September 07, 2005

A source is telling me that there will be some major news out of Afghanistan in the next few weeks. I wonder what I possibly could be implying?

These rumors have been wrong in the past. Call it wishful thinking. The source, though, is taking this all rather seriously. Not his usual MO.

(Bridgeport, Connecticut) Remember Tammy Imre? Last November, the 30-year-old mother was arrested for a laundry list of charges related to having an ongoing sexual relationship with an 8-year-old neighborhood boy who was her 7-year-old daughter's playmate.

According to her attorney Donald Papcsy, in court today Imre agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges at a scheduled court appearance on Sept. 19. Apparently, she will receive something less than the ten-year minimum for first-degree sexual assault. The agreement allows her to claim an Alford plea where she doesn't plead guilty to all allegations but concedes that there is enough evidence to convict her. Prosecutor George Ganim Jr. wouldn't release any details, but said the victim's mother was satisfied with the terms of the agreement.

Consequently, we'll have to wait until September 19 to learn how long she will be sentenced in the slammer. Interestingly, she's already spent nine months behind bars since she couldn't cough up the $250,000 bail.

Companion post/pic at Interested-Participant.

"How come it's so easy to send planes in another country to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives?"
Celine Dion voicing her anger at the New Orleans rescue delays.

1. It's not. The most ready battalion in the entire United States military takes a bare minimum of 18 hours to deploy. And that's only after they've spent two weeks preparing all of their equipment and everyone is standing by waiting.

2. Because destroying is always easier than the alternative. When you destroy, you can be indiscriminate.

Go back to Canada and sing some more of your horrid music, please.

Oh, but thanks for the million bucks.

Hostage Roy Hallums has been freed in Iraq. Members of his family have now confirmed this to me personally. They are elated. Family members are en route to a reunion with Roy as we speak. Thank you for your prayers and thanks to the Coalition Forces for rescuing Roy.

More details here.

Below is a reposting. Updates will be put in original post. Please link to original post.

UPDATE: This post to be updated throughout the day.

Update 13:19: Members of his extended family have now confirmed to me, personally, that Roy has been freed. They are elated. Family members are en route to a reunion with Roy as we speak. Thank you for your prayers and thanks to the Coalition Forces for rescuing Roy.

Many of Roy's family and friends, though, know only as much as they are being told in the media. If you have any tips about information that we are not covering, please e-mail me at mypetjawat-at-gmail-dot-com (remove 'at' and 'dot' and replace).

----
Roy Hallums was abducted on Nov. 1st along with several other foreign contractors. The U.S. state department refused to comment on whether there was an American hostage in Iraq. On Nov. 30th, The Jawa Report reported that an American hostage was being held in Iraq. On Dec. 2nd, Roy's daughter Carrie and his ex-wife Susan contacted The Jawa Report confirming that Roy was taken hostage in Iraq and clarifying his name.

Since that time we have run dozens of stories on Roy and the other forgotten hostages in Iraq. We have also tried to raise funds for the Free Roy Foundation. I have personally been in contact with the Hallums family since our initial story ran. In the last few months I have feared that Roy was dead, but every so often I would get an e-mail from Susan reminding me to keep Roy in my prayers. Her faith, and the faith of Roy's daughters and grandchildren, never waivered.

I have not heard from Susan or Carrie yet, but I expect some word in the near future. While I am not an official spokesperson for the Hallums family, I am sure that Susan and Carrie would express their many thanks for your prayers and support throughout these trying months.

Thank you Jawa Report readers and friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

--Rusty Shackleford

-----------------------

Cnn: Is reporting that Roy Hallums has been rescued. Details later. This really is good news.

Developing.

Roy Hallums, the U.S. contractor who was kidnapped in November, is rescued in Iraq, ex-wife says. Details soon.

Hat Tip: Filthy.

