed his rifle and returned fire until his men were safe.

The leader of the al Qaeda front group known as The Islamic State of Losers* has released an audio message in which he pleads for Muslims to develop WMD:

“Muslim scientists must do their utmost in order to develop WMDs that would act as an element of deterrence in the hands of the mujahideen,” al Muhajir said. “Today the mujahideen are in desperate need of chemical, biological, electronic, and even nuclear weapons, in order to preserve the gains that they’ve achieved, and the ones that are yet to come God willing,” he added. He also emphasized the need to develop aviation and other capabilities.

Answering a question about U.S. reports suggesting that al Qaeda has been pushed out of Iraq, al Muhajir said that such claims by the Americans have always had great influence on the militants’ steadfastness and their willingness to fight, and pledged that neither him nor his men would ever leave Iraq until they’ve accomplished their mission or died in the process. “By God, if there was only one bullet left in Iraq, I would not leave until I’ve fired it, and blown off my suicide belt into the nearest troops gathering,” al Muhajir said.

Thanks to the bros.

*Actually, they are the Islamic State of Iraq. We call them the Islamic State of Losers because the group's media arm, al Furqan, spent a great deal of time calling us the United States of Losers in an effort to portray US forces in Iraq as defeated. Who's laughing now, bitches?

Director Blue has plain text of the memos revealing just what those harsh interrogation techniques gave us.

Janet Napolitano Blames Entry Of 9/11 Hijackers On.....Canada

The furor began when Napolitano was asked to clarify statements she had made about equal treatment for the Mexican and Canadian borders, despite the fact that a flood of illegal immigrants and a massive drug war are two serious issues on the southern border.

"Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn't have a drug war going on, it didn't have 6,000 homicides that were drug-related last year," she said.

"Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there."

When asked if she was referring to the 9-11 terrorists, Napolitano added: "Not just those but others as well."

Update: From Hey Asshole! (kinda fun linking to a blog name like that..heh): Canada Chides U.S. For Remarks On 9/11

Headline reads

'Cowardly' troops refuse Afghan fight'

When asked by the Britons to attack Afghan rebels, the commander of a special operations unit (SOG) said "we're not going to, it's dangerous,'' then ordered his men to get in trucks and return to the base.

On another occasion, an SOG commander decided that the task the Britons had set ran counter to the unit's mission.

Yet another time, a commander said he could not help as his soldiers were on vacation.

"I find it hard to recover from the news I get about this unit. It harms the reputation of the army,'' Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova told the daily.

Some on the Left claim that Jews wrap themselves in the Holocaust as a blanket of perpetual victimhood which insulates them from criticism.

But as Sara notes in her essay about her grandmother and Holocaust Remembrance Day, those that survived the Nazi genocide moved on with their lives to become productive citizens. The same can be said about many Palestinians displaced by the wars that ensued after the founding of the state of Israel -- many of whom emigrated and moved on becoming Americans, Canadians, etc.

But unfortunately generation after generation of Palestinians have been raised to think of themselves as "refugees" and as helpless victims of some vast Jewish conspiracy. The cult of victimhood is on display at Durban II.

I would tell Arabs of the Palestinian diaspora to grow up, but I don't think that would do much good. Most living in the U.S. have grown up and go about their daily lives as productive citizens. Palestinians living here are as blessed as any number of dozens of ethnic groups that came to this country under less than pleasant circumstances. The potato famine was no picnic, either.

The real victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict are Palestinians living in Arab countries. The best thing the international community could do for them would be to take away their special "refugee" status so they could get past their victimhood and start acting like adults. But many Arab countries don't want this to happen as the Palestinian issue gives them cover for a plethora of abuses against their own populations.

If Palestinians are, indeed, victims, then the international community has identified the wrong perpetrators. The real culprits here are other Arabs. But I doubt if Durban II will condemn Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria for their "racist" policies of treating the grandchildren of real refugees from Palestine as anything other than second-class citizens.

Can one be pro-legalization of marijuana and yet anti-hippie? Because if you can, count me in.

These stoners bother me, and yet I'm right there with them on the grounds that stupid people ought to be allowed to do stupid things.

It's called freedom.

This sucks:

[...]Now, field officers are more careful. They want guidance from headquarters. They need legal advice. I'm told that in the case of an al-Qaeda suspect seized in Iraq several weeks ago, the CIA didn't even try to interrogate him. The agency handed him over to the U.S. military.

Lucky son of a gun. Definitely had his guardian angel by him that day. Telegraph

When a Taliban bullet pierced his helmet and sent him flying from his post, comrades thought Private Leon Wilson was dead.

Lying on the ground with his eyes closed, they feared the 32-year-old machine gunner had been shot straight through the head.[...]

Incredibly the sniper's bullet had missed his head by just 2mm and after just an hour recovering from his amazing escape he was back manning his machine gun - in a borrowed helmet.

The astonishing incident happened as the soldier his comrades were on an operation with the Afghan National Army in Helmand province on April 10.

They came under fire from the Taliban and Pte Wilson set up his machine gun on the roof of a compound to engage the enemy.

Too good to leave in comments on this post.

Listen to Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" while reading, or sing along with JihadGene's rendition:

I love Somali Pirates so much I did this just for them...
Remember that song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits? You know...I want my MTV and all of that? Sure ya do! So I wrote this here song through the sand-filled eyes of Iranian Freedom Fighters (AKA: terrorists) Abdul and Mohammad, on location (redeployed) in Iraq...

We got to do the will of Allah
Custom weapons deliveries
We got to kill Allah's agitators
We got to clean these R.P.G.'s

We got to do the will of Allah
Custom weapons deliveries
We got to kill Allah's agitators
We got to clean these R.P.G.'s

(*Mohammad sings to Abdul)

Look at that, look at that
I should have learned to talk like a pirate
I should have learned to dance a jig
Look at that punk-ass pirate, grinnin at the cameras
While we sweat our balls off, here...chewin on figs
And Obama's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Shakin' hands like a fuckin chimpanzee (Oooo...I said chimpanzee)
Oh, that ain't working, that's the way you do it
Get your power from ACORN and your bailouts for free (not free for taxpayers)

(*Abdul busts-up and joins Mohammad in song)

We got to do the will of Allah
Custom weapons deliveries
We got to kill Allah's agitators
We got to clean these R.P.G.'s

Listen here
Now that ain't working, that's the way you do it
You play the Pirate on the NBC
That ain't working, that's the way you do it
Food for nothing and your cell (jail) for free
Clothing for nothing and running water for free

Get your prayer mat for nothing, get your Korans for free
Clean sheets for nothing, pen & paper for free

Look at that, look at that
Get your TV for nothing, get your basketball for free
(I want to, I want to, I want to be Somali)
Law library for nothing and the ACLU to help you get out for free

Easy, easy

That ain't working

JihadGene

Why? Their judicial system has been so politicized that the ruling party tries to persecute its political opponents for opposing Chavez - all "for the people," of course.

“The fundamental problem is that there’s no credibility in the judicial system, which is a system that’s been completely politicized,” Leopoldo Lopez, a member of Rosales’s Un Nuevo Tiempo party and former mayor of the Caracas borough of Chacao, said in a telephone interview. “This is retaliation and selective repression.”

Opposition leaders say Rosales’s case stems from Chavez’s reaction to his opponents winning elections in the country’s biggest cities and states in November, when Rosales took the mayor’s office in Maracaibo, the country’s second-biggest city. In addition to Rosales, former Defense Minister Raul Baduel, who turned on Chavez in 2007, has been detained in connection with a corruption probe, prosecutors said.

They Lied! They Lied to Pakistan!

Via CNN:ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Taliban militants who implemented Islamic law in Pakistan's violence-plagued Swat Valley last week have now taken control of a neighboring district.

Control of the Buner district brings the Taliban closer to the capital, Islamabad, than they have been since they started their insurgency. Islamabad is 60 miles (96 km) from the district.

"Our strength is in the hundreds," said Moulana Mohammad Khalil, as heavily armed men openly patrolled the roads in pickup trucks, singing Islamic anthems.

The militants had taken control of the area to ensure that Islamic law, or sharia, is properly imposed, Khalil said.

The government called the advance into Buner a breach of a recently-signed peace agreement.

This places the Taliban within 60 miles of Islamabad. Better start practicing using the term, "The Islamic State of Pakistan" with er uh Nukes.

I just had this thought about Nukes on ships leaving the Pakistani ports for er uh where ever the Taliban and al-Qaeda want them to go boom.

Scary.

The Department of Defense will continue to issue Global War on Terrorism medals to servicemembers, despite a debate within the Obama administration over whether the phrase "war on terror" should even be uttered by U.S. officials.

Someone has some 'splainin to do...

Via MSNBC and NY TIMES

WASHINGTON - President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.

“High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,” Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday.

Admiral Blair sent his memo on the same day the administration publicly released secret Bush administration legal memos authorizing the use of interrogation methods that the Obama White House has deemed to be illegal torture. Among other things, the Bush administration memos revealed that two captured Qaeda operatives were subjected to a form of near-drowning known as waterboarding a total of 266 times

Admiral Blair’s assessment that the interrogation methods did produce important information was deleted from a condensed version of his memo released to the media last Thursday. Also deleted was a line in which he empathized with his predecessors who originally approved some of the harsh tactics after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I like to think I would not have approved those methods in the past,” he wrote, “but I do not fault those who made the decisions at that time, and I will absolutely defend those who carried out the interrogations within the orders they were given.”

"The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means,” Admiral Blair said in a written statement issued last night. “The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

Protect and defend.

April 21, 2009

If I understand this correctly the bill for war funding has a added section for monies to close GITMO. Why in the hell is that in there?

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- President Barack Obama came under fire Tuesday for including $80 million to close Guantanamo in a massive funding request to fight America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The $83.4 billion request to Congress was submitted on April 9, when lawmakers were on break over the Easter holidays. Tucked into the 99-page bill were a few paragraphs about Guantanamo - including a request for funds for foreign countries that accept prisoners. U.S. efforts to have other countries take in detainees have largely been a flop - stoking fears the men will end up in America.

"The administration needs to tell the American people what it plans to do with these men if they close Guantanamo," U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor Tuesday. He pointed out that two years ago the Senate voted 94-3 against sending detainees to the U.S

Foreign countries have thus far been unwilling to take them in any significant numbers. And even if countries were willing to take them, there's an increasing probability that some of these murderers would return to the battlefield," he said.

Military Families United, a military family advocacy organization, predicted the inclusion of money to close Guantanamo in the war-funding request "will significantly delay the passage of this legislation and delay our troops from getting the funding they need and deserve."

"Funding for our troops cannot be made contingent on funding for an unrelated and politically divisive issue like the closure of Guantanamo Bay," the group said.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said Republicans are looking at ways to strip the Guantanamo money from the funding bill. There is no move afoot to block the entire funding bill because "this is money for our troops," Stewart said.

Apparently they don't want to be accused of discrimination.

We blow up boys schools too.

Never again...

The State of Israel paused on Monday night at 8 p.m. to remember the six million Jews who perished from 1933-1945, as the nation marked the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The state ceremony ushering-in the 24-hour commemoration began after sunset at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in the capital.

Sorry Perez Hilton was such a arsehole. Kinda hard to compete with a judge that hates women. He wanted to be one but got an outtie instead.

Arsehole Perez Hilton video (Excuse me Perez, she didn't get booed)

Fear the Reaper..... and data mining but mostly the Reaper.

Via Strategy Page

April 21, 2009: Uncertainty is a powerful weapon. In the Pakistani tribal territories, near the Afghan border, Taliban and al Qaeda leaders continue a seemingly futile hunt for the spies who are telling the Americans where the big shots are. In less than a year, over 40 Hellfire missiles, launched from Predator and Reaper UAVs, have wiped out a large (about a third) chunk of the terrorist leadership. In the trade, this is known as a "decapitation" (just kill the leadership) strategy.
In response, the Taliban (whose leaders are now being targeted at well) and al Qaeda have seized and executed over a hundred local men (and a few women), for being American spies. Most of these victims were innocent. They were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and looked suspicious to the wrong people.

Navel gazing warning: this post is about blogging and how much money bloggers are paid, so may not be of intense interest to those outside the blogosphere. I actually feel I need to apologize for this in advance since it's inside baseball and I wouldn't have written anything about it at all if Joy McCann hadn't emailed the article. Proceed at your own caution.

----

Um, when do I get my share of that crazy blog money?

Because, according to this Wall Street Journal article a blogger with 100,000 hits a month should be making in the range of 75k a year. The Jawa Report gets over 100,000 hits every 3 - 4 days. It averages out to about 750,000 hits a month or about 9 million hits a year.

So by that math I should be making like $500,000 a year from this thing.

I actually felt kind of guilty for making some money last year from blogging since so much of the content of the Jawa is written by others. Pajamas Media, I thought, was a pretty sweet deal. But it was nowhere near what it needed to be for me to quit my day job.

Seriously, nowhere even close. Not even in the ballpark. Think minimum wage.

And if it wasn't for the rest of the crew at the Jawa Report I wouldn't have even made that. I'm eternally grateful for their support.

The money I make from the blog goes exclusively to one thing: the keep Mrs. Shackleford happy fund.

It's not much, but it's been enough to keep her ire at bay while I spend endless hours blogging. Harder to justify has been the endless hours I spend on the counter-cyberjihad, most of which I don't print publicly on these pages. If any one can think of a way to make money from that, let me know.

In fact, with the demise of Pajamas Media and the steady, if not meager, paycheck I was getting from them I have been seriously thinking of quitting blogging altogether. I probably would, too, if I wasn't addicted to it.

Blogging, the crack of the internet.

So, I concur with Joy, Stacey, The Anchoress, and James: the study sucks, and if it doesn't we are getting royally screwed.

...Scroll down for update....
Just a small sampling:

PWW.org

Somali pirates began as volunteer coast guard

Time

Why New York Is No Place to Try Somali Pirates

UPI

Mom says suspected pirate 'only 16'

CBS

Somali Pirate Brainwashed, Mom Says

Update: Huffpo

Why We Don't Condemn Our Pirates

Video Huff and Puff linked to:

Naturally Huff and Puff would heart these pirates

h/t Jawa reader for Huffpo link.

Via CNS

- The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles. According to the previously classified May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that was released by President Barack Obama last week, the thwarted attack -- which KSM called the “Second Wave”-- planned “ ‘to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.”

This 10 fold increase in pirate attacks off Somalia has nothing to do with this statement from al Qaida...

"Increase your strikes against the crusaders at sea and in Djibouti."

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Pirate attacks off Somalia jumped tenfold in the first three months of 2009 compared to last year, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday, urging foreign navies to maintain their patrols.

The International Maritime Bureau?s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre said that worldwide, incidents of high-seas piracy almost doubled in the first quarter of 2009, from 53 to 102.

"The increase in the first quarter of 2009 is due almost entirely to increased Somali pirate activity off the Gulf of Aden and east coast of Somalia," it said, adding that attacks there rose from six to 61.[...]

A total of 178 crew were taken hostage, two were killed, nine were injured, and five kidnapped.

"In the majority of incidents, the attackers were heavily armed with guns or knives. Violence against crew members continues to increase," it said.

In Anti-semitism against Holocaust survivors.

Kaleidoscopic irony from the UN’s Jew-bash bash in Geneva, as the world’s most famous Holocaust survivor suffers the indignity of analogy to the people who murdered his family courtesy of the world’s most famous Holocaust denier and his screeching goons — on Hitler’s birthday

Q. So what did Elie Wiesel do to deserve such treatment at a UN meeting on tolerance?

A. Survive.

US officials have revealed that hackers were able to breach Joint Strike Fighter program and steal sensitive top secret information. The stolen information could be used by foreign powers in order to better defend against the F-35. The cyberattack is suspected of originating from China, but Chinese officials deny the accusations. More at ROA

Looks like Sammy finally found his true love.

Awwwww.

....Scroll down for update....
I am not surprised by this. When AJ Eric Holder spoke about no charges will be taken against those involved in the interrogations, he ended his sentence - "as long as they followed the letter of the law". I may have missed it but I haven't seen any discussion in regards to how he ended his sentence.

Obama has said he doesn't support charging CIA agents and interrogators who took part in waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, acting on advice from superiors that such practices were legal. But he also said that it is up to the attorney general whether to prosecute Bush administration lawyers who wrote the memos approving these tactics.

This whole mess detracts from what the current administrations intentions should be - stopping further terrorist attacks against us. It is time Obama and his administration stop their BDS and start protecting us. God forbid if we are hit again it will be on Obama's watch. He won't be able to blame Bush, though I imagine he will try, for that.

George Soros funded organization Moveon.org has joined others in demanding a special prosecutor. Note, site requires nose plugs.

Also, digg:
Angryvoters.org

Update: Cheney's FNC interview video below fold.

"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort," Mr Cheney said. "

http://antiimpmedia.wordpress.com/

If the banner doesn't tell you just what this website is about, then maybe this quote will help.

Terrorism nowadays is something bad because it lost its real meaning as terrorism against the aggressors. It has become bad because it turned into an aggression against innocent civilians. According to the International law, what the Zionist occupation does is the real terrorism, but what the Palestinian people do to address this Zionist terrorism is the legal resistance. If they call our resistance terrorism, it is good terrorism, then.

Their fave group judging by the main links on the sidebar start with the al-Rashadeen Army. See here and here for background.

Also featured on the site are links to Sniper videos against our troops in Iraq

The site is hosted by US based Wordpress. Their TOS is here. Included are the following no nos

advocates illegal activity or discusses an intent to commit an illegal act;

threatens or abuses others, libels, defames, invades privacy, stalks, is obscene, pornographic, racist, abusive, harassing, threatening or offensive.

violates any law or may be considered to violate any law

contains hyper-links to other sites that contain content that falls within the descriptions set forth above

You can complain to M@wordpress.org

Enjoy your stay here Abdiwali, it will probably be a long one. But hey at least we'll feed ya. The US federal pen will probably be an improvement over your home in Somalia. Cept maybe for the raping. But I'm sure you'll adapt.

Image of Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse below the fold.

Heh...

Via Yahoo News: WASHINGTON – For the first time, an accused domestic terrorist is being added to the FBI's list of "Most Wanted" terror suspects.

Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist from Berkeley, Calif., is wanted for the 2003 bombings of two corporate offices in California.

Authorities describe San Diego as an animal rights activist who turned to bomb attacks and say he has tattoo that proclaims, "It only takes a spark."

Good News: Executives from Twitter, Google, YouTube, and Wordpress are "in Iraq to help country use new media."

Bad News: Wordpress still most popular blogging platform and free hosting service for terrorists and their supporters. In fact, Wordpress is now the platform of choice for al Qaeda's Somali affiliate, the al-Shabaab (no link on purpose).

And the Google owned YouTube continues to be a major distribution node for terrorist produced media.

Advice: How about cleaning up your own houses before lecturing Iraqis about how awesome technology is?

Also, given that much of the social networking, blogging, and YouTubing coming out of the Middle East is full of vile antisemetism, anti-Americanism, and pro-Islamist sentiment, why would we want to help them become more proficient at using these tools?

Thanks to Ronin.

UPDATE: Mark tells me that the poster was made by The Sniper, a regular Jawa reader. Cool beans.

I guess the Hamas leadership -- located in Damascus and not in Gaza -- has to do something with their loads of money, free time, and multiple mistresses:

Maid's costumes, musicial negligee and remote-controlled underpants: You'd be surprised what you can find in a Damascus market. Syrian underwear is now so famous that it is exported throughout the Middle East -- and Palestinian women, reportedly, have the wildest taste....

"Most of them are religious and wear veils and long coats," says Abu Adnan, who sells lingerie a few stores further along. It's a tradition that a Syrian bride brings a whole suitcase full of underwear when she gets married, he explains, adding that the new popularity of sexy underwear has a practical application.

"The mothers believe their son-in-law will be less interested in other women if his wife surprises him with more and more new gimmicks at home," he says. In a culture where there is always the danger that the man may find a second or third wife for himself, wives want to make sure their husband stays loyal to them, Abu Adnan speculates. Families spend up to $1,000 on the clothes. "There should be at least 30 sets, if the parents of the bride don't want to be seen as stingy."

I say kind of because, superficially speaking -- put on the vibrating undies under that veil and make me a sammich!

Plus, never pass up an opportunity to rerun that pic of terror supporting cleric Omar Bakri Mohammad's stripper daughter, Yasmin Fastok.

April 20, 2009

This agreement between the Taliban in Swat and Pakistan is going so well, don't you think? The Taliban are already pushing into the neighboring districts. Their goal? All of Pakistan and its looking more and more like they'll get it.

Via Yahoo News:MINGORA, Pakistan – Pakistan was trying to end bloodshed when it let the idyllic Swat Valley fall under Islamic law last week. Instead, it has emboldened the Taliban to extend a hand to militants, including Osama bin Laden.

The local spokesman for the Taliban, which control the valley, told The Associated Press he'd welcome militants bent on battling U.S. troops and their Arab allies if they want to settle there.

"Osama can come here. Sure, like a brother they can stay anywhere they want," Muslim Khan said in a two-hour interview Friday, his first with a foreign journalist since Islamic law was imposed. "Yes, we will help them and protect them."

The Iranian military frantically preparing for the day when those caught shoplifting on more than one occasion will have to fend off the forces of The Great Satan.

Fear the feet!

Seriously, this has to be right up there with flaming hoop jumping in the annals of military skills unlikely to see actually combat usage.

Frank Lindh, the father of the man commonly known as the American Taliban, spoke to Lecturer Richard Flynn's English 1B classes in a teleconference on Thursday morning.

Poor Johnny Jihad, he failed to martyr himself. Now he is stuck getting his butt poked in prison.

http://www.youtube.com/user/shaheedjhangvi

It was nice of you to try to help out Sammy but....

Sometimes that may draw er uh unwanted attention.

In fact Smackdown crew was finished with you before I even asked. The force is strong with them.

Don't worry Jawas, plenty left for you.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ajovyna

Has Zawahiri's new video up if you've not seen it yet. Take few minutes to give it a once over and then give him a good smacking.

Hotbead:

The Obama administration is watching more than just pirates in Somalia. Officials have been tracking a Somali terrorist group and are weighing whether to strike some of its training camps. The fear is that the group, al-Shabab, could join forces with al-Qaida[?] and target the U.S

A senior government official tells NPR that because the U.S. military is worried about al-Shabab, all options are on the table — including a military strike. The official said the most likely scenario would be an attack from the air, not boots on the ground.

Until now, the group has concentrated its efforts in Somalia, but officials, including National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter, worry about al-Shabab's future intentions.

"As a general matter, the focus has remained in Somalia. But I am not in a business where I am willing to bet the farm that it will remain that way," Leiter said in a speech before the Aspen Institute earlier this month.

Further in the article the author makes dangerous assumptions:

The State Department put al-Shabab on its list of terrorist organizations last year. Some critics say the listing ended up giving the group prestige it didn't deserve.

Al-Shabab means "The Youth" in Arabic, and in many ways, that describes the militia perfectly. The members are young and portray themselves as a kind of jihadi hip. The recruiters who try to convince new soldiers to come into the fold look like young men who have just barely entered their teens, and the group's recruitment videos are filled with hip-hop music.[One video so far]

That raises another problem for U.S. planners mulling a military strike: If American citizens are on the ground, could they carry out a military attack? Killing American teenagers from Minneapolis could be a political nightmare.

h/t Weasel zippers

(Butler County, Ohio) A 37-year-old marketing teacher and cheerleading coach at Butler Tech, Lori Epperson, resigned her position last Thursday after being investigated for taking four Edgewood High School cheerleaders to a gay male strip club in Dayton.

Butler Tech spokesman, Bill Solazzo, said the female students were all 17 or 18 years old.

According to Solazzo, the girls -- all cheerleaders at Edgewood High School -- had approached the teacher about the strip club idea.

The girls were students in Epperson's marketing class offered in the Edgewood schools through the Butler Tech program. Epperson also previously served as a coach for the district's eighth-grade cheerleaders.

Is Ace writing for Reuters these days? Because my headline isn't that far off of the one Reuters used:

Crackdown on al Qaeda hits Algeria's potato crop

The gist of the story being that since AQIM uses a lot of fertilizer bombs the Algerian government has imposed strict controls leading to a price increase which, in turn, means less fertilizer used on the potato crop.

Also, less ammonium nitrate based bombs.

Heartache.

Let them go organic and eat arugula!

(Islamabad, Pakistan) Say goodbye, the secular court system in Pakistan looks to be going away.

Pakistani pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad demanded the government abolish conventional justice in the northwestern Malakand area by April 23, replacing it with Islamic courts, or face a new round of protests.

“All the courts including the Supreme Court are not Islamic,” Rizwanullah Farooq, Muhammad’s son, said by telephone today, speaking on behalf of his father. “We don’t want these judges and we do not recognize them as they are preachers of unholy laws.”

Meet the rifle that killed 3 Somali pirates.

Hey ladies. You're welcome.

Prairie Pundit has the details here.

Zawahri warned that Mr. Obama's "surge" of troops to Afghanistan will only make things worse. “What Obama is seeking to do by increasing the U.S. forces in Afghanistan and continuing to bomb Pakistan will only add more fuel to the fire and expose your soldiers to more killings and injuries."

"What Obama has claimed about negotiating with moderate Taliban is an illusion that he is fooling you or himself with,” added bin Laden's deputy.

We have the video. If anyone actually needs/wants this thing, email Howie. I doubt I'll upload this one isn't very useful for English speakers.

Video posted because Patterico said so.

Ah but wait, besides the reporter thinking "Lincoln" is a state I also noticed she scolds the protester for getting a "$400 dollar credit" for his two year old. besides the nasty way she says "two-year-old", she must have forgotten that the $400 dollar credit is a Boooosh policy. So she must approve of the Booosh tax cuts.

Which by the way if you can decipher Larry Summers' double speak here. Obama will let the Bush tax cuts expire. Thus eliminating that nice little $400 dollar tax credit.

Via MTP: DR. SUMMERS: I think he does. I think he does, David, and, you know, I think the record speaks for itself. What the president's proposed is a tax cut for 95 percent of all Americans. You know, I don't know that much about politics, but I've been surprised by these TEA parties a bit. The president is the one who's proposing cutting taxes on virtually all Americans, so I'm not sure who these TEA parties see as being King George.

MR. GREGORY: But he is raising taxes as well. He's allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire and he wants to increase the marginal rates on, on upper-income Americans.

DR. SUMMERS: Well, let--I think, I think one, I think one wants to distinguish--respectfully, David--very sharply between a new piece of legislation that raises taxes and simply allowing the laws that were signed into place when the Bush administration was in power and when there was a Republican majority in both houses, simply allowing those laws to play out. Yes, the president does believe that it's right to let those laws play out and when the tax cuts expire to allow them to expire, given the magnitude of the debt burdens that, that we face. That seems to him and I think to most Americans to be the right judgment, rather than enabling a benefit that only goes to about 1 percent of the population to leave the children of 100 percent of Americans facing a much larger debt burden.

MR. GREGORY: But, but just to be clear, if there's a tax cut that expires, taxes go up. Might--you know, a lot of Americans' taxes will go up.

DR. SUMMERS: Well, not a lot of Americans. No Americans whose incomes are under $250,000, actually, David. And way under 5 percent of Americans will actually see their tax, will see their taxes go up. And when they go up.... blah blah blah....

We may have been Born at night Mr. Summers, but not last night.

April 19, 2009

Unhealthy & damaging to Obama of course:

Tea party protest is getting to them...heh

Samir Khan aka Inshallahshaheed aka Abu Risaas, aka Abu Jabbal, aka Abu H***n is jumping for joy over this.

Kirkuk, Iraq: Iraqi security forces have arrested four children who were recruited by Al Qaeda to carry out suicide attacks in and around the northern city of Kirkuk, an army general said yesterday.

“Special forces units have arrested an organisation of children consisting of four individuals under the age of 14 who call themselves the ‘Birds of Paradise’,” General Abdelamir Al Zaidi said.

“The group relies on children and is connected to Al Qaeda. It works to recruit children and young people to carry out suicide attacks and to aid the terrorist groups in detonating roadside bombs,” he said.

The name of the group likely comes from the traditional Islamic belief that when children die they become birds in paradise.

Samir Khan aka Inshallahshaheed aka Abu Risaas, aka Abu Jabbal, aka Abu H****n is such a propagandist. He has been spreading this lie for a long time. Besides a terrorist propagandist, Samir Khan is a child abuser and he is proud of it.

I don't care what kind of noise you're reading right now. You know, Tea party. , Hugo, whatever. It don't matter.

This is the story that is going to eventually GRAB YOU BY THE BALLS AND SHAKE YOU AND YOUR WALLET DRY!

The Environmental Protection Agency suggested Friday that greenhouse gas emissions — including carbon dioxide — endanger human health and welfare. The proposed finding opens the door to new regulations on myriad activities.

WE'RE DOOMED!

Hide it and pretend it never happened I suppose except for one thing. Others have uploaded it and posted at YouTube:

Patterico: I’m sick of people knocking embarrassing videos off YouTube with bogus copyright violation claims.

The latest culprit is CNN, a network that was recently embarrassed by a video of reporter Susan Roesgen cutting off tea-party protestors in Chicago, and assailing them with silly liberal talking points. The blog Founding Bloggers showed up on scene and caught her in further arguments with angry citizens who noted her biased coverage. I posted the Founding Bloggers video on Thursday.

But guess what happens when you click on it now?

More from Founding Bloggers

From Andrew Walden@FPM

“The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.” – Saul Alinsky

For years, the "9/11 Truth" movement -- which claimed George W. Bush knew about, or even perpetrated, the 9/11 attack -- enjoyed a friendly home in the far-Left's netroots. As the netroots consolidated their grip on the Democratic Party, "troothers"were left behind. Now, many of the same personalities are behind a movement demanding to see Barack Obama's birth certificate, a coalition in which a surprising group of leftists rub elbows with LaRouchies, Klansmen, Holocaust deniers, and discredited conspiracy theorists of all stripes.

After years of quietly tolerating the troothers in their ranks, Democrats changed tack as the 2008 election season began. On October 19, 2007, Democrat Bill Maher chose to take demonstrative action -- famously launching himself at a gaggle of troothers heckling from the audience of his TV show shouting “out, out, out!” Four days later Bill Clinton challenged troother hecklers, saying, “An inside job? How dare you. How dare you. It was not an inside job.”

Their twin demonstrations worked as intended. Troothers walked away from the Democrats and went to the presidential campaign most friendly to them—that of Texas Republican Ron Paul. (An October 20 article posted on InfoWars even denounced Maher as “an apologist and advocate for the criminal cabal.”) With two short strokes the Democrats not only removed an albatross from their neck but hung it on the other party.

It didn’t take long for the word to get to the troother rank-and-file. As if ordered by Clinton and Maher, Pennsylvania Democrat Phil Berg, a former deputy attorney general, dismantled his website www.911forthetruth.com in October 2007. (It is now available only on the Wayback machine.) Berg is now a leading Obama ‘birther’ who has filed several bogus lawsuits challenging Obama’s eligibility even as he quietly pursues conspiracy-related 9/11 litigation.

Update: I am not trying to diss anyone, just linking to a article I felt worth a read. It is up to you if you want to believe the birth thing, but remember 9/11 troofers have joined you in this.

This is the last I will say on this subject.

Robert@Jihad Watch has background on this cleric:
Islamic cleric who participated in "Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace" calls for extermination of Jews

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist attack on April 19, 1995 aimed at the U.S. government in which the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, an office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was bombed. The attack claimed 168 lives and left over 800 people injured. It was the largest terrorist attack on American soil in history before the September 11 attacks. It remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history.

Stand Together Video/song by Jami Smith

Virtual tour of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

Those who were killed

Gabriel Malor@Ace's reflects on his personal experience

Unforgettable image:

April 18, 2009

Looks like someone finally got the message that it might be in our best interest to take Taliban recruiters off the web. First comment: I'll believe it when I see it. Second comment: it's not nearly as difficult as the naysayers claim it is.

It is difficult for me to keep terrorists off the internet, but not nearly as big an order for a government that spends tens of thousands of dollars on a single bomb.

Since I've spent the past five years advocating this, it probably wouldn't surprise long time readers to know that I've already drawn up plans for exactly this sort of thing. In my mind you could get rid of 80% of the traffic terrorist websites see with less than a dozen full time tech savvy staff using off the shelf technology and all within a single week.

Hey Pentagon: call me.

For those that argue that the endeavor is a bit like whack-a-mole, you're right.

You know what is also a lot like whack-a-mole? Killing terrorists.

And it's actually a lot less like whack-a-mole than you imagine. When we pressure webhosts to take down terrorist websites, that's a lot like whack-a-mole.

But that's not what we're talking about here, is it? We're talking about an organized effort by people with power. Like, say, the power to come up with a seemingly harmless piece of data which might be planted in an SQL file? (Hint hint)

And a government that has the power to seize a drug dealer's Ferrari certainly shouldn't find it that difficult to seize domain names.

Also, it seems that some over at Huffpo have their panties all up in a wad at the *shock* *horror* idea that we might actually censor our enemies.

Which just goes to show how morally retarded many in our nation have become.

So, if I follow the premise, it's okay to kill a member of the Taliban, but it's not okay to censor him?

Only a moral idiot would value our enemy's speech more than they value his life.

If you want to argue that the effects will be negligible and therefore it's just a waste of our time, that's an argument I'm willing to consider. The average member of the Taliban isn't recruited over the internet.

I would point out, however, that thousands of foreigners have made their way to the "jihad fields" of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Chechnya, and Somalia. While internet radicalization is not the only factor affecting this decision, one of the common threads we find among foreign fighters from Europe and the Middle East is that they have spent considerable time on the internet watching Salafi jihadi propaganda and in extremist chat rooms.

It's time that we began to treat cyberspace in the same way we treat physical space. Let us give terrorists no quarter in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Let us also give them no quarter in cyberspace.

Again, this is not an argument for taking down all terror related websites. These websites sometimes are valuable intelligence tools used to find and kill our enemies.

If the choice is between censoring our enemies or killing them, I'm all for the latter over the former. But more often then not it's not an either/or kind of choice.

Note to Pentagon: Here are the Taliban's main websites. Have fun.
http://toorabora.com/
http://alemarah1.org/

Family and friends of those affected by this are in my thoughts and prayers today.

On April 18, 1983, our friends, the Iranian Mullahs funded a Hezbollah suicide bomber. He attacked the US Embassy in Beirut and killed a total of 63 people.

Wiki:A total of 63 people were killed in the bombing: 32 Lebanese employees, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passersby.[3] Of the American dead, eight worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, including the CIA's top Middle East analyst and Near East director, Robert C. Ames, and the entire Middle East contingent of the CIA.[4] An additional 120 or so people were wounded in the bombing.

A pro-Iranian group calling itself the Islamic Jihad ("Islamic Struggle") Organization took responsibility for the bombing in a telephone call to a news office immediately after the blast. The anonymous caller said, "This is part of the Iranian revolution's campaign against imperialist targets throughout the world. We shall keep striking at any imperialist presence in Lebanon, including the international force."[6] (The group had earlier taken responsibility for a grenade attack in which five U.S. members of the international peacekeeping force had been wounded.)

Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. September 8, 2003, awarded $123 million to 29 American victims and family members of Americans killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Judge Royce Lamberth of U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. May 30, 2003, had determined that the bombing was carried out by the militant group Hezbollah with the approval and financing of senior Iranian officials, paving the way for the victims to seek damages. The trial had opened March 17.

Sentences range from 2 to 20 years.

The tribunal in Sale, near Rabat, sentenced the men Thursday night. Their ringleader, Abdelkrim Makhloufi, was jailed for 20 years for forming a criminal gang and plotting terrorist acts, incitement and holding unauthorized meetings.

According to the prosecution, the convicts belonged to a cell of al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb and had ties with Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which linked up with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and has sought to spread out across north Africa.

It has been revealed that counterfeit computer chips, made in China, have been installed in US fighter planes.