Also here on FOXNEWS

"I can confirm he's been released," Susan Hallums, 53, told The Associated Press by telephone. "Considering what he's been through, I understand he's in good condition."

Update 11:56: NYTimes, hat tip Lawhawk. It looks like Roy was freed thanks to a tip from a detainee. Guantanamo? Probably not, but Abu Ghraib is a distinct possibility:

Coalition forces acting on a tip from an Iraqi detainee Wednesday rescued American hostage Roy Hallums from an isolated farm house south of Baghdad, a military statement said. An Iraqi also was rescued....

Hallums was held in a farmhouse 15 miles south of Baghdad, the statement said, adding that rescuers were tipped to his whereabouts by an unidentified Iraqi detainee.

''I want to thank all of those who were involved in my rescue -- to those who continuously tracked my captors and location, and to those who physically brought me freedom today,'' Hallums said in the military statement.

''To all of you, I will be forever grateful. Both of us are in good health and look forward to returning to our respective families. Thank you to all who kept me and my family in their thoughts and prayers.''

Related:
-The Free Roy Website, run by Roy's daughter Carrie
-Jawa Report Breaks Roy Hallums Story, Hallums family begins correspondence
-Terrorist release Roy Hallums hostage video.
-The Damned of the West Part I: Interview with the family of Roy Hallums
-The Damned of the West Part II: Interview with the family of Roy Hallums
-The Damned of the West Part III: Interview with the family of Roy Hallums

UPDATE II: More from CNN.

It seems lately that I just can't catch a break. Minor bout with the flu last month now the mother of all colds has me feelling down. Several other things not going my way either. Rep says field x is fouled up. Hey that's what you said to put there so I did. Stop whining before I ship you a snotrag via interoffice mail. We've got hurricane Katrina giving everyone an excuse to slam the Government. It was a freaking hurricane dumbasses. Blame the storm. OK lets see what has more power Government VS Nature. Uh duh I'll let you figure that one out yourself. Now to top it all off my hero Bob Denver has passed away. Yes while me Mum finished out college I stayed with the grandparents. I have an aunte that is only about 7 years older. We fought over Dinah Shore VS Gilligan every day. Grandma always let me watch Gilligan much to my Aunt's dismay. Howie lives so far and I'll not give in but may be a bit scarce for a few days. Best to save the blogging until I can think. You know, the nice thing about a run of bad luck is it will eventually end.

Congrats to Mark on the new grandbaby.

See this cool post on Califonia conservative.

Yes I've seen that happen before. But see Sean if yer boat is not so full of reporters you can open that sucker up and the water will drain out the plug hole and then you stick the plug in there no bailing required. River rat experience teaches many things.

Malcontent goes off on Author Marc Siegel

Author Marc Siegel was on "The Daily Show" last night, flogging his book False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear. I have not yet read the book, but his interview with Jon Stewart was troubling, to say the least.

Not even a UN recognized nation-state, Palestine slowly creeps toward civil war. Who is in control of Gaza and the West Bank? No one. Israel fears bad press from its Western allies for striking at militant terror organizations such as Hamas, who openly display their weapons in organized press events, and the Palestinian Authority fears its own people, who support the terrorist cause. This is an intractible problem.

Not only did The Popular Resistance Committee assassinate the former head of PA security and cousin of Yasser, Moussa Arafat, they also have taken his son hostage.

Washington Post:

The former head of general security in Gaza, Moussa Arafat, was killed before dawn Wednesday when gunmen stormed his home here, dragged him outside and shot him in the street. The incident threatened to aggravate tensions among Palestinian factions and security services struggling for power in the Gaza Strip following Israel's evacuation of its 21 Jewish settlements here.

A militant faction known as the Popular Resistance Committees comprising disaffected members of various Palestinian parties asserted responsibility for the assassination of Arafat, who was a cousin of the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The group also claimed to have kidnapped his son, Manhal, a major in the Palestinian military intelligence service, from the three-story family home shortly after 5 a.m....