If these allegations prove to be true than I believe this would represent one of the gravest military breaches ever. More at ROA

Excellent article by Raymond Ibrahim @Jihad Watch

During the recent Somali pirate standoff with U.S. forces, when American sea captain Richard Phillips was being held hostage, Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer confidently concluded that “the good news is that these [pirates] are not jihadists. If it’s a jihadist holding a hostage, there is going to be a lot of death. These guys are interested not in martyrdom but in money.”

In fact, the only good news is that Richard Phillips has been rescued. The bad news is that what appears to have been a bunch of lawless, plunder-seeking Somalis “yo-hoing” on the high seas is, in fact, a manifestation of the jihad — as attested to by both Islamic history and doctrine. more...

The longest held one on this list is the Nigerian tug, the Yenagoa Ocean.[pictured] It was hijacked August 4th, 2008.

Some 18 ships and over 310 crew members are believed to be held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau, NATO and others. A look at the ships still being held:

— AUG 4: Pirates seize a Nigerian tug, the Yenagoa Ocean, with 11 crew members.

— NOV. 10: Pirates hijack a Philippines chemical tanker, the MT Stolt Strength, with 23 crew members.

— DEC. 16: Pirates seize a Malaysian tugboat with 11 Indonesian crew members.

They have plenty of choices of which ones to be used for mother ships

Chavez never misses a chance to diss the US

From Breitbart

heh

China's official media and outspoken bloggers on Friday protested over a German advert promoting the use of condoms which shows revolutionary leader Mao Zedong as a sperm cell alongside Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden.[...]

Not all Chinese appear to agree with the official line of anger.

"I am a former worker who is now 70. I have thought about it a lot and I still cannot understand why these people defend Mao so strongly," said one comment on the sina.com website.

By our finest and bravest

F**k ya!

Wow, Taliban websites spread propaganda. Good to know the Pentagon is going to do something about it. Maybe this English website of the Taliban we have been trying to shutdown, will be blocked? Silly me thinking it was illegal.

I may be missing something here, I'm sure Rusty will weigh in on this.

"WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is starting a broad effort in Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban from using radio stations and Web sites to intimidate civilians and plan attacks, according to senior U.S. officials.

As part of the classified effort, American military and intelligence personnel are working to jam the unlicensed radio stations in Pakistan's lawless regions on the Afghanistan border that Taliban fighters use to broadcast threats and decrees.

U.S. personnel are also trying to block the Pakistani chat rooms and Web sites that are part of the country's burgeoning extremist underground. The Web sites frequently contain videos of attacks and inflammatory religious material that attempts to justify acts of violence.

UPDATE by Rusty: I was going to add my comments to SH's post, but I decided to go ahead and put my thoughts in a separate one. Here it is: On Censoring the Taliban.

April 17, 2009

The Somali pirates were a bit uneasy after a anti-submarine helicopter threatened to fire on them.

South Korean naval forces drove away pirates who were trying to board a Danish-registered ship in waters off Somalia, the military and the vessel's owner said Friday.

The Munmu the Great destroyer, carrying a crew of 300, received a distress call from the ship which reported it was being chased by a pirate boat, said Army Colonel Lee Hyoung-Kook, a JCS official who oversees the deployment.

The South Korean destroyer dispatched its Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, which arrived at the scene in just over 20 minutes, Lee said.

"The pirates gave up (their) attempt to board the ship and turned away when the helicopter threatened to fire," he said.

Sigh....another year the Toronto Maple Leafs won't win the Stanley Cup. Who to cheer for?

The story behind this song is truly amazing. It's about a Maple Leaf defenseman, Bill Barilko, who scored the overtime goal which won the Stanley Cup in 51. During the summer of that year Barilko was flying back home from a fishing trip but never made it. The Maple Leafs did not win another Stanley Cup until 11 years later when Barilko's body was finally found.

But what the hell does 50 mission cap mean? 50 mission caps were awarded to WWII pilots who survived 50 missions. The lead singer for the Tragically Hip kept his Bill Barilko hockey card in a 50 mission cap. There you have it.

Presidente Obama encuentra a su amigo el presidente Hugo Chávez

h/t Ace

Flashback 2006:

President Hugo Chavez, Vice-President Vicente Rangel, Ministers Moncada and Isturiz, invited guests,comrades. I’m honored and humbled to be here with you this morning. I bring greetings and support from your brothers and sisters throughout Northamerica. Welcome to the World Education Forum! Amamos la revolucion Bolivariana![...]

Let those of us who are gathered here today read this poem as “The Teacher’s Obligation.” We, too, must move in and out of windows, we, too, must build a project of radical imagination and fundamental change. Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education– a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation. This World Education Forum provides us a unique opportunity to develop and share the lessons and challenges of this profound educational project that is the Bolivarian Revolution.

Viva Mission Sucre!
Viva Presidente Chavez!
Viva La Revolucion Bolivariana!
Hasta La Victoria Siempre!

Comment there:

Rarely has such disgusting “ass kissing” of a communist dictator so voluntarily been given. You are unique Ayers - I’ll give you that!

Presents "It Could Happen Here"

A story of the dastardly teenage - gasp - laminated card carrying member of the Constitutionalist Manifesto

Thanks to Howie for exposing this.

... because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1st Peter 5:8

Spit!

Looks like the official Taliban English website is still up, see this post for contact information on providers.

Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents say the incoming NATO chief is the “major enemy” of Muslims for defending the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad when prime minister of Denmark. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish prime minister until earlier this month, is due in August to become secretary-general of NATO, which leads a 56,000-strong international force fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In an article posted on the Taliban’s Web site (http://alemarah1.org/english/), the insurgent group said Rasmussen’s appointment would “further strenghten[sp] the faith of the Muslims” to fight against NATO and would lead to “intensification of war” in Afghanistan.

“The major enemy of Islam’s Prophet ... has become the secretary general of NATO,” said the undated article.

Item one from this article is that Wesam al-Delaema, the only Iraq war insurgent to be prosecuted in U.S. court, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison. However, al-Delaema pleaded guilty under an agreement that he would serve his sentence in the Netherlands.

Do they have prison bitches in the Netherlands?

The Iraqi born man was raised in the Netherlands, but returned to Iraq to join insurgents in Fallujah. In a 2003 video al-Dalaema could be seen planting an IED. On the video he prayed that it would kill Americans.

So the guy's a terrorist. Case closed, right?

Nope, not to his American lawyer who claims he was a "freedom fighter" in much the same way as George Washington.

One of al-Delaema's lawyers, Gregory Smith, argued that the terrorist definition as applied to al-Delaema also would have applied to hailed resistance troops throughout history, including U.S. forefather George Washington for his fight against the British. "In other words, fighting back can be conspiracy to murder," Smith said.

Thanks to the bros.

I don't think anti-Christian books are a big deal. So what if some Muslims think Christians are going to hell? Some Christians think Muslims are going to hell.

But Sayyid Q'utb? He's the modern founder of the movement to reestablish caliphate and the intellectual architect of Islamist terror.

For my ally in the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. It's energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we Yoda

A new hope for Britain?

From BBC

Eight police officers serving with Scotland's largest force listed their official religion as Jedi in voluntary diversity forms, it has emerged.[...]

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police confirmed: "At the time of the request, 10 (eight police officers and two police staff) had recorded their religion as Jedi."

The next time some Muslim tells you the jizya (tax on non-Muslims) is just a tax in lieu of zakat (obligatory charitable donations), please direct them to this:

The Sikh community living in Orakzai Agency on Wednesday conceded to Taliban demand to pay them jizia – tax levied on non-Muslims living under Islamic rule – and paid Rs 20 million to Taliban in return for ‘protection’.

As Robert Spencer has reminded us over and over again, the jizya tax in practice has always been used as a form of humiliation in order to assert Muslim dominance over permitted monotheistic minorities.

But leaving aside the fact that traditional Islam forbade religious practice outside the monotheistic tradition, and assuming that the jizya isn't about humiliation, it's still a sign of the unjustness of Islamism.

A: Jizya is 'mandatory' only in the sense that Allah demands it, not that the state enforces this obligation. It is mandatory in the same way making the Hajj is mandatory. It is not a legally enforceable obligation.

B: The Islamic state enforces jizya, but not zakat. Zakat is a charitable contribution, while jizya is a tax. All monotheistic traditions make the same demand that their adherents give to charity.

From A and B above we see that the Islamic state is inherently unfair since it treats citizens differently depending on their religious creed. Those who support sharia, even a liberal form of it, support an inherently unjust legal system. One that has different taxation rates based upon religious creed.

Be afraid. Be very afraid:

The takeover of Mardan would put the Taliban one step closer to completing an encirclement of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Northwest Frontier Province....

Peshawar itself is under Taliban siege. The city has been described as a fortress as the Taliban maraud through the countryside. The Taliban have conducted dozens of assaults on trucking terminals that handle supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Today a Humvee, tomorrow a nuke.

Pirate helpers for alQaeda.

A senior Saudi Arabian al Qaeda operative has called on Somali jihadists to step up their attacks on "crusader" forces at sea in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, and on land in neighboring Djibouti, which hosts France’s largest military base in Africa.

"To our steadfast brethren in Somalia, take caution and prepare yourselves," Sa'id Ali Jabir Al Khathim Al Shihri (aka Abu Sufian al-Azdi) says in a new audiotape acquired by CBS News. "Increase your strikes against the crusaders at sea and in Djibouti."

Shihri warns Somali militants against a conspiracy led by "the crusaders, the Jews and traitor Arab rulers," to put an end to the Muslim extremists' progress in Somalia.

A maritime intelligence source tells CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar that interaction between pirate groups and Somalia's al Qaeda-linked groups was first noticed about nine months ago, and has been on the rise.

The source said it was now "inconceivable" to Western intelligence agencies that al Qaeda would not be getting some financial reward from the successful hijackings. The question, says the intelligence source, is whether that cut will remain sufficient to keep the Islamic extremist group satisfied as piracy gains public attention, and bigger ransoms.

Flopping Aces has a lengthy post on this. Check it out.

Just a friendly reminder to various friends who are asking why the DHS report on 'right-wing extremists' went out when it did despite objections to its wording by civil rights lawyers within the DHS.

Um, because, as I've said before: there was a briefing deadline. Objections or no, when the Sec of Homeland Security asks to be briefed on the McVeigh types, you have to have that report ready by the meeting deadline.

The timing of it stinks, but don't fall for the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Just because two events occur in proximity to one another, does not mean that the events are related.

Best Beavis and Butthead ever?

On Wednesday The Guardian published an op-ed written by Peter Singer, a professor at Princeton and radical animal rights activist. For once Singer gets things right as he argues against Islamofascist efforts to outlaw criticism of he-who-must-never-be-insulted (PBUH).

Check out the comments over at the Islamic Awakening forum:

For those who want a right to insult the prophet.....have your right at the risk of being executed, and we will have our right at the risk of being executed or incarcerated for long prison sentences. Do you want to play that game?

We should stop demanding changing their laws, we should stop whining for 'respect.' One executed artist works much better than a thousand marches or a thousand words.

Note to Islamofascists below:

Via Obamanation:

In light of recent revelations regarding the true nature of the threats to our way of life made clear in a recent report, we at the Department of Homeland Security have decided to change our focus from foreign terrorists to a menace of a decidedly more domestic nature. As a result, we felt some changes were in order.

...Right now, we remain at Threat Level Yellow, though please be advised that Fox News, talk radio and right wing blogs are considered to be at Threat Level Orange!

Updated Threat Table...

Jawa Report; Bringing you the most important news stories of the day.Via The Week:

“Hell hath no fury like a cheerleader scorned,” said Rick Chandler in Deadspin. Girls who were recently cut from the cheerleading squad at Casa Roble High School in Orangevale, Calif., got “revenge” on their coach, 20-year-old Carlie Becker, by “exposing her Playboy modeling activities,” under the name Carlie Christine, to school authorities, who promptly fired her.

Oh and Go Team!!!! or something.

Update by Rusty: Definitely not safe for work.

More Carlie Christine images here and here.

April 16, 2009

Only time will tell if they were in a rush to get this out:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Civil liberties officials at the Homeland Security Department did not agree with some of the language in a controversial report on right-wing extremists, but the agency issued the report anyway.

The intelligence assessment issued to law enforcement last week said some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence. That prompted angry reactions from some lawmakers and veterans' groups.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the report was issued before officials resolved problems raised by the agency's civil rights division. Kudwa would not specify what language raised the concerns

Stopped at The Tobacco Hut on the way home. Bought some munchies.

Kinda forgot about the smokes.

This quitting smoking thing is easy. As long as you have leftards to thank for it.

Mr Wrestling IV

[...]Now let me get this straight: there are a number of protests by free citizens who think the government confiscates too much of their money and spends it unwisely, and the angry rock anarchist Henry Rollins is on the government’s side? What the hell happened to Rollins?[...]

What happened to the rock and roll I grew up with that was about freedom and individuality, about working for a living, taking pride in your independence, making your own way, not letting anybody tell you what to do, etc. etc.? Or even about ”YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY,” for God’s sake? What happened to good old-fashioned rock ‘n roll rebellion? When did these big rockers, who made it by their talent and their hard work, with no help from the government, all turn into big government-worshipping statists?

By Alfonzo Rachel:

"Why would you want to represent a country that you are ashamed of."

h/t leapofaith

Spider Camel, doin' whatever a spider camel does.

So, on one level I'm pretty disappointed in Mel Gibson. I mean, here's a guy who was supposed to be bringing back a certain kind of morality and deep seated reflective faith to Hollywood.

On this level -- where I admire him for bucking the Hollywood trend -- I haven't been this disappointed in Gibson since he let loose some vile antisemitic remarks.

But on another, more superficial level. Well. Dude!

I mean, Oksana Pochepa.

Like, dude!

I guess if you're going to totally wreck a family and a nation's image of you, you could do worse.

I'ts been a long time since I was tempted to do a post like this. But, dude.

Probably not safe for work images below of Oksana Pochepa.

Via Ed Morrisey at Hot Air:

From the Someone Left the Irony On Department, John Ziegler gets arrested by security guards outside USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism for committing … er … journalism. He wanted to ask people attending their ceremony honoring Katie Couric with their Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism about the award, and the Annenberg School of Journalism apparently objected to … er … journalism. Watch the whole video, as John provides a good running commentary:

Filed under Ministry of Irony.

MSM is way off base here, ghey terrorist supporters are teabaggers, ask Samir Khan aka Inshallahshaheed, Joey Cohen aka Yousef al-Khattab, Alex Stewart aka Al X or the worst teabagger abu Abdullah As-sayf

For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest what they see as bloated budgets and a pile of debt being passed on to their children.

For CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the word "teabagging" in a sentence.

Teabagging, for those who don't live in a frat house, refers to a sexual act involving part of the male genitalia and a second person's face or mouth.

So when the anti-tax "tea party" protests were held Wednesday across the country, cable anchors and guests -- who for weeks had all but ignored the story -- covered the protests by cracking a litany of barely concealed sexual references.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interspersed "teabagging" references with analyst David Gergen's more staid commentary on how Republicans are still "searching for their voice."

"It's hard to talk when you're teabagging," Cooper explained. Gergen laughed, but Cooper kept a straight face.

MSNBC's David Shuster weaved a tapestry of "Animal House" humor Monday as he filled in for Countdown host Keith Olbermann.

The protests, he explained, amount to "Teabagging day for the right wing and they are going nuts for it."

He described the parties as simultaneously "full-throated" and "toothless," and continued: "They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending." Shuster also noted how the protesters "whipped out" the demonstrations this past weekend.

Related: Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted "tea party" protests yesterday, labeling the activities "despicable" and shameful." Drudge had the headline up with Flashback: Dear hubby was convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in 2005.

Update: MM vs Matt Taibbi

Two Somali alleged pirates are claiming they weren't part of the group that attempted to hijack a ship.

BERLIN, April 16 (UPI) -- Two alleged Somali pirates are suing the German government for what their attorneys claim has been inhumane treatment.

The pirates were captured last month by German navy troops after they had allegedly tried to seize a freighter.

Their lawyers said they were not part of the group that attacked the freighter but instead were sailing to Yemen to sell arms, the German daily Berliner Zeitung reports.

Oliver Wallasch, the lawyer of one defendant, said the German government has ignored this for the sake of a victory in its anti-piracy fight off the coast of Somalia.

I should have posted this earlier, but here is a link to the inimitable zombie's Hall of Shame - a lengthy and thorough picture gallery of the nuttier-than-squirrel-sh*t Bezerlkey leftwingers and fringies that attended numerous anti-war/anti-Bush rallies throughout the Bush years. Some of the hate there is frightening, and some of the other...body parts...are frightening as well, although in a different way. You'll see what I mean. It's ALL there, clear as crystal.

These folks were praised for their activism and bravery and their "speaking truth to power" for years by the Obamedia. No wonder they were desperately looking for an equivalent yesterday - they really couldn't find any. A very tame sample of a random leftwinger supporting the killing of our troops:

Send the link and some pics to your favorite CNN Obama Mouthpiece, if so motivated.

This is too good to pass up:

Over 20 years ago I wrote a novel called "The Rise Again," about the beginning of a new Civil War in the United States.

I shelved it and forgot about it, because it was very short. The problem was... I got to a point where the war was beginning... but I couldn't see how it would proceed. So I just stopped at the beginning, after about 100 pages.

Now... the rest of the Story is being written for me.

Last night, The Governor of Texas declared that Texas has the right to secede.

How did Governor Rick Perry of Texas help this already bad situation, with his pronouncement?

He didn't. Not at all.

This is NOT over, folks.

Write me nasty comments, that this could not happen here, that there couldn't possibly be another Civil War in the United States... and that I am crazy for thinking so. Do and say whatever you want.

Then keep your television turned on... to see the slow craziness suddenly snowball into right wing open rebellion.

And I can tell you of a certainty how the whole thing will end, or at least part of it.

There will be blood.

A lot of it.

More than you ever dreamed of.

More below the jump...

We have watched tv for years seeing bloodshed and people dying all over the world... except here.

But now it's almost our turn.

Because we have become immune to the realiy of slaughter. It doesn't mean anything to us. We haven't experienced it here.

Yet.[...]