Arafat held the rank of minister and served as Abbas' military affairs adviser at the time of his murder, carried out in the street only a half-mile from the presidential compound.

"The way this was carried out underlines a very strong message, even if that message may not have been intended," said Ziad Abu Amr, an independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council who often serves as a mediator between the various Palestinian factions. "It points out the chronic failure of the Palestinian Authority to establish law and order in Gaza and the price it is now paying for past decisions not to do so." ...

We are saying that we can take responsibility," Shaath told reporters here. "We will take all the steps necessary, and I don't think there is any doubt in anyone's mind. This is not political resistance to the occupation. This is a crime by any definition - no justifications, no pretext."

Moussa Arafat, 65, was a senior member of the important Fatah Revolutionary Council. The committee guides the secular nationalist movement that is the largest faction in Palestinian politics and whose members fill out the ranks of the Palestinian Authority....

The statement read over the phone described Moussa Arafat as a "collaborator," a term used to describe Palestinians who assist Israeli intelligence services. "He was one of the heads of the corruption and his poison spread among the Palestinian people," said a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, who identified himself as Abu Abeer. "We're going to deal with his son according to the results of the investigation we are conducting."

A Palestinian intelligence officer Wednesday held interior minister Naser Yousef responsible for the assassination of former security chief Musa Arafat and urged him to resign.

Palestinian intelligence chief in the West Bank city of Nablus, Maher al-Fares, told a press conference that he wondered the Palestinian security forces didn't react quickly to the early morning attack on Musa's home in Gaza City which is just few metersaway from the preventive security headquarters.

He called on the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to find and punish those behind the assassination.

But notice that the specific charge that led to his assassination was collaboration. Thus, his execution was justified on Islamic grounds. Collaboration with the infidels is the most common reason given when terrorists murder hostages.

It seems that lately I've been taking a lot of shots at the New York Times. But when someone paints a bullseye 10 stories tall on themselves, it's kind of hard to resist. And the Times seems to enjoy associating itself with all sorts of disreputable idiots who feel no need to report facts.

In the case of Maureen Dowd today, I'm not even sure it's fair to call this an opinion piece. Speculation piece might be closer the target. Wild, drug induced, toxic fantasies would probably be just about on target. Of course Maureen, like every other looney liberal out there, is trying to find someone to blame for her perfect nanny state of New Orleans falling apart so horribly. After all, it couldn't have been the existing liberal social policy that caused the widespread violence and theft. The lack of law enforcement before all of this began surely couldn't have contributed to the rapes and murders that went on during the disaster. And lack of planning and action by the people who were actually in charge, the state and local government, wouldn't have had ANYTHING to do with the number of dead.

No, in Maureen's world, the fault lies with Dick Cheney. It's because he went on vacation and bought a house. Or maybe it's because he was late showing up. It's kind of hard to tell what exactly Maureen is trying to get at with her first paragraph.

Is the MSM out to wreck The Jawa Report? Yes. Er, at least that's what the CIA is beaming into my head through this uncomfortable tin-foil helmut as we speak. As you know, The Jawa Report is back in the Google News business. Just when I was trying to kiss and make up with the great provider of eyeballs, Pixy Misa of Ambient Irony sends me this Scotsman article:

Like many web users, I admire their anti-corporate approach and their pledges not to be evil. But now, some people are beginning to question if this terribly successful company might not be the new Microsoft. (For those of you you not au fait with these matters, there is a certain online consituency who view "Micro$oft" as the root of many of the world's evils)....

A site that does not have any Goodle ads on it is MyPetJawa.mu.nu. Referring to Revelation 13:16, it suggests that Google is the antichrist.

So much for "Don't be evil."

Paranthetically I do have Google ads. I just love the irony in this site making money from ads from MAS, CAIR, and various Muslim Singles groups.