I urge them to do what people who - like me - hated Bush for eight years did:

Respect the rule of law...

and respect the new President's decisions...

even if you hate him and them.

And before you join the bandwagon and call out for

your state to be "free" of the Union...

And prepare yourselves to take up arms against your neighbors...

Make sure you know what the hell you are about to do...

And what it could cost.

h/t SavannahWinslow

O RLY? Then what is this mass-produced, mass-marketed, progressive-themed tree-killing considered?

Hell, there are full-time lunatic protesters and rent-a-mobs that do nothing but protest for Democrat causes and who are bankrolled by umbrella organizations and assorted America-hating billionaires. The most slavish acolytes to the Democrat Party wrote the book on astroturfing.

Stop projecting, Nancy. It's as disgusting as your botox treatment.

Pics courtesy of Sweetness and Light

Interesting. My initial reaction is that they are trying to make sure that their citizens aren't consuming any [**shock**horror**] porn.

But given that their are thousands of young Saudis who also consume terrorist porn, maybe this isn't such a terrible idea?

Such a blatant intrusion into the private lives of citizens is a clear violation of the basic notion of limited government. And yet, given that this is the world's number one exporter of terrorist ideology [and terror financing, and terrorists], I have a hard time finding any outrage.

There is an old saying about hypocrisy: Good for thee, but not for me.

I'm growing comfortable with my hypocrisy.

Thanks to Toadbile.

Total WIN here.

Somali pirates have a blog. Enjoy!

Thanks to Jules.

From Breitbart

heh

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: CNN's Obama Mouthpiece Susan Roesgen fellating "covering" a leftwing protest of five people as if it were a groundswell of revolution that we all needed to heed.

She obviously voted for McCain/Palin. It's so obvious she was paid by the right wing, as evidenced by the exactly opposite tacks she took in these "reports." Enjoying fourth place in the ratings, my darling? Keep up the hard-hitting "journalism," then.

How dare the FBI look for Islamic terrorists amongst Muslims????

DETROIT – A Michigan Muslim organization said Thursday it has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate complaints alleging the FBI is asking followers of the faith to spy on Islamic leaders and congregations.

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan sent a letter last week to Holder after mosques and other groups reported members of the community have been approached to monitor people coming to mosques and donations they make.

FNC: "Did you sign off on it?"
Napolitano: "Well as far as sign off....I was briefed"

Surprised about the questions, MSNBC was only allowed 1 Question, No Follow-Ups on Extremism Report"

Can't you just feel the love Iranian mullahs have for us.

TEHRAN - An Iranian lawmaker has said that the United States should compensate for its past mistakes if it seeks to re-establish ties with Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Mohammad Ebrahim Nekunam said to IRNA that, "To prove the claim (on direct talks with Iran over its nuclear activities), the United States should take action and compensate for its wrong anti- Iran policies in the past."

Obama showing the love isn't working too well.

Oh, it's so beyond the pale for a protestor to call Obama a fascist and to compare Obama to Hitler.

The left never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever did or would do such a detestable thing. EVER.

Plus, for laughs, here's the crown jewel of Barack Obama's personal cable news network, MSNBC, not comparing President Bush to a fascist over and over again (with Howard Dean and his newly scrubbed short-medium term memory)

FOR SHAME, YOU TERRORIST KILLBOT RIGHTWINGURZZZ!

Funny. I don't recall any member of a mainstream press outlet anywhere, least of which CNN, debating with Cindy Sheehan. I do remember this, however:

But massive protests against Dear Leader and the flushing of the American taxpayer down the collective toilet? This is what we get from CNN:

Nothing to see here, folks. Just "anti-CNN," "anti-government" rightwinuttia. Now get back on your knees and beg for Obama's forgiveness.

April 15, 2009

Is that his way of saying torture With all the name changes these days it is hard to keep up.

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Attorney General Eric Holder told a mostly military audience Wednesday that some of those engaged in the battle against terrorism did not always follow the law.

Holder did not mention torture or name the target of his criticism, leveled in a speech for a law conference at the U.S. Military Academy. However, he praised military lawyers in the Judge Advocate General Corps for their work representing terror detainees.

Thank you, mrclark. You are an inspiration. You get your own post. :-)

Francisco.... only one way to quit. No patches.. No nicotine gum.. Fucking Gut IT.OUT... COLD.FUCKING.TURKEY... over and out. Deny! Deny! DENY the craving! Talk to it....whenever the crave hits (it'll be about every 5 seconds straight, but only for the first 6 months or so) Yes...talk to it. When the crave hits...you say (repeat after me)... "FUCK YOU!!" And another thing. Everything will make you think about how good just one puff would be. Rolling out of bed. During your morning coffee. After lunch. Looking at that 20 yr old hottie on the street. Having just had sex with that little 20 yr old. (of if there are any jihadis reading this, after that little goat hump) Breathing. Walking. Talking. Shitting. Thinking. Meditating. Sleeping. Dreaming. Yes...everything will make you want to have a ciggie. Just say "FUCK YOU".

I'm gutting it out, mrclark. I have some nicotine lozenges but I haven't opened one yet.

h/t Dwainj's link

Janet Nepolitano earlier gave a non-apology but Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wants a better explanation .

The top House Democrat overseeing the Department of Homeland Security is demanding that officials there explain how and why they wrote and released a controversial report identifying veterans as potential terrorist threats.

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano that he was “dumbfounded” such a report would be issued. More...

Letters of marque, I love 'em. In fact, I've suggested that we put a bounty on the eHadis and let the loose the dogs of geekdom over and over in the past.

Imagine a million nerds switching off the latest version of Halo and instead spending their precious online time defacing propaganda outlets, coordinating ddos attacks, and generally wreaking havoc in the virtual world populated by the Islamist scumbags.

And since that "hot chick" you're chatting it up with is probably some 45 year old dude from the UAE anyway, it's not like you're really switching gears all that much.

But, alas, as you read the article to the end the lawyers have to come up with all sorts of reasons why privateering is no longer feasible. Lawyers, is there any fantasy they can't ruin?

Thanks to whoever is running HA's link thingy these days. Maybe Treacher or McCain. I don't know, I've kind of lost track.

Just smoked my last cigarette.

S-CHIP: fuck you

Obama: fuck you

Congress: fuck you

thatisall

You need to back it up with proof Pelosi. Pathetic. Huffington Post, Daily Kos, etc. had this stupid story before it came out of the mouth of Pelosi. David Axelrod will be proud.

Jawa is well aware of the term astroturf, see:

Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them

Drudge has blaring headline up on this.

Speaking with reporters after a tea party rally in Austin today, Gov. Rick Perry said Texas can leave the union if it wants to:

"Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that," Perry said. "My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that."

Audio below fold.

Concerning the tea parties:

Yea.... PAY your taxes losers... we all pay ours... Quit bitching!!!

This whole idea of the "Tea Party" is another example of the repubs being sore losers as they were replaced by a brother in the white house.

No, neither of these mental geniuses are on my friend list, they left these as comments on someone's profile who is.

Update: Video below fold for comparison of the word "reporter harassment"

Don't know what scrunt means? See Ace.

Meanwhile, Obama is unaware of the tea party protests:

None so deaf as those who will not hear, or....

h/t guest for link to video below:

Here's the DHS press release from Sec. of Homeland Security, Janet Napoliltano.

Now, let me clarify my position on this. Behind the scenes I've actually been working to dispel some of the fears about the DHS document. In fact, I have some intimate knowledge about how government works and how security reports are produced.

I do not think the document was trying to target conservatives and paint them all as potential terrorists. Nor do I think this was part of an Obama Administration attempt at linking domestic terrorism with the conservative movement -- specifically, with the TEA party movement.

The document itself was mostly produced during the Bush Administration. Except for several late editions to the text -- literally a few paragraphs and some wording changes.

The wording about the "right-wing" and the subsequent categorization of anti-abortion, anti-tax, and pro-federalism as part of a broader "right-wing" movement comes not from the DHS, but from academia. In other words, the people that helped produce the document simply adopted terminology which is widely accepted in academia.

This says less about the motives of those at the DHS than it does about academia. If you doubt there is a leftward bias in academia, then I can only assume you are the kind of person who sees no problem in the current DHS report.

As for the timing of the report one week before the TEA Parties were set to begin I can say this: the report's release probably coincides with DHS staff meetings with Sec. Napolitano.

If Sec. Napolitano had ulterior motives for the timing of that meeting than those motives were probably not known to staff.

As for whoever leaked the report, I've no idea what their motives were. Some have suggested to me that it was someone on the Left who leaked the report as a way to say, "See, even the DHS is acknowledging that the Right is full of cooks." That is as plausible an explanation as any I've heard, but no more plausible than someone on the Right leaking the document because they were shocked at the wording of the document.

To sum up my position: I do not believe that DHS was trying to paint the Right as full of extremists and as potential terrorists.

As I've said on these pages many times before, from a historical perspective the largest home-grown terrorist organization in the U.S. has been the Ku Klux Klan. A group that has been called many things, but never "left-wing".

There are violent extremist groups on the Right.

I do not believe these groups are as dangerous as they once were, and unless this is the first time reading this blog than you already know that in my mind that Islamist terror is now our number one threat.

I also concur with the report's conclusion that the present circumstances may lead to a rise in extremism from white supremacy groups, conspiracy theorists, and other assorted nuts.

Nevertheless, the report is troubling. You'll notice that I have said that the authors of the report did not intend to paint the Right as dangerous.

This goes to motives, but not to the substance of the report itself. Substantively, the report was sloppily written and used language vague enough that someone reading it could reasonably reach the conclusion that law enforcement officials were being warned to be on the lookout for anyone who was anti-abortion or pro-tenth amendment.

I cannot imagine that if the report was on home-grown Islamist terrorism that it wouldn't use idiotic catchphrases over and over again like "the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful" and "Islam teaches that violence against civilians is never justified". Again, don't get me wrong, I think that those kind of meaningless platitudes are actually necessary and that our government should keep repeating them.

The fact is that by using the commonly accepted academic terminology the DHS also adopted the academic left-wing bias embedded in that terminology. The Left really does think the right is full of kooks, just as we on the Right think the same of them.

The difference is that we do not control the language of academia, they do.

When the authors of the DHS report talked about "right-wing extremists", in their mind they saw Timothy McVeigh. But by using vague and biased terminology, they set themselves up for the kind of reaction that we are seeing all over the blogosphere.

As some of us read the document, we saw ourselves.

That is the real problem with it. The imprecise use of language.

The timing? Well, that stinks, too.

But, as I've said, the report was mostly written under the Bush Administration.

When the new Sec. of DHS asked to be briefed about any developments from McVeigh types, as mentioned below, the unfinished report was probably dusted off, edited, and completed just before staff was to meet with Sec. Napolitano, again as referenced below.

Whether or not the timing of that meeting or the subsequent leak of the document had something to do with the TEA Parties is something you'd have to ask Sec. Napolitano about. But I doubt it.

Do I think that she should apologize for the document? Yes. The report does paint too broad a picture of right-wing extremism, even if that was not the intentions of its authors.

And her apology, which I've reproduced below, is one of those non-apology apologies that politicians are so good at giving.

Millions of Americans took offense at the vaguely worded warnings from the DHS. Ironically, many conspiracy theorists on the extreme fringes of the Right now have further "confirmation" that the Obama Administration is out to get them and so the document itself may actually fuel the fire of extremism.

To my friends at the DHS: Next time, watch how you word things. Even if it is common practice simply to adopt terminology from academia, don't do it. Academics can be such meatheads sometimes. Trust me, I know. I'm one of them.

Here's the DHS presser, as promised.

STATEMENT BY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JANET NAPOLITANO ON THE THREAT OF RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM

The primary mission of this department is to prevent terrorist attacks on our nation. The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States. I was briefed on the general topic, which is one that struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution.

Let me be very clear: we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States. We don’t have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence.

We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not – nor will we ever – monitor ideology or political beliefs. We take seriously our responsibility to protect the civil rights and liberties of the American people, including subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal and external sources.

I am aware of the letter from American Legion National Commander Rehbein, and my staff has already contacted him to set up a meeting next week once I return from travel. I will tell him face-to-face that we honor veterans at DHS and employ thousands across the department, up to and including the Deputy Secretary.

As the department responsible for protecting the homeland, DHS will continue to work with its state and local partners to prevent and protect against the potential threat to the United States associated with any rise in violent extremist activity.

Every day I think I have heard it all, now this.

From HA:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon’s most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea’s recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said. …[...]

One current and two former specialists in strategic defenses said the administration rejected the request because it feared that moving the huge floating radar system would be viewed by North Korea as provocative and upset diplomatic efforts aimed at restarting six-nation nuclear talks.

h/t Mongol

A detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Mohammed el Gharani, used his weekly phone call to his family to dial an al Jazeera reporter instead.

The first words out of his mouth? Help, I'm being oppressed!

An inmate in the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has told Al Jazeera that he has been beaten while in custody and had tear gas used on him after refusing to leave his cell.

Mohammad al-Qurani, a Chadian national, said in a phone call to Al Jazeera that the alleged ill-treatment "started about 20 days" before Barack Obama became US president and "since then I've been subjected to it almost every day".

"Since Obama took charge he has not shown us that anything will change," he said.

WTF?

UPDATE: Ooops, I didn't see SH had posted about this: GITMO Prisoner Calls Media, Investigation Ensues. I had the post sitting here for a bit but got distracted by other things and wasn't able to actually publish until like 30 minutes later. Sorry about that SH.

Pirates did promise they would beef up their attacks on French and US Vessels. Didn't work out well...heh.

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- The French Navy captured 11 pirates off Kenya and a U.S. cargo vessel evaded rocket fire as Somali hijackers followed through on a threat to increase attacks.

The pirates were seized after their attempt to hijack the Safmarine Asia, a Liberian-registered cargo ship, was thwarted by a helicopter from the frigate Nivose late yesterday, France’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. They were tracked overnight and were picked up along with their three boats at dawn, 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of Kenya’s port of Mombasa

“I am so pleased that an American ship is damaged but unfortunately I would be happier if American natives would die or be hijacked on that ship,” Mohamed Hashi Yasin, a self- declared pirate spokesman, said today in a mobile-telephone interview from the Somali town of Eyl. “I congratulate those who implemented the attempted attack but I am calling on all of my friends to redouble their operations against Americans.”

Very few GITMO prisoners are allowed to phone home, this one called a journalist from Aljazeera to say he (Mohammed el Gharani) was abused by the guards:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. military is investigating a Guantanamo Bay prisoner's interview with a Middle East television network.

The U.S. does not permit journalists to interview prisoners. Officials say that would violate the Geneva Conventions.

Frank J. Cilluffo and Daniel Kimmage correctly identify al Qaeda's strength as flowing from its propaganda which reinforces a single narrative about the victimization of Muslims by the West and of the heroic deeds of Muslims fighting back. What is needed, they argue, is a counternarrative about terror victims and those fighting the forces of violent Islamism. Something they call a "judo" strategy because it relies on social networking and relies on brains over brawn.

Interesting theory, but I'm just not sure its feasible given that every time such a narrative is attempted those constructing it are accused of making propaganda. As if that's a bad thing!

Especially the part cheer leading the UN heading the effort. Now, that's the essence of naïvité.

Thanks to Steve.

Good luck to Francisco D'Anconia and Kyros who are quitting smoking today as a way to say f*ck you to Obama protest against new tobacco taxes meant to fund S-CHIP.

I hope quitting smoking will prove easier than quitting their other addiction -- goatse porn.

Good luck and may all smokers follow your examples and go Galt!

(Kandahar, Afghanistan) Provincial council member, women's rights activist and high school teacher Sitara Achikzai (also Achekzai) was murdered in Kandahar last weekend by four gunmen on two motorbikes.

Sadly, Mrs. Achekzai was brutally killed as she was exiting her vehicle in front of her house.

Officials said the attack happened in broad daylight. The Taliban have claimed responsibility. Friends said Mrs Achakzai was returning from a provincial council meeting; her assassins were lying in wait nearby.

“This cold-blooded assassination puts in question the direction that Afghanistan is heading,” warned Wenny Kusuma, the director of the United Nations Development fund for Women in Afghanistan. “There is no respect for the rule of law.”

Mrs. Achekzai's death is a major loss for the women's rights movement in Afghanistan.

"They sent us here to usher in a new era of responsibility in Washington -- to start living within our means again, and being straight with them about where their tax dollars are going, and empowering them with the information they need to hold all of us, their representatives, accountable."

-President Barack Hussein Obama (D), 2-23-09

“The aim of this attack was totally different. We were not after a ransom. We also assigned a team with special equipment to chase and destroy any ship flying the American flag in retaliation for the brutal killing of our friends."

LULZ, special equipment...Abdul must be referring to the goat propelled rocket launcher.

Bring it on you islamist pirate scum! Do you know who you're messing with? The US Navy destroyed priacy in the 19th century and it will eliminate piracy in the 21st century. Times Online

Somali pirates who attacked an American freighter with rocket-propelled grenades were not trying to capture it but to destroy it as an act of revenge, one of their commanders claimed today.

The LIberty Sun, carrying a cargo of food aid for Africa's starving millions, was attacked yesterday afternoon by two speedboats some 285 nautical miles off the Somali coast.[...]

“This attack was the first against our prime target,” Abdi Garad, a pirate commander, said today. “We intended to destroy this American-flagged ship and the crew on board but unfortunately they narrowly escaped us.

“The aim of this attack was totally different. We were not after a ransom. We also assigned a team with special equipment to chase and destroy any ship flying the American flag in retaliation for the brutal killing of our friends."

This is why there will be nationwide protests of their ever-expanding, continuously-failing government today:

Change you can believe in you will no longer have in your bank account.

• If you’re a 50-year old-with a college degree, you will pay approximately $81,000 over your working life just to pay the interest on the debt in the Obama budget.
• If you’re a 40-year-old, you’ll pay $132,000.
• And if you’re a 20-year-old, just starting out after college, you will pay a whopping $114,000 just to service the interest on the debt created by the Obama budget.

That's what happens when you get your news and views from the Daily Show - you end up thinking and voting like a clown. The wailing when the tax man cometh from this crowd of Obamazombies will be priceless - a truly teachable moment.

(Los Angeles, California) Former Ivory Snow girl and adult XXX film star Marilyn Chambers was found dead Sunday at her home in Canyon Country, a suburb of Los Angeles. She was 56.

So far, an autopsy has failed to determine the cause of death, however, additional testing will be conducted. The death has been preliminarily reported as probably due to natural causes.

Natural causes, however, are not defined and it's not clear what could possibly be considered "natural" on a body that has turned over the odometer repeatedly during decades of engaging in every conceivable hard-core sex act.

I'm skeptical. Typically, a death at the age of 56 is associated with a physical defect, lifestyle eventuality, disease, accident, homicide, etc. Some condition is usually blamed.

Marilyn Chambers died from something and much too early in life. R.I.P.

April 14, 2009

The Taliban came to our village. They called us to the madrassa. They read the Quran to us. They taught us the Quran. They taught us about weapons, how to shoot AK-47s. Then they taught us to do suicide bombings.

The Taliban have more weapons than the army. We can beat the army now.

--Pakistani teenager on Frontline 5 minutes ago.

Blogged from iPhone.

Update: It gets worse. I think I'm going to be sick. Literally.

Whenever you fight for God you are doing right. God provides us with kids. They are a means to an end. We use what God provides...

These Taliban kids are older. Mine are younger 5, 6, 7 years old.

--Taliban child recruiter discussing propaganda film of kids being trained for suicide bombing.

The madrassas only do good because we teach the Quran, so there is no chance for terrorism here.

-- Madrassa headmaster on camera.

We will win this war. The Muslims live in the next world while the West lives in this one. We have an endless supply if recruits. They want to die.

-- The same headmaster when he thought cameras were off.

Apologies for typos, iphone.

Update: Apologize for typo in title, no disrespect intended.
To advise Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy.(plug nose)

If you like liberal Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks’ material, you’re out of luck: via Mike Calderone, she’s on her way out of journalism to advise Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy, though not before advocating a government bailout for the industry.

A far lefty giving advice for policy on friggin Defense Policies. What could go wrong?

Update: Just a taste of her thoughts on the Juice: Israel can't bomb it's way to peace.

Information is rather sketchy so I assume, per article, this was a US flagged ship.

Pirates attacked an American-flagged commercial vessel Tuesday in an unsuccessful new hijacking attempt off of the coast of Somalia.

At about noon EDT, the Liberty Sun reported to the Coast Guard that they were being attacked by pirates. The U.S. Navy sent the USS Bainbridge in response.

The official confirmed it was a failed piracy attempt, and by the time the warship arrived several hours later, the pirates were gone.

Kudo's to them for keeping control of their ship.

In other related news:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he doesn't see any immediate need to bulk up the military response to piracy on the high seas. Gates adds, however, that those decisions are being made moment by moment.

An awesome that is so awesoemely aweseome, that there's nothing left to say but awesome.

"Hay Adil."

"Yes, Tariq?"

"Is that a UFO?"

"By Allah, I believe it ....... aaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

Strategy Page:

American UFO Spotted In Afghanistan

April 14, 2009: An unidentified, jet propelled UAV has been spotted operating from an American airbase in Afghanistan. It's a flying wing design, similar to the X-45s and X-47s built as development aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and Navy. These UCAVs (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles) were built to carry weapons, and the one spotted in Afghanistan may have a bomb bay as well. The U.S. Air Forces X-45A combat UAV (UCAV) dropped its first smart bomb in 2004. There are also purely reconnaissance jet powered UAVs built as experimental vehicles.

Just a reminder from a recent ACLU complaint about the DHS, through the use of "fusion centers", monitoring the activities of the Left (and Right):

* A May 7, 2008 report entitled “Universal Adversary Dynamic Threat Assessment” authored by a private contractor that labeled environmental organizations like the Sierra Club, the Humane Society and the Audubon Society as “mainstream organizations with known or possible links to eco-terrorism”;

* A potential abuse of authority by DHS officials who improperly monitored and disseminated the communications of peace activists affiliated with the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN);

* A report produced on February 19, 2009 by the North Central Texas Fusion System entitled “Prevention Awareness Bulletin” which described a purported conspiracy between Muslim civil rights organizations, lobbying groups, the anti-war movement, the U.S. Treasury Department, hip hop bands and former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney to “provide an environment for terrorist organizations to flourish”;

* A “Strategic Report” produced February 20, 2009 by the Missouri Information Analysis Center that described a purported security threat posed by the “modern militia movement” but inappropriately included references to social, religious and political ideologies, including support of third party presidential candidates such as Congressman Ron Paul and former Congressman Bob Barr; and

* A “Protective Intelligence Bulletin” issued by the DHS Intelligence Branch of the Threat Management Division of the Federal Protective Service which improperly collected and disseminated information regarding political demonstrations and inappropriately labeled peaceful advocacy groups and other activists as “extremists.”

In all the wrong places....

Via Yahoo News: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lindsay Lohan is looking for a lover who does not mind her alleged alcoholism or electronic monitoring bracelet, or so the famously troubled Hollywood actress said in a mock Internet dating profile.

I would define my personality as creative, a bit of a night owl," Lohan says in the video.

"I'm a workaholic, a shopaholic and according to the state of California, an alcoholic as well as a threat to all security guards if they work at hotels,"...

..."We'll crash a few parties, a car or two, but at the end of the day I promise you, I never lose my Google hits, just my underwear," the actress says in the video.

I'm here Lindsay!!!!

Related: Lindsay Lohan In Hot Bikini With Smashing Ankle Bracelet Accessory

(first rule of blogging is: tits = hits baby)

I'm a policy analyst by training. The gold standard of policy analysis is to measure the impact that a policy has. That is to say, how much did this particular policy affect that particular outcome.

This is generally preferable to stand alone outcome analysis because the outcome may be attributable to some variable exogenous to the policy in question. In other words, sometimes the outcome which a policy is trying to affect would have changed irregardless of the policy itself.

For instance, if I wanted to only measure the outcome of Obama's piracy policy then we might conclude that the policy was a good one since Captain Phillips was released.

However, Uncle Jimbo points out the logical fallacy:

I now have multiple confirmations saying that the initial set of rules that Obama put on the Navy forbid any active attempts to rescue the hostage and only after they requested he reinstate their authority to act if the hostage was in imminent danger did he do so.

Which, if I'm to understand this correctly, means that the SEAL snipers were under the same rules of engagement that existed prior to Obama's initial reaction to forbid them from using force.

Or, in other words, Obama had no impact on the outcome of the hostage situation.

The moral of the story here is not that Obama is a bad President, it's just that, like most politicians, he had nothing to do with the end results. His best move was deciding, after all was said and done, that the best course of action was to let those on the ground make the decisions.

Lesson learned: When it comes to ground-level decisions about hostage situations, politicians are best when they act like trophy wives --- look pretty, keep your mouth shut, and make me a sammich!

Only two years old and already she knows that Allah hates Da Joooos and Cross Worshippers....

Ahh they are so sweet when they are young, its a shame that some day she'll grow up, fall in love and daddy will have to kill her.

From Big Hollywood:

Lloyd’s songwriting comes from the heart about things he has passion for, even if it isn’t considered hip-hop and cool.

“Everybody said ‘Why are you doing all these political songs? That’s not how you make it in the music world. You have to hide your political point of view’. But I was compelled to write “Celebrate America” because I love my country. I was compelled to write “Welcome Home Brother” because I really love Vietnam vets. I was compelled to write “United We Stand” because I loved the mood of the country after 9-11.”

The success of Lloyd’s American Tea Party Anthem validates his belief that it’s based on - as Rush Limbaugh puts it - “talent on loan from God”.

“That makes all this perfect too, because all of my songs’ topics are things I care about. And so many people always ask me ‘Why are you writing about this topic and that topic and not separating your politics?’ Because that’s what I’m passionate about!

Snippet from letter David K. Rehbein, National Commander of the American Legion, sent to Janet Napolitano:

The best that I can say about your recent report is that it is incomplete. The report states, without any statistical evidence, “The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”

The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation’s uniform during wartime. To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical “disgruntled military veteran” is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.

Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?

h/t Mongol

A reader just sent me a Force Protection Advisory issued by the Maryland National Guard dated April 9, two days after the DHS report. It warns that during the protests that Guardsmen and Guard facilities might become "targets of opportunity."

There is a list of TEA party protest sites in Maryland included.

WTF? Leftwing protesters might show up at National Guard offices, but rightwing protesters are almost universally pro-military. If any one from the National Guard shows up at the protest in uniform (which they aren't supposed to do, but hypothetically) I'm betting he'll have a lot of high-fives, back-slaps, thank-yous, and more than a single offer to buy him a beer.

Oddly, the contact e-mail is for the Antiterrorism Program Coordinator.

One of three things is going on here:

1) There is some intel that the public isn't aware of connecting extremists to the TEA Party movement.

2) The Maryland National Guard is just being overcautious -- perhaps these kinds of memos are sent out for all major protests?

3) Someone somewhere is unable to distinguish between mainstream conservative resentment of Obama's disastrous economic policies -- which the TEA Party movement represents -- and fringe conspiracy and supremacist groups.

I'm hoping it's number 2. In fact, since the recommendations from the memo are that there be no change in alert status, I'm guessing it's just an over precautionary measure. But it does warn National Guardsmen to stay out of the protest area.

I asked the reader if she got this at another blog and she said she hadn't but it was given to her by a friend. Apologies if others have this up already, but I've been preoccupied with other matters and haven't been following this closely.

Here's the text of the memo. I've redacted the email from it and the name of the individual who produced the report.

UPDATE: I just got an email from an old friend who works in government security and he says #2 is right:

Anything that could impact forces - including transiting to/from a base - is included in FPAs. They do them for protests by the left (there was one by animal rights folks protesting pigs being used in military experiments testing damage from roadside bombs) to right (like when the Phelps family showing up to spew their vitriol). All the other stuff in it is boilerplate.

Possibly bad judgment thinking protesters = kooks, but then again you have to admit most of the time it's the kooks that come out to protests. Which is why the right has far fewer protests than the left.

Here it is anyway:

HEADQUARTERS, MARYLAND ARMY NATIONAL GUARD 13620 Meuse Argonne Circle Camp Fretterd Military Reservation Reisterstown, Maryland 21136

JFHQ-MDARNG-G3 9 April 2009

MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION

SUBJECT: Planned TEA Party Protests (FPCON Advisory 09-004)

1. (U) This Maryland Army National Guard (MDARNG) Force Protection advisory is in response to a nationwide planned protest activities scheduled for April 15, 2009. Although there is no known direct threat to MDNG facilities and MDNG members, they may become a target of opportunity during plan protest activities throughout Maryland.

2. (U) FORCE PROTECTION CONDITIONS.

a. (U) USNORTHCOM FPCON baseline for the continental United States, Alaska, and Canada remains unchanged at ALPHA.

b. (U) MDARNG is not recommending a FPCON baseline change at this time.

3. (U//FOUO) SITUATION: Numerous entities have formed recently to express displeasure/anger over recent federal/state government actions: more taxes, increased spending, higher deficits, a surge of borrowing to pay for it all, bailout of the financial institutions, and etc. This movement can be identified by different variations of “TEA Party” or “Tea Party.” Past “TEA Party” events have been peaceful. There was a “Tea party” event at Solomons, Maryland, on March 22, 2009. “TEA” stands for “Taxed Enough Already.”

4. (U) KNOWN LOCATIONS AND EVENTS: According various websites and open source information, planned protest locations and time on April 15 in Maryland are:

*

Annapolis, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm, Campbell Park (Dock/Boardwalk), Annapolis Harbor
*

Baltimore, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, The Inner Harbor
*

Bel Air, 12:00 pm, Bel Air Courthouse Plaza on Main Street
*

Cecil County, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Elkton Christian Academy, 144 Appleton Road
*

Frederick, 3:00 pm, City Hall then march to Winchester Hall
*

Cumberland, 12:00 pm, Baltimore and Mechanic Streets
*

Havre de Grace, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Tydings Park Gazebo
*

Salisbury, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm, Downtown Salisbury
*

Westminster, 6:30 pm, Legends Cafe off of Route 140 in Westminster
*

Washington DC, 12:00pm-2:00pm, US Treasury Department - National Stage; 11:00am-3:00pm Lafayette Park - Grassroots Stage (not MD)

5. (U) FORCE PROTECTION RECOMMENDATIONS:

a. (U) Full-time personnel (i.e. armories) and recruiters need to be aware their surroundings. Contact local law enforcement when feel threaten by protesters or protesters trespass into MDNG property.

b. (U//FOUO) Commanders at all levels should establish relationship with local police in order to understand the local threats. Keep family members informed. Talk to other service personnel to share information. Practice OPSEC. Don’t provide personal information to anyone you don’t know. Avoid high risk areas.

c. (U//FOUO) Commanders are encouraged to update alert rosters and review emergency evacuation plans/rally points. Ensure all facilities have emergency phone lists posted (i.e. FBI, FIRE, POLICE, HOSPITALS, EMS, ETC…). Be aware of and avoid local protests. Report all potential protest activities to your next higher headquarters.

d. (U//FOUO) Continue implementation of RAM and a review of policies and procedures, especially in regards to cooperation or assistance with local emergency responders.

5. POC is Antiterrorism Program Coordinator, --[redacted- at (410) 702-[redacted] or by e-mail [redacted]@us.army.mil

[Redacted LTC author's name]
DISTRIBUTION:
ATOs
MSCs CDRs

Obama's weak response to North Korea's missile test, ie. not shooting it down and pledging to reduce America's nuclear arsenal, is finally paying dividends. Jerusalem Post

North Korea vowed Tuesday to bolster its nuclear deterrent and boycott six-party talks aimed at its denuclearization in protest of a UN Security Council statement condemning the country's recent rocket launch.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it "resolutely condemns" the action by the United Nations, which it said "rampantly" infringes upon the country's sovereignty and "severely debases" the people's dignity.

"We have no choice but to further strengthen our nuclear deterrent to cope with additional military threats by hostile forces," the statement said.

The statement also said that "six-party talks that we are taking part in are not necessary any more."

Obama bowing to the king may be a signal to the Saudis he approves. He should think twice before doing that again, although the harm has already been done.

(CNN) -- The head of the U.N. Children's Fund has expressed concern over a Saudi judge's refusal for a second time to annul a marriage between an 8-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man.

"Irrespective of circumstances or the legal framework, the marriage of a child is a violation of that child's rights," said Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF.

"The right to free and full consent to marriage is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Consent cannot be free and full when either party to a marriage is too young to make an informed decision."

The most recent ruling, in which the judge upheld his original verdict, was handed down Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza, where late last year the same judge rejected a petition from the girl's mother, seeking a divorce for her daughter

There are such things as right-wing extremists. Just throwing that out there.

Just call me an instigator. Have fun!

Ruh roh, DHS's Janet Napolitano may add him to the list of The New Right Wing Extremists.

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

Video h/t commenter at Ace's

Update: Does Texas fit the profile of a terrorist state?

Consider this post an addendum to Howie's a few posts below.

They told me that if Bush was elected, he and his administration would use the government and Department of Homeland Security to demonize and use fake and shabby pretexts to silence and oppress their political opponents and those with opposing political viewpoints. And they were right!

Oh, wait. Did I say Bush? I meant Obama.

Check out the link to the DHS government document. Isn't the left great - all concerned with your right to political expression and the right to dissent vocally from a government you didn't cast a vote for? Advocates for civil liberties everywhere should easily identify this "government report" as a nakedly Orwellian effort to stifle and discourage political opposition to the Democrats in the new, enlightened age of Hope-n-Change!

I wonder what the left-o-sphere, all atwitter with fake outrage and feigning superiority while cracking petulant high-school-aged jokes about teabagging, has to say about this.

They have a lot to say about EVERYTHING ELSE, and never shut their yaps for one day under Bush for things that were far less ominous and indicative of governmental abuse than this. What does, say, "all conservatives kill cops/screw them" Kos have to say about the government demonizing one half of the country's population and labeling them a threat to national security for holding opinions they don't like? How about the shrieking harridan Jane Hamsher, or the Democrat smear-merchants at Media Splatters?

Exit question: Would Thomas Jefferson qualify as a threat to national security under this new Obama Administration? Yes, I believe he would.

"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty."

BOOGA BOOGA, Obamatrons!

Wow. That's dangerous, right-wing extremist psycho killbot Nazi talk there, folks. You are not allowed to disagree with Democrats to suggest that their stranglehold on the government and the flushing of the country's economic future into the collective crapper is anything other than a divine gift from Obama that YOU WILL LOVE OR PAY THE PRICE.

Heh.

Next time Fergie is invited to the White House, count me in. However, do us all a favor next time and count the little kids out.

Pakistan President Zardari has officially signed off on shariah law for the SWAT region. It's only a matter of time before the whole of Pakistan is ruled by shariah law.

A cleric who helped mediate the "peace deal" said that imposing shariah law will give immunity to the taliban accused of brutal murders/crimes.

What kind of brutal murders/crimes will the taliban be free to carry out in the name of islamic law? Here is just a small sample....

Taliban murder would be elopers
Taliban whip 17 yo girl
Taliban behead Polish hostage
Taliban shoot alleged US spy
Taliban behead three in Pakistan
Taliban systematically terrorize civlians

Thats just a sample from this the beginning of this year.

AP

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's imposition of Islamic law to blunt a gathering Taliban rebellion will protect militants accused of brutal killings from prosecution, a hardline cleric who mediated the peace plan said Tuesday.[...]

President Asif Ali Zardari approved plans to introduce Islamic law, or Sharia, in Swat and nearby areas of the northwest on Monday under mounting domestic pressure on his pro-Western government.[...]

But critics worry that it rewards hard-liners who have beheaded political opponents and burned scores of schools for girls in the name of Islam — and that it will encourage similar demands in other parts of the nuclear-armed country.

Speaking of our real enemies, the Taliban have murdered two young lovers who were trying to elope. AP:

The woman, 19, and the man, 21, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of the southwestern province of Nimroz.

Riflemen in the remote district of Khash Rod shot the man and woman with AK-47s Monday during a public execution, said Sadiq Chakhansori, the chief of Nimroz' provincial council.