So, maybe it's me that's evil? After all, I didn't spend 6 years in evil graduate school just to be called Mr. Rusty Shackleford.

September 06, 2005

Got a spoof e-mail just now to another hotmail account, and it's really slick, and really sick:

It is better quality than most spoof e-mails I receive, and the grammar is flawless. Only a close reading of the punctuation reveals it's a fraud. After searching out the IP addresses, I discovered the mail originated from a Singaporean web provider and the spoof site is hosted in Beijing.

I forwarded the mail off to stop-spoofing@amazon.com and I would encourage anyone else who receives this email to do the same. I lack the time to come up with sufficiently harsh invective to convey my contempt for these parasites. They are worse than looters, I believe, since they are effectively stealing from the Red Cross as well as from the owners of the credit card numbers they will steal. They prey on the generosity of good people, and they deserve no better than a looter would receive if he were caught stealing from the Red Cross.

PLEASE NOTE: This spoof e-mail did not actually come from Amazon.com–it was mocked up by criminals in Asia to appear as if it came from Amazon. Amazon is another victim in this matter, as their reputation and relationships with their customers are damaged by it.

{Cross-posted at Patterico's Pontifications}

(Damman, Saudi Arabia) According to an early report in the Arab News, two al-Qaeda members on the list of 36 most-wanted terrorists have been killed in a gunbattle outside a supermarket in the city of Damman in eastern Saudi Arabia. The two dead terrorists were identified as Zaid Saad Al-Samari, 31, and Walid Mutlaq Al-Radadi, 21. Two Saudi policemen also died from wounds received in the battle.

An area used as an operations center in Damman was put under siege by Saudi Security Forces.

"Sporadic gunfire is continuing around the buildings where the members of the deviant group are holed up," one security source said, adding that there were 10 suspects inside.

"The security forces have reinforced their positions and are bringing in bulldozers and additional heavy equipment."

"We're in no rush to storm the building as we’re hoping to capture them alive and obtain information about wanted terrorists," he said.

[ ... ]

There were unconfirmed reports that terrorists had killed one of their own colleagues when he tried to surrender to security officers.

The reports also indicated that the terrorists might have run away from Madinah after their commander Saleh Al-Oufi was gunned down by security forces last month.

In an updated report from Reuters, Saudi Security forces stormed the terrorist stronghold and "cleared and secured" the area. A source estimated that at least six terrorists were killed and ten were wounded. Four policemen also died.

I think it's great that the Saudis are going after the al-Qaeda terrorists in the kingdom. However, they'll never win because they're fighting an enemy that continues to be resupplied with recruits from the Wahabi mosques and schools within the country. So, they're destined to fight forever unless the schools are reformed or dismantled which, of course, won't happen since Saudi Arabia is officially a Wahabi Nation.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Have a fatwa worthy post? Just link this post and send us a trackback. We will lay a fatwa on your head for your effort.

Today's featured fatwas:

*12 More Days Until the Annual Talk Like a Pirate Day
*Help Child Victims of Katrina Get Back to School
*Bush Elevating Roberts Nomination a Wise Move
*U.S. Submarine Hits Turkish Ship

Send a trackback and fatwa will appear below.

If ever there was a case where the death penalty was called for, this is it. The suspects are still at large, but if it was me that found them.....

Osiel Hipolito's wife and unborn baby were also hurt. The baby was delivered later that same day. What do you say to a child who's birthday falls on the same day that her father was murdered?

AP:

A Navy sailor on leave from the war in Iraq was killed in a suspected gang shooting that also wounded his brother, pregnant wife, and the couple's unborn baby.

Osiel Hipolito, 20, was shopping at a strip mall near Compton with his wife and brother when he was assaulted by two men believed to be gang members, Sheriff's Deputy Scott Gage said.

"He goes to defend himself and one of the gang members draws a gun and begins shooting at the group," Gage said.

Hipolito was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The baby, a girl, was delivered prematurely with a leg