UPDATE: DMartyr poses an interesting question.

Our links in the sidebar is a right entirely reserved to the writers and editors of the Jawa Report. We love our readers. But asking us to take sides in any blogwar between lizzards and a nice set of ........ and/or anyone named "Robert"...... its just not gonna happen.

So cut it out....seriously.

UPDATE by Rusty: Here here!

I would just remind readers who the real enemies are: terrorists, Islamists, and their apologists.

Save your energies for the fights with our enemies, not with former friends who, in the end, are still allies in the fight.

Clarification by Rusty: No, there's no rift here. But followers of the blogs Howie mentions do know that there is a rift between them. From time to time we get asked to take sides. But, like I said, we want to save our energies for the real fight.

The way I see it, the DHS's new definition of "Right Wing Extremists" includes such vile characters as the man pictured. (to the right of course).

He was "mainly anti-government". Was driven by hatred of the rule of our beloved King George. Hated paying taxes. Rejected the Crown's authority in favor of state or local authority and/or rejected the King's government authority entirely.

Via Michelle Malkin(right wing extremist warning): Honk if you’re a radicalized rightwing extremist!

Guilty of rightwing extremist chatter

Anti-government, pro-freedom: Sue me

Ahhhhh.... Such a sweet sweet ballad of big brotherly love....I've finally won the battle with myself.....

(Upper Arco, Philippines) At least 40 Muslim Abu Sayyaf terrorists kidnapped two Christian men, Cosme Aballes and Ernan Chavez, last week from a village in Basilan Province.

Cosme Aballes' body was recovered Sunday by pursuing members of the Philippine Marines. Aballes' head and body had been separated.

Presumably, Ernan Chavez is still being held captive.

(Gardnerville, Nevada) Nineteen-year-old Heather Ann Grizoffi pleaded guilty to sexual seduction of a 14-year-old boy yesterday in Douglas County District Court.

As a result, Grizoffi was sentenced by Judge Michael Gibbons to 10 days in jail and fined $1,000. Then she was given credit for 10 days served when she was originally arrested.

Although she won't be spending time in jail, she was ordered to register as a sex offender which will likely be punishing her for a long time.

Yesterday's Babe Sex Offender

New regulations require businesses to submit odor management plans to the British Environment Agency and smell enforcement advisers will assess compliance. The legislation was enacted due to a rise in complaints which reportedly coincided with the rise in the number of composting sites and recycling centers.

Notably, rotting material at waste management firms is the single biggest source of complaints. Nonetheless, the new regulations apply to all businesses and residences.

Odour advisers will be selected for their selected for their sense of smell. One will be sent to each of the Agency's eight regions in England and Wales, where they will coordinate existing front-line pollution control officers to tackle unpleasant smells.

Under the scheme, pollution control officers are being sent on courses where their noses are "calibrated" by experts, a process which involves testing their responses to a range of odours.

Officers deemed to have a very keen sense of smell will be rejected, as will those whose sense of smell is too dull.

Only those with an average sensitivity to smell are being accepted to carry out odour work in "stench squads".

Frankly, I suggest the rankest stench coming out of the UK is dhimmitude but, unfortunately, it appears that no British noses can detect the odor. Readers might want to weigh in with additional irony.

April 13, 2009

In the spirit of telling the Obama Administration to go fuck itself, Jawa co-blogger kyros and I will be quitting smoking. Therefore, we will be denying Barack Obama and his merry band of looters our money to help fund the bloated expansion of S-CHIP, that lovely Federal health program that funds the uninsured children of America. Up to age 30, of course.

On tax day, April 15th, kyros and I will throw our smokes away, and will vow not to use any tobacco products from that day forward.

Rusty and Howie have also pledged to give up gay midget porn as well. God bless our friends.

Dear Federal Government, kyros and I are "going Galt" on your S-hitCHIP program.

Update The countdown begins............

"Give somebody a inch and they will take a mile" comes to mind, especially when that somebody is a communist.

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama lifted all travel limits for Cuban-Americans visiting family in Cuba as part of an administration push to promote “freedom” in the communist county.

The president yesterday also ended restrictions on how much money Cuban-Americans can send relatives there and eased the U.S. embargo against Cuba by allowing U.S. telecommunications companies such as AT&T Inc. to get licenses to operate in the island nation, administration officials said yesterday.

Recently, which may have led to this, the Congressional Black Caucas visited Cuba and had nothing but praise for this communist dictator:

UPDATE: Alex wrote both Howie and me claiming the image below isn't of him but of a relative. I have no way to verify what Alex really looks like, but he sends in these pics of Alex Stewart (aka, Al X; aka, Lion Bite).

Please don't harass Alex's relatives. They have no control over the complete douche that he's become.

-----------

Meet Alex Stewart. You may know him better as Revolutionmuslim.com's Al X.

He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He's a grad student at Georgia State University.

He supports jihad. He supports violence and the killing of American soldiers. He supports outlawing criticism of Mohammad and the implementation of sharia law in the United States.

He's a failed novelist. He's an aspiring school teacher.

He likes porn.

This is Alex Stewart.

Hi Alex. Say hi to Joey and Sammy for us!

UPDATE and ADVICE: Next time you watch porn with Yousef al-Khattab and Samir Khan, don't sit in the front row. I hope they paid for a new shirt.

The way this article reads, George Galloway was in Anaheim, Ca over the weekend. That means he's already here, or at least was last week. I'm not sure how this slipped past me.

More worrisome than this getting past me, given that we know he gave aid directly to Hamas, how did he get past ICE? Ikhwan:

British MP George Galloway is planning to lead a new humanitarian aid convoy to the Gaza Strip this time from the United States of America with the help of American activist Ron Kovik, the Palestine Telegraph electronic paper said.

Galloway announced the initiative at a 1000-strong meeting in Anaheim, South California, rounding off a packed-out, coast to coast speaking tour highlighting the Palestinian cause.

But it gets worse.

Unfortunately Galloway says he might move to the US:

may end up having to move to America to live in a country closer to what I believe in.

Who would have thought I would ever end up saying that? Having just toured it, and planning a vast US convoy to head for Gaza, I felt the fresh breeze of optimism Obama's victory has brought in its wake.

The convoy will be co-led by me and Ron Kovic, upon whose life the Tom Cruise epic Born On The Fourth Of July was based.

Thanks to Habibi HP

North Korea [has] become a central player in providing support for Middle East terror groups like Hizbullah.

Looks like Iran's and North Korea's partnership goes deeper than just ballistic missiles. Jerusalem Post

Thirty Israelis who were hurt during the Second Lebanon War filed suit on Friday against North Korea and Hizbullah for more than $100 million in Washington District Court, one of their lawyers, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner of the Israel Law Center, said Friday.

The plaintiffs, all of whom hold US citizenship, charged that North Korea trained senior Hizbullah officers and built a series of bunkers in south Lebanon to store Katyushas and other rockets that the Hizbullah used against Israel during the 2006 war, thwarting IAF efforts to locate launching pads.[...]

In the lawsuit, the complainants cite a congressional memorandum from May 8, 2008 that was passed on to the State Department, which describes one of the structures built by North Korea as "a 25-kilometer underground tunnel that Hizbullah used for moving its fighters."

The memorandum states that "Hizbullah's underground structures significantly improved its ability to fight against Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006."

Darshan-Leitner said that North Korea had become a central player in providing support for Middle East terror groups like Hizbullah.

MacRanger says he has a mil reader who sent him an email about Obama's visit to Iraq:

“We were pre-screened, asked by officials “Who voted for Obama?”, and then those who raised their hands were shuffled to the front of the receiving line. They even handed out digital cameras and asked them to hold them up.”

Take a look at the picture at AP and notice all the cameras are the same models? Coincidence? I think not.

But still, asking for Obama voters to come front and center? Imagine if Bush had done this. The press would have had a field day.

Thanks to SH.

As a lifelong South Jersey-Philly resident, Phillies fan and fan of Harry the K, I'm stunned and in tears. I grew up listening to this guy - he was the best.

The game will never be the same for me. For the uninitiated, Harry's calling the last out for posterity the right and color commentator Chris Wheeler is thrashing around on the left. Ignore Wheels. RIP, K-man.

Who wouda thunk the evil Juice sponsoring Somalia piracy so they can take over the Red Sea and name it Lake of the Juice or something like that.

h/t Alouette

I'm not sure what President Obama's orders were. I know when Captain Phillips tried to escape the first time, no one was there to help him.

There is quite a bit of discussion around the internet of what did President Obama order and when did he order it? I'm not too worried about that. My only concern is the outcome. My post from Friday is generating a bit of you know, mail..

If you people out there want me to apologize for how I saw things at the time, you can wait till the cows come home. I'll not apologize for what, at the time, I feel was a valid criticism. No need to.

In my post I said the President Obama was going to have to make a call, and the situation was not going to get any better. I stand by that statement.

To whatever extent President Obama's orders were involved Kudos to him. That's the presidents job and he gets credit for the success of this operation (not as much as the Seals who took the shots but he is Commander in Chief).

I support the call he made and the actions of our fine military for a great success. Had the operation not turned out so well, I'd still praise Obama for trying.

We had comments that the French had made an err because one hostage was killed in the rescue. I disagree, the blood of the dead French hostage is on the hands of the pirates. Not those who tried and did rescue 4 out of the 5 hostages.

So does Obama get credit? Why yes, yes he does. I'm, glad it turned out this way. And that's why we have a president for days like yesterday. That's the most important aspect of his job. Much less so than taxing us and turning us into a coughneocommiecoughwelfarestatechoke.

Now this operation and ones Mr. Obama may have to make calls on in the future may or may not go as well. But so long as Mr. Obama stands up and does his best and does not bow or cow down to terrorists and pirates and preserves America's principals on issues like this, I stand behind him, regardless of how the luck of the moment turns.

On issues like this one we all have the same interest. That may not be so on so many other issues in which I will/can not support Obama's policies.

But for today I say to Mr. Obama, Great kid! Don't get cocky.

Oh and a message to Dan from NY below the fold.

LICK ME

A new video shows America's only indicted traitor, Adam Gadahn, railing on and on with paranoid conspiracy theories. We have the video which was released on the usual Islamic forums last night. Expect updates as Howie is currently uploading the video. [UPDATE: Video added at end of post]

The video is titled, "How to prevent a repeat of the Gaza holocaust." Gadahn is only one of the al Qaeda spokesmen on the video.

Interestingly, the video was released with an accompanying document which the forums label a "handbook" entitled "route clearance". I'm downloading the handbook now. No idea what it is.

In the video Gadahn can be seen sitting at a table in what looks like a tent. He claims the economic crisis is Allah's punishment on American. Apparently the dirt poor conditions of much of the Islamic world goes unnoticed by the Orange County, California native.

Expect updates. We should have the video up soon. I haven't watched the whole thing through yet. Might have more commentary when I do.

Thanks to Laura Mansfield for the tip and the vid.

UPDATE: So I downloaded the "route clearance" document. It's actually a U.S. Army publication from the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) from 2006. It has "Sgt. McBean" written on it as if it belonged to a soldier at one time. Weird.

UPDATE: Synopsis of video narrated by Gadahn.

America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Bombed North Vietnam. America is evil. Yadayada.

There's a lot of stock footage from old anti-war propaganda. Looks like Gadahn has been reading a lot of Chomsky lately.

Stupid depleted uranium conspiracy theories. Hey, idiots, there's a reason it's called depleted.

Evil America kills civilians in Afghanistan. America is presented as intentionally killing civilians. Al Qaeda, says Gadahn, doesn't.

The theme of the video seems to be exactly in line with the Leftist version of history: America is bad, mmmkay.

In fact, at some points, Gadahn seems to have taken some anti-war documentary and inserted it wholesale for several minutes. One journalist shown is Norman Solomon.

Solomon produced a video called "War Made Easy" which featured Sean Penn traveling through Iraq. I haven't seen the video, but this might be where Gadahn and the other al Qaeda members who work in the media department took the video from.

It's also a reflection of how terrorists use Leftist criticisms of American power to their own advantage.

Also, Sean Penn is a prick. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

UPDATE: Gadahn finally is shown. Obama is just a continuation of the relationship between the forces of evil: Israel and the US

Charles Freeman's withdrawal shows influence of Jewish lobby. Gadahn claims that the Zionist lobby is behind a campaign to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people.

It's funny that only when talking about the evil Jews that Gadahn, born a Jew, thinks it's important enough to merit his appearance.

Super funny moment: Gadahn shows the Vice-Presidential debates and has a long winded speech by Joe Biden. When the camera pans over to show Sarah Palin, she's blurred out.

Sarah Palin: too hot for al Qaeda!

UPDATE: Gadahn makes another appearance. This time he quotes John Perkins phrase "corporatocracy" from his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" to describe the Jewis corporations that run American foreign policy.

Gadahn actually has both of Perkins' books, including his book The Secret History of American Empire, on the desk as he talks. More evidence of the convergence of the extreme Left and Islamist terrorists.

Where did Gadahn pick up these books? Does Amazon.com deliver to Waziristan?

UPDATE: I'm over halfway through the 1.5 hour long propaganda film. After about 1/3 of the way it just seems to be old footage of bin Laden, battle scenes, al Libi. In other words, a lot of the video is just old stuff.

UPDATE: Okay, about an hour in Gadahn comes back on and begins to talk about the CALL document. He claims the fact that Americans are dying in Iraq is proof that the US isn't following the advice of the document, which talks about how to avoid IED attacks. This shows, claims Gadahn, that America has not learned its lessons.

Really, Adam? How many Americans have been killed in Iraq over the last month? Isn't the answer two?

Adam Gadahn really is a moron.

Also, earlier I had reported that Gadahn seemed to be in a tent. Actually, it looks like he's just draped tan canvas over the walls.

UPDATE: Interesting. About 1:10 into it, video is shown of al Qaeda members training for an attack on a US base -- they claim its Camp Salerno. The fighters are dressed in what appear to be regular military uniforms, including helmets. They look indistinguishable from ANA personnel.

I wonder if dressing as ANA is a ruse or if al Qaeda is now taking itself seriously as an "army" and now trying to dress the part?

UPDATE: Video ends with Osama bin Laden begging for money. Serious.

I imagine Gadahn is too stupid to see the contradictions here. That he starts the video claiming the recession is evidence that God hates America, yet ends the video with a plea from bin Laden for more money.

UPDATE: Sorry, Howie and I keep rebuilding at the same time which erases what the other is doing. Here's the video again.

I'm not saying I know exactly where Gadahn is, but this latest release actually gives us good reason to think he's still in the greater Afghanistan/Pakistan area. Trust me, there's more here than meets the eye.

Not that we didn't suspect that any way, but we can pretty much rule out anywhere outside the area now. Which was a fear given that for awhile we didn't where he was and there was at least some minor concern that he would show up in Europe, or worse.

*Some human rights activists have been fighting desperately to save her life. Sadly, the friggin mullah's enjoy hanging innocent women:

She was under 18 at time of the alleged crime
NCRI - The mullahs' Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Delara Darabi, a 23-year-old female artist. She will face the gallows soon.

Darabi has been serving time since she was 17. The ruling clerics first tried and sentenced her to death in Juvenile Court in the northern city of Rasht.

However, the human rights activists managed to force the mullahs' judiciary to put a temporary hold on her death sentence.

Her paintings have drawn considerable attention both domestically and internationally. Human rights activists have been instrumental in holding exhibitions of her arts to help her case.

Ms. Sarvnaz Chitsaz, Chair of the NCRI's Women's Committee, described Darabi's death sentence as criminal since she was under 18 at the time of the alleged crime. She also called on all international human rights organizations and women's rights activists, in particular the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to adopt urgent binding measures to stop Darabi's execution.

Read Delara's story here.

h/t leapofaith

Update: To further clarify, she does need to be punished but not by hanging, especially when the alleged crime took place when she was under 18. See Stop Child Executions.

Freaking hilarious. The amount of pure psychobabble bullsh*t that Obama and his cronies in Congress and elswhere spew is staggering, and this presents it in rapid fire until you're punch drunk and laughing hysterically by the end of it.

Highly recommended.

Terrorist showing their anger over release of Captain Phillips, good thing they were lousy shots.

NJ News: New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne flies from Mogadishu, depite[sic] mortar fire

Update: al-Reuters is reporting al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab behind attack.

Joe and Mrs. Khattab*.

Thanks to Garett.

*I believe Youssef al-Khattab's wife's name is Goat Lee. Rumor has it she's a nasheed expert.**

**If you're wondering, this is some inside baseball lingo directed at some eHadis.

The 11th was the fourth anniversary of the kidnapping of Jeffrey Ake in Iraq. He remains unaccounted for to this day.

More here at Jeff Ake.com.

Our thoughts go out to Jeff's family and friends.

I have spoken to the lads out in Iraq and as they have now moved away from Um Qasr they tell me that they had a very well attended and slightly emotional handover of Sandbag to the Royal Navy who have promised to look after him. He has already settled down well with them.

Unfortunately it didn't work out. Sniff...., again, thank you.

Update III: Contacted again by the Regiment Secretary of the QRH. Apparently Sandbag is a feral dog, which posed a problem for bringing him back to the UK.
From the PDF

"SHAGGY DOG STORY BECOMES SALTY SEA DOG

Sandbag the feral dog who has adopted troops of B Squadron of the Queens Royal Hussars in the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr has been handed over to the Royal Navy in a short ceremony earlier today.

Captain Graham Charlesworth Royal Navy took over Sandbag from Major Paul Cox of the Queens Royal Hussars (QRH) at the British base at North Port, Umm Qasr.

All the members of the QRH, even Sandbag’s most ardent admirers, were at pains to point out that re-homing Sandbag in the UK was not practical. He is a completely feral dog and not merely a Your browser may not support display of this image.stray. Although he has befriended some of the British soldiers, he can still be aggressive towards humans and he will attack other dogs on sight.

Captain Charlesworth, who is the Port Rehabilitation Officer, said:

“Sandbag is a feral dog; his home is in the port and he visits the QRH often. If he continues to visit UK forces after the QRH leave he will be sure of a warm welcome”.

Major Cox said: “Sandbag has been a great friend and protector to the British forces at Umm Qasr Port; we share the public’s fondness and concern for Sandbag but this is his rightful home”

Photos credit: CPL Dylan Browne RAF

I have a soft spot for animals that protect ours and coalition troops. I know the rules, but....he has been vaccinated and all the British troops want is for the quarantine fee to be waived.

British troops fear for fate of mascot Sandbag the dog who could be killed when they leave Iraq. Rumour has it that Sandbag the dog has survived being shot five times.

But the British soldiers in Iraq who have adopted him as a camp mascot fear he will not last long after they return to the UK at the end of this month. They are worried he will be put down by local Iraqis or killed by other dogs when they leave.

Sandbag got his name for his golden coat and because he protects the men of B Squadron of the Queen's Royal Hussars from stray dogs around their base at the southern port of Umm Qasr. A true military dog, he loves helicopters and often follows the troops out on patrol[..]

Sandbag is not the only animal to make the base their home. There is also Hesco the cat, named after the sand-filled blast walls on top of which the feline likes to sleep.

The soldiers from the Queen's Royal Hussars, based at Paderborn in Germany, are now trying to work out a way of saving Sandbag when they hand the base over to the Americans at the end of this month[I know our guys would take care of him if need be..ed]

The men investigated getting the much-loved mascot flown back to Britain, but discovered it would cost several thousand pounds to put him in quarantine.

He also bears scars from numerous scraps with other dogs and - according to base legend - several bullet wounds.

There must be some animal groups in the UK as there are here in America that would make it possible for Sandbag to leave Iraq. Anyone know?

h/t I-slam To Pieces

Thanks to TSO's help this may become a reality for the soldiers. Big problem though, no direct contact for them. I tried the "contact" link at the official Queen's Royal Hussars website. Nothing back yet.

Spotty in comments also has given info that I am working on - Pals of Nowzad

British readers, have any contact info for the soldiers?

Hope everyone had a happy Easter.

First a little salute to our Navy Seal Snipers.. Who was in comments saying something about "it can't be done"????

3 shots. 3 KILLS!

f*CK YEAH!!

K, well there's work to be done as well as a new video from that fat traitor Adam Ghadan coming up....

Oh and don't click on the greatest NSFW video of all time....EVAH!

Apparently al-Shabaab leader Abu Mansur has accused current interim President, Sharif Ahmed, of selling the sea to Kenya. I suppose this is the excuse he uses for praising the Somali pirates for protecting their coastline. Be sure to read it all, some crazy shite right there.

From Terror Free Somalia.

Terrorist leaders in southern Somalia associated with Islamist factions have hailed recent pirate attacks off the coast of the Horn of Africa region, Radio Garowe reports. In separate comments, Terrorist al-Shabaab,spokesman jehadist Muktar Robow "Abu Mansur" and Ras Kamboni Brigade leader Sheikh Hassan Abdullahi "Turki" have hailed ship-hijackings by Somali pirates.In Baidoa, capital of Bay region, Abu Mansur told reporters that the pirates are "protecting the Somali coast."

20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' [1] head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, [2] “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

My your Easter Day be as blessed as mine.

April 12, 2009

Just came across the wires, no link yet.

Thanks to Newbie.

Update:Short blurb from Fox News:

U.S. intelligence official says American sea captain rescued from Somali pirates.

Three pirates were killed and one is in custody, the official said.

Update the second

Fox is reporting that he dove overboard a second time, and this time the Navy was ready for it.

Update by Stable Hand: FNC has update.

April 11, 2009

F**k ya!, see Breaking: Captain Free, Three Pirates Dead, One Captured

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pirates off the eastern coast of Africa fired on U.S. sailors Saturday as they tried to reach the lifeboat where an American captain is being held, a U.S. official familiar with the situation told CNN.

The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, to turn back, the official said.

The incident took place some 12 hours ago as the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge sent a small team toward the lifeboat, said the official.

One of the bastages hijacked ships they were using to help their buds was turned back today. heh

The German ship Hansa Stavanger(pictured) was among several pirated vessels trying to sail to the area some 300 miles off the Somali coast, a Somali journalist told CNN.

The pirate crew had intended to help the pirates holding Phillips but turned back because of the U.S. naval presence, the journalist said. The Hansa Stavanger is now at the Somali port of Eyl, the journalist said.

As I noted before, the last thing we need is the pirates taking Captain Phillips to the Somalia mainland. A former Somali pirate hostage, Telegraphs foreign correspondent Charles Freeman, had this to say:

Had the pirates got the sailors onto the Somali mainland, it could have been the worst US hostage crisis since the storming of the American Embassy in 1979.

There are, after all, plenty of Somalis who'd have been willing to pay the pirates good money for their catch - not least the hardline al shebab Islamist movement[? U.S. designated terrorist organization..ed], whose alleged[?] links to al Qaeda have seen them targeted by US missiles.

I hope and pray this ends soon and Captain Phillips is reunited with his family.

Update: According to this story the lifeboat does have fuel. It was reportedly earlier it didn't. Unsure which is true:

[...]Sources added that, contrary to earlier news reports, the pirates had fuel on the lifeboat and had used it to move within 20 miles off the African coast.

Update II: Below the fold:

From the original link:

Maersk also announced today it had set up an e-mail address "where concerned persons from around the world may send messages of support for the captain, crew and families of the Maersk Alabama."

People were invited to send their thoughts to maersklinelimited.com

"We would like to recognize all the expressions of support received already," the company said as it disclosed the e-mail address Saturday.

To: Abu Abdullah as-Sayf
From: Jawa Sniper Team
RE: Holocaust & Jihad Shirts

Dear Abu Abdullah as-Sayf,

I notice that your jihad swag is no longer for sale. I hope this doesn't deter you from wearing one of your own shirts. Seriously, wear the shirt.

Yours truly,
Jawa Sniper Team

PS--

Drudge links to this disturbing article regarding the arguments among Obama's team in regards to al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab. Some want to strike al-Shabaab's training camps while others want a non military, more patient approach. The reasoning for the later?

Senior Obama administration officials are debating how to address a potential terrorist threat to U.S. interests from a Somali extremist group, with some in the military advocating strikes against its training camps. But many officials maintain that uncertainty about the intentions of the al-Shabab organization

Obama can't vote present on this one and it is showing.

The newness of the Obama administration, one senior military official, has slowed the decision process even more.

They are "walking slowly," the official said, "and for the players with continuity, the frustration continues to grow."

But many on the national security team insist that it is their caution and willingness to consider all aspects of the situation that differentiate them from the overly aggressive posture of the Bush administration that they say exacerbated the terrorist threat.

UPDATE by Rusty: I was actually working on a post on this at the same time SH was, so let me just add a couple of thoughts.

What is most troubling is that it seems that the Obama administration isn't clear as to Shabaab's intentions. Not knowing the best response to terrorist groups is one thing, but not understanding intentions is quite another.

The intentions of Shabaab are crystal clear: the establishment of Taliban like sharia in Somalia, and the spread of that type of government abroad.

Of course Shabaab has its eyes outside of Somalia. Just ask the people in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Some analysts confuse the motivations of those fighting for Shabaab with organizational goals. I'm afraid this confusion has now reached the White House.

The confusion stems from the fact that many fighting for the Shabaab against the Ethiopian occupation force were motivated to some extent out of nationalism.

But so what? The motivation of street-level fighters tells us little as to the goals of the organization they fight for.

The goal of many terrorists may be even less sophisticated than nationalism. I'm sure that some fight for the promise of three squares a day.

This may inform us as to how to respond to individual members of a terrorist group. It may even help us craft strategies for splitting the fragile coalitions that make up insurgencies, as we did in Iraq. But it tells us absolutely nothing about the organization itself, or what its goals are.

I would also point out that just because some in the Shabaab movement are not interested in global jihad, this does not mean that none of them are.

Clearly, the video showing Abu Mansoor al-Amriki and other English speakers fighting in Somalia should give rise to concern about their motivations. They did not go there to fight for Somalia, they went there to fight for Islam against the kuffar.

Surely this gives us a glimpse into the motivation of many Shabaab fighters, and that motivation is no different than jihadis found in any of al Qaeda's global affiliates.

UPDATE 4/13: Steve Schippert has related thoughts here: Getting Past Somalia Inanity

Related: Al Qaeda's Africa Strategy #6: Disrupt Western Shipping

Marisa at Making Sense of Jihad reprints a summary of Abu Azzam al-Ansari's 2006 discourse outlining al Qaeda's Africa strategy. With the world's attention finally focused on Somalia, it would be wise for policy makers to pay close attention to point #6:

6 Western interests use Africa’s “maritime routes” to transfer weapons and equipment” and “use these routes to shift oil to the rest of the world. Targeting these routes will be fatal for the Crusaders…”

Surreal. The freakiest part? The soundtrack. Apparently the pirates have no objection to piping music over the ship's system. I'm guessing the music is Turkish, unless you imagine the Somalis bringing a CD case full of tunes with them. Now that would be super-freaky-deaky.

The point of the video, says Wired, is for the pirates to offer proof to the shipping company that all their goods are in tact. Proof of life, if you will.

If you go to the unedited version at the Wired story you'll notice deck chairs about a minute in. Look at them closely. Are those beach towels on them?

So, after a hard day work what's a pirate to do other than listen to some tunes, sip a mai tai, and catch some rays? Oh, the pirate life for me!

You'll also notice that the hostages seem to be all over the boat. At least I assume the non-Somali looking people are the Turkish hostages. They appear to be bored.

Thanks to Steve.

Apparently this journalist wasn't aware of Godwin's law before making a fool of herself.

What?

h/t HA

Related: The real Billy Bob Thorton ("I don't know what you mean") On Q TV below fold:

"Don't talk about shit like that"

April 10, 2009

Damn good thing the fence wasn't electric.

Nice to see someone expose this bastage organization.

Fred Fry has more.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)

Now, I don't know about you, but if I was married to a woman who had just murdered her infant niece, the last thing I'd be complaining about was the fact that her mug shot was taken without proper Islamic attire.

But maybe that's just me? I'm weird like that.

Update: Oops, read that wrong. It was her niece, not her daughter. But still, dude, that's f*cked up right there!

My sentiments exactly.

From Jerusalem Post

Like it or not, the United States of America is no longer the world's policeman. This was the message of Barack Obama's presidential journey to Britain, France, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Iraq this past week.

Somewhere between apologizing for American history - both distant and recent; genuflecting before the unelected, bigoted king of Saudi Arabia; announcing that he will slash the US's nuclear arsenal, scrap much of America's missile defense programs and emasculate the US Navy; leaving Japan to face North Korea and China alone; telling the Czechs, Poles and their fellow former Soviet colonies, "Don't worry, be happy," as he leaves them to Moscow's tender mercies; humiliating Iraq's leaders while kowtowing to Iran; preparing for an open confrontation with Israel; and thanking Islam for its great contribution to American history, President Obama made clear to the world's aggressors that America will not be confronting them for the foreseeable future.

Whether they are aggressors like Russia, proliferators like North Korea, terror exporters like nuclear-armed Pakistan or would-be genocidal-terror-supporting nuclear states like Iran, today, under the new administration, none of them has any reason to fear Washington.

Viva la-France!

Via CNN:(CNN) -- A French hostage and two pirates died Friday in a rescue operation off Somalia's coastline, the French president's office in Paris said Friday.

Four hostages, including a child, were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity, Nicolas Sarkozy's office said.

The French military decided to move in when pirates refused their offers and increased threats against the hostages, it said.

The four adults and a child had been held aboard their yacht, the Tanit, since it was seized in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the president's statement said.

I'm upset that apparently no one was in the water ready to help Captain Phillips when he jumped overboard in the middle of the night last night. I'm sure Obi-One is taking the best advice he can get. But at some point Mr. President you have to make a call. The risk is not going to get any lower.

I've never felt ashamed of my country, but I'm starting to get close.

RIP America.

This tugs on my heart strings. Damn, If only our snipers had their scopes on these arseholes heads, the standoff would have been over. This sucks testes.

A Somali negotiator said Friday pirates holding American ship captain Richard Phillips hostage want a $2 million ransom and are ready to kill Phillips if attacked.

The announcement by the unidentified Somali, who helped negotiate a ransom paid last year to pirates who seized a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks, comes the same day Phillips was recaptured after he made an escape attempt from the life boat where he is being held hostage.

The negotiator said he has spoken with a pirate leader on the ground in Somalia who is coordinating action on the lifeboat adrift in the Indian Ocean. He says the plan is to get the hostage to shore to negotiate from a better position.

Sometime overnight, captain Phillips got away for a short period, and jumped off the lifeboat in an attempt to swim away, probably managing to escape through the lifeboat's backdoor. The drama was witnessed at some distance by the U.S. Navy, but it reportedly happened so quickly they could not provide assistance.

Defense officials said that one of the pirates fired an automatic weapon when Phillips tried to swim to safet,[sic] but it was not clear whether the pirate fired at the fleeing hostage, or into the air.

Also on Friday officials said other pirates sought to reinforce their colleagues by sailing hijacked ships with other captives aboard to the scene of the standoff.[...]

Mohamed Samaw, a resident of the pirate stronghold in Eyl, Somalia, who claims to have a "share" in a British-owned ship hijacked Monday, said four foreign ships held by pirates are heading toward the lifeboat. A total of 54 hostages are on two of the ships — citizens of China, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Tuvalu, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Getting Phillips to shore would be devastating, alQaeda linked al-Shabaab would undoubtedly join in.

Harry's Place brings us the good news that the American born Anwar al Awlaki will be speaking in London. If you follow the English speaking jihadis, you'd know that the American born Awlaki is by far the most popular pro-al Qaeda cleric with street cred.

If that wasn't bad enough, the event will be held in a government owned facility.

British tax dollars hard at work!

(Boca Raton, Florida) Hot babe teacher, 26-year-old Allison Dinsmore, allegedly killed two cats by slow, excruciating starvation. Felony cruelty charges have been filed.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are outraged. A petition drive has been launched to can Dinsmore, now known as the cat-snuffer.

In her defense, Dinsmore's lawyer said she was a "victim of an abusive situation."

... of why Google sucks ass.

It's called Yuri's Night, and if you already know what Yuri's Night is then let me be the first to offer you my condolences on your involuntary state of perpetual celibacy.

Despite Yuri's Night Executive Director Loretta Whiteside dressed up as metal bikini Leah, there's no way any of you are getting any. No, the Storm Trooper outfit does not make you an alpha male. Let's face it, she probably went home with one of the bouncers.

Thanks to Flea.

Geesh.... I hope he paid for that out of his own pocket.

What is there no decent pizza in DC?

It appears that pure left bloggers are puckered with the Democrat Party and activist groups for not pumping advertising dollars their way.

Some of the leading liberal bloggers are privately furious with the major progressive groups — and in some cases, the Democratic Party committees — for failing to spend money advertising on their sites, even as these groups constantly ask the bloggers for free assistance in driving their message.

But there's more as another source sees the liberal blogosphere's frustration as threatening.

The implicit threat—maybe we'll stop promoting your stuff!—is nothing short of a shakedown. [...]

The bloggers complained that liberal advocacy groups have no problem buying $50,000 ads in the New York Times, or making huge television ad buys. But the little guys who do all the work get nothing!

Regarding the imagined threat to the Democrat establishment from the liberal bloggers, it's not clear what they could do. I don't think they'll change stripes and start supporting conservative viewpoints. Liberals are ideologically tattooed with utopianism.

In summary, although liberal bloggers are described as privately furious, they are whining in public about being taken for granted by Democrat movers and shakers. To hell with hopey changey, they want cash.

Original for links.

"We are not afraid of the Americans,"

I wonder why. The Navy has sent destroyers to the region yet pirates are still hijacking ships and taking people hostage. It's because the pirates know the warships won't do anything other than observe and monitor the situation. When was the last time the US Navy killed let alone shot at a pirate? Might have been a couple of centuries ago.

From Reuters

"We are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone on behalf of the gang holding Phillips far off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean.

"We will defend ourselves if attacked."

Despite their defiant talk, maritime groups tracking the saga -- the first time Somali pirates have captured an American -- say a more likely outcome is a negotiated solution, possibly involving safe passage in exchange for their captive.

The gang is also seeking a ransom, friends say.[...]

"They will release the captain, I think, maybe today or tomorrow, but in exchange for something. Maybe some payment or compensation, and definitely free passage back home."

That's for the benefit of the 47% of Americans who either don't know which is better, or who think that North Korea's road is the better of the two.

And since North Korea's in the news again, Kim "So Ronrey" Jong Il has appeared in puiblic for the first time since disappearing after reports of a stroke in August. He more closely resembles the Team America puppet these days - haggard, older-looking and thinner.

In other words, more like his subjects.

This morning Nick Thompson from Wired was on CNN discussing jihadi websites, specifically our recent takedown of several Taliban websites illegally hosted in the US. I hear that there were screenshots of The Jawa Report and mention of our little blog by name.

Too bad face time on one of the news networks never translates into hits. Oh well, life is like that.

But if any one happened to capture the segment it would be good for our collective egos if you could forward us the video.

Also, Nick discusses the counter-cyber jihad in a post over at Wired's Danger Room today. Unlike the Washington Post, Wired knows how to link.

He offers some interesting advice on the balancing act inherent in efforts to shut down the cyber jihad:

With static propaganda sites like toorabora, it probably makes sense to shut them down. The intel you can gather is fairly limited---the IP address of the people posting and the IP addresses of people visiting---and the signal to noise ratio is low. With chat and discussion sites, however, the bias should be toward monitoring them and gathering as much data as we can. Government officials can do this; so can smart, crafty, freelance anti-terrorists.

Nick also throws in a quote from some dude named "Aaron Weisburd" about seizing the domains of terrorists as assets and redirecting the jihadis to FBI.gov. I have a better idea: redirect them to whithouse.com (NSFW).

It's exactly that kind of out-of-the box thinking that assures this Weisburd fellow that he'll never land a government job! Note to Juicemeister: keep a lid on ideas.

First Obama giggles during a 60 minute interview, now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughs at the idea of battling pirates.

April 09, 2009

Update but Howie: The Toora Bora site's DNS record has been pulled by Websouls. The site was hosted on The Planet. But we'll take a DNS record over hosting any day.

http://Toorabora.com = [ ]

Impressive!

Still two main sites remaining and we've dug up yet more we'll get to at a later date.

Sort of. Thanks Washington Post for noticing the ongoing problem of U.S. based webservers hosting terrorist websites, but don't you think you could have mentioned us by name rather than calling us a blogger? And you don't know how to link?

Two can play at that game.

A paper:

On March 25, a Taliban Web site claiming to be the voice of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" boasted of a deadly new attack on coalition forces in that country. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush, the site claimed, and the "mujahideen took the weapons and ammunition as booty."

Most remarkable about the message was how it was delivered. The words were the Taliban's, but they were flashed around the globe by an American-owned firm located in a leafy corner of downtown Houston.

The Texas company, a Web-hosting outfit called ThePlanet, says it simply rented cyberspace to the group and had no clue about its Taliban connections. For more than a year, the militant group used the site to rally its followers and keep a running tally of suicide bombings, rocket attacks and raids against U.S. and allied troops. The cost of the service: roughly $70 a month, payable by credit card.

The Taliban's account was pulled last week when a blogger noticed the connection and called attention to it.

FYI: We knew about the website the whole time. And it wasn't hosted at The Planet for a year, only for the past few months.

We had our reasons.

More from a paper:

"You can learn a lot from the enemy by watching them chat online," said Martin Libicki, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit research organization. Libicki said the bloggers rarely spill secrets, and most are "probably using this more for public affairs rather than recruitment."

"Public affairs," in many cases, means blatantly anti-Western invective and propaganda.

The more interactive a website the more intel can be gleaned from it.

They then name the website which we helped take down a couple of weeks ago, but the author noticed a website that wasn't on my radar screen:

Another Taliban Web site, http://Toorabora.com, continues to operate, using the services of Free Web Town, a user-friendly template service run by Atlanta-based Tulix Systems. The group's site features regular updates about purported attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces and occasional interviews with Taliban leaders and commanders in English and the regional languages of Dari and Pashto.

In fact Tulix, the Atlanta based company which owns Free Web Town, is the most responsive host to complaints about terror websites. ThePlanet is one of the slowest.

But Toorabora.com is actually hosted by which one?

=74.53.203.66 = ThePlanet.com Internet Services Inc.
Houston, TX
abuse@theplanet.com
1-281-714-3560

(Update: The Toora Bora site has lost DNS so who hosts it is kinda irrelevant now. You can complain to The Planet about the other two sites left on this post.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More from a paper:

The site is associated with a Taliban group known as the Tora Bora Front...

Except that the "reports" come from "Qari Sajjad" rather than "Qari Yousef Muhammad" or "Zabihullah Mujahid".

A paper:

Yvonne Donaldson, spokeswoman for ThePlanet, said the firm cannot afford to monitor every site and instead reacts to complaints, as it did in the case of alemarrah1.com. "If the complaint is credible, we notify the authorities," she said.

A paper ends with this:

Or sometimes even sooner. The Taliban's alemarrah1 site, which disappeared from its old location Friday, appeared again on Tuesday under a slightly altered name.

When the website didn't come down, I sent out my own complaints to the New York based webhost. As of this writing, The Voice of Jihad, the official propaganda outlet for "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" -- what the Taliban call their shadow government -- is still up.

Below you'll find relevant e-mail and phone numbers to file complaints. At the end of this post is a sample letter. Keep in mind, as the article from a paper mentions, most webhosts use automatic registration systems which means they are usually unaware who is using their servers.

This does not excuse them for breaking the law, it just means that they are usually unwitting accomplices.

Oh, and thanks to our moral betters at the WaPo for not bothering to try to contact me about the story. You guys are really awesome and way more qualified to break important stories like this than we lowly bloggers.

After all, you went to journalism school and all I am is a blogger with a PhD.

UPDATE: When did Fox News start shilling for The Washington Post?

Update II by Howie: Two Taliban websites that were actually on Free Web Town have been removed PWN3D!.

They were:

http://www.freewebtown.com/lalbadsha/felmona1.htm
http://www.freewebtown.com/taranetarane

Free Web Town removed them in a matter of hours, heh much faster than The Planet performs on these issues. We've been meaning to go get them and today brought a good opportunity.

Thanks to Tom.
------------------------------------

Here's the contact info for the providers of the remaining Taliban websites .

The Voice of Jihad = http://alemarah1.org/ and http://www.shahamat.org/
Webhost (where the physical server is) = 76.74.186.4 = Peer 1 Network Inc, New York, NY
1-604-484-2588
abuse@peer1.net

Peer 1 appears to be owned by a Canadian company canadianwebhosting.com. This company is also the DNS provider, which points browsers to the Taliban's website. No DNS, no readers.
iDIGITAL Internet Inc.
829 - 6081 No 3 Road
Richmond, BC V6Y2B2
1-888-821-7888
support@canadianwebhosting.com

Toora Bora offshott of Taliban:
Toorabora.com =74.53.203.66 = ThePlanet.com Internet Services Inc.
Houston, TX
abuse@theplanet.com
1-281-714-3560

Update: The Toorabora.com site has been PWNED. Websouls pulled their DNS record. The site was hosted on The Planet who has not removed the other two. But we'll take a DNS record any day.

http://Toorabora.com = [ ]

Impressive!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are more companies involved, such as Tucows who registered them and privacypost which helps mask the identities of the Taliban, but I don't have nay more time to work on this post. Feel free to leave additional contact information in comments.

Here's the sample letter of complaint:

You are the host of record for shahamat.org & alemarah1.org (= 76.74.186.4 = Peer 1 Network Inc.).

This is the OFFICIAL Website of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (better known as the Afghan Taliban).

See English language page for evidence: http://alemarah1.org/english/

Providing business services, even free ones, to the Taliban violates the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in the US. Each IEEPA violation of carries a fine of up to $250,000.

Providing business services to the Taliban also violates the Charter of the United Nations (Anti-terrorism — Persons and Entities) List, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 of which Canada & the US have recognized as a legally binding resolution.

It also violates UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1267, of which Canada & the US recognize as binding law. "Asset holders are under an obligation to freeze the assets or economic resources of persons involved in terrorism as listed in the Consolidated List", of which the Taliban are listed.

In addition, the website contains fraudulent registry data.

Please remove it without further delay!

He keeps spamming the threads, apparently he wants us to know this is to the Jews
Guest is a ghey lover/puppet for Jewish convert to Islam and terrorist sympathizer Joesph Cohen aka Yousef al-Khattab.

Passover is upon us and well ghey Joey can't let it pass....without indirectly threatening Jews.....yawn.

Have fun getting off on a box of juice pervert.

Naturally Reuters are in direct contact with the arseholes holding Captain Phillips hostage:

[...]Reached by Reuters via satellite phone, the pirates on the lifeboat sounded desperate as they watched a US warship and other foreign naval vessels close to them. "We are surrounded by warships and don't have time to talk," one said. "Please pray for us."[...]

Update: Here is Howie's prayer:

OK not problem.

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Please make our sailors aim right and true as they target these terrorist pirates.

Protect Captain Phillips as the frog men slit the throats of the remaining four.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

The pirates are sending in their troops

In Haradheere port, a pirate stronghold, an associate of the gang said the gunmen were armed and ready to defend themselves.

"Our friends are still holding the captain but they cannot move, they are afraid of the warships," he told Reuters. "We want a ransom and of course the captain is our shield. The warships might not destroy the boat as long as he is on board." Pirates there said two boats full of gunmen had left the port to go and support their surrounded colleagues. "We are afraid warships will destroy them before they reach the scene," one told Reuters. -

Update: Interesting article at the Guardian with more detailed info: Somali pirates pick on the wrong ship.

Update II: USS Halyburton (pictured) is on it's way to join the warship Bainbridge.Some leftist such as Democratic Underground(whom I won't link) are associating the name to Halliburton/Cheney. Making jokes as if the fate of this captain doesn't matter. Sick bastages.

Previous:
Maersk Alabama Update"
Somali Pirates Hijack Maersk Alabama: Updated Crew Takes Ship Back! (Updated)

In cold blood.

For fun.

Link.

The names of the perpetrators:

Michael John Edmonds II, 21, and Alfonzo Hernandez, 24, both of New Waverly, are charged with cruelty to nonlivestock animals.

A Thursday staple here:

Related:
Steven Crowder: My Formal American Apology

National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSJ) have reported:

Al-Shabaab forces controlling south-western regions of Somalia ordered the management of the radio to shut down the FM station around 07:00am this morning, according to journalists working at Radio Mandeeq.

The management of the station were also instructed to come to headquarters of Al-Shabaab in Baladhawo. According to Radio management, the Al-Shabaab officials stated that the Radio will remain off air for 24 hours and the management of the Radio must present to Al-Shabaab all their programs that they have been airing and the schedule of the daily program, according to Maandeeq Radio station management, though they refused to present.

U.S. Checking for Terror Ties in Pirate Hijacking

If you look at the clan structure or the tribes — to think that there may not be linkages probably is a bit naive," Army Gen. William "Kip" Ward, head of the Pentagon's Africa Command, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, warned that some of the money from piracy could make its way into the hands of extremists.

"I certainly would not put that out of the realm of possibility," Leiter said at the Aspen Institute.

When hijackings first spiked off the coast of Somalia last year, counterterrorism officials pressed for any evidence that the country's extremist factions, or even al-Qaida militants operating in East Africa, might be using piracy to fund their violence.

But the complicated clan structure and Somalia's ungoverned black market have made it difficult to trace the cash transactions

I forgot to put this up earlier, but it deserves it's own post anyway. In Brachman's page by page review of Samir Khan's new English language jihad publication, he notes that one of the authors is Abu Abdullah as-Sayf. He also notes that as-Sayf has his own line of clothing.

I noticed this morning that he also is working on a new blog to try to sell his shirts. The blog is still under construction, but notice how he plans on selling "im-not-anti-semitic-just-anti-jewish" shirts.

Really? Not anti-semetic? Then care to explain this "final solution" shirt? I've included a screenshot of the shirt's description above the pic of the shirt itself.

Holocaust chic, it's all the rage among the bros!

Other swag from Sammy's friend?

Because nothing says Islam is peace like Islamic fundamentalists with guns and fantasies of shooting up the Statue of Liberty.

UPDATE: Come to think of it, having a bullseye printed on the chest of any one who wears these shirts is kind of convenient......

The NEFA Foundation posted a translation of a how to guide for would-be terror propagandists to pay for webhosting without getting caught by law enforcement:

If you [have] not gotten arrested yet, that does not mean you are not being monitored, and if your use of the electronic payments method has not brought you woes, then that does not mean it is safe...

And the brothers missed these principles before, so it caused crises to the electronic Jihad...

Here, we will learn from the previous generation, and we'll correct some of the meanings regarding the methods of electronic payments they had followed.”

That's funny given that many jihadis use stolen credit cards to set up websites.

The charges allege the 30-year-old man was "extremely intoxicated" when questioned by police. So was his female friend.

She allegedly told investigators that they had been drinking all night before the man grabbed his bow and walked onto the deck. She thought he wanted to "play Rambo."

RWN has an exclusive interview with Roy Beck from Numbers USA who says that those pushing for amnesty just don't have the votes.

They might argue that Somalia is what happens when every one has guns.

Maybe, but hijackings are what happen when merchant marines don't have guns.

The answer is obviously to arm civilian sailors. Threats Watch:

The only tenable solution is to put the prevention at the point of risk: Aboard the vessel.

If Samir Khan's al Fursan produced Jihad Recollection sucks as bad as I think it does, does it really matter? According to Jarret Brachman, yes:

t makes more hardcore stuff available in English, it’s produced by an American citizen, it’s directed at radicalizing Americans, Canadians, Brits and Aussies and strengthening an al-Qaida identity among its readers and it actualizes the kind of self-styled jihadi propaganda army of one philosophy advanced by Abu Musab al-Suri....

Here’s what’s important to remember. In many ways, al-Qaida has transformed itself from a terrorist organization that uses the media to a media organization that employs terrorism. Consider the fact that al-Qaida now uses its media logo, as-Sahab, as its primary brand driver. This is not coincidence.

I don't know how Jarret actually finds it in him to go over Sammy's publication page by page. I find my eyes start to bleed after about page 12. But if you're up for the page by page analysis, keep an eye on his site.

Thanks to Ubiwar.

What? did he meet a really sexy goat or something?

So much for that family values narrative the "insurgents" ares always spouting about how the fighters miss their wives and value women so. Yeah as a bomb maybe.

Via Yahoo: RIYADH (Reuters) – A Saudi man has divorced his wife by text message, a newspaper said on Thursday.

The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS informing her she was no longer his spouse. He followed up with a telephone call to two of his relatives, the daily Arab News reported.

...The Saudi man was in Iraq to participate in "what he described as 'jihad'," according to the Arab News. Many Saudis have gone to fight with al Qaeda militants against the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.

File this in 9-11 Twoofers, terrorist lovers

BERLIN -- A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show "Devil's Advocate" on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.

The show features star defense attorney Gerard Spong standing up for some of the world's worst criminals.(Also note, Spong is supporting legal action against Geert Wilders)

Sorry, could only find "Devil's Advocate" in Dutch. Arseholes, all of them.

Part of their exhibit:

juxtaposes a picture of a sealer clubbing a baby seal with a photo of a police officer clubbing a civil rights protester."

The idea would be to let visitors "explore ways . . . to promote nonviolent and non–exploitive relationships with all the living beings in this diverse world – regardless of race, religion, ability, gender or species.'"

Our friends, the mullahs, prepared this propaganda for us:

...which is why anyone with a lick of sense doesn't read Mother Jones - though it might be good for starting a fire in a BBQ pit.

Hat tip: Noah Shachtman, at Wired.com, who maybe needs to lighten up just a little.

The FBI raided three money-transfer businesses in the Minneapolis area yesterday. Minneapolis is home to the largest Somali community in the US. Since last year, at least 2 dozen Somali youths have gone back to Somali to wage jihad with al Qaida linked al Shabaab.

The FBI stated the raids are not connected to the missing youths but you can bet it has something to do with funding terrorism. AP

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents searched three money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives for details of transactions between the U.S. and several African nations.

Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial.[...]

A copy of a search warrant executed at Mustaqbal Express and obtained by The Associated Press said authorities were looking for documents, books, records, ledgers and other materials "relating to the transfer of money, currency or funds" to Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates. It also sought documents on ownership and management of the business and lists of clients. It covered materials from January 2007 to the present.

CAIR outrage in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ....

Captain Richard Phillips is still being held. The destroyer USS Bainbridge is on the scene and the FBI aiding in negotiations and rescue efforts. The Captain Phillips is aboard the lifeboat which is dead in the water.

Hopefully the captain will be released or rescued soon. We pray for his safe return and will update as soon as we know anything more.

See our post on from yesterday for more background and links.

Somali Pirates Hijack Maersk Alabama: Updated Crew Takes Ship Back!

More here at The Crunch.

A good post, if only for additional evidence of the media malfeasance that we know goes on every day. Media Matters could not be reached for a comment about this post, because they, as a philosophical matter, have a problem with political partisans trying to insert partisan political agenda items into the news (LOL).

It's a simple formula - a small, focused group of leftwing Obama supporters (in this case, a leftwing group pushing for universal socialist health care) gives talking points to sympathetic "journalists" in the press, and the press just runs with it as if this group's cause is a "story." Other outlets see their competitors picking up the "story" and don't want to be left without their "coverage." No balance, no challenge, no refusal to print the activist group-generated Democrat talking points as if they're "news." Just unquestioning, lethargic acquiescence and complicity.

Case and point (from the link above):

• Third of Illinoisans went without health insurance in last 2 years: Sun-Times
• Report: 2.5M in Michigan lacked health insurance: Chicago Tribune
• Study: 29% of Ohioans have gone without health insurance: BizJournals
• Report: More NJ residents lacking health insurance: Forbes
• Study: Many Kansans are uninsured: BizJournals
• Report tallies uninsured in Hawaii: KPUA AM 670
• Study: 1 in 3 Alabamians have no insurance: BizJournals
• 1 out of 4 NH residents lacked health insurance within last two years: WBZ
• 1 out of 3 Coloradans lacked insurance in past two years: Denver Post
• Nearly 1 in 3 Idahoans lack health insurance, study says: Idaho Statesman
• One in four nonelderly Minnesotans has been without health insurance, study shows: Twin Cities
• 1 in 3 are uninsured in Georgia, study says: Augusta Chronicle
• 1.3 million Louisiana residents uninsured: Independent
• Millions in N.C. lack health plan: Winston-Salem Journal
• Uninsured are mostly working: Sun-Herald
• Nearly one-third of Wyoming residents went without health insurance in past two years: Wyoming Tribune
• Report finds health insurance lacking in W.Va.: Charleston Gazette
• Nearly 1/3 Of Kentuckians Uninsured Says Report: WFPL Radio
• REPORT: 254K Rhode Islanders Uninsured at Some Point from 2007-2008: ABC 6

And the misrepresented facts, as well as the misleading and sometimes outright false statistics get repeated. Over. And over. And over. And over, until they become "collective wisdom." Some of the problems with the "47 million Americans are without health insurance" claim, for example, are listed at the link. Like the FACT that (according to Census data) about 9.5 million of them are illegal aliens. And another 17 million of them freely choose not to purchase insurance. Details, details, right? No wonder Obama wants to grab hold of the Census and run it from the White House.

Why, it's almost as if there exists a collective willingness on the part of most mainstream media outlets to function unflinchingly as an echo chamber of Democrat talking points and a propaganda arm of the Obama Administration.

Speaking "truth" to "power." What a joke.

April 08, 2009

Hot Chicks With Lightsabers!

Yes, really. And it just gets better from there because the guards from the 4th Infantry Division who forced Saddam to watch the movie over and over again also got the now deceased dictator to sign an autograph to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Freaking. Awesome.

Matt Stone said:

"We're very proud of our signed Saddam picture and what it means. Its one of our biggest highlights.

"I have it on pretty good information from the marines on detail in Iraq that they showed Saddam the movie.

"Over and over again – which is a pretty funny thought.

"That's really adding insult to injury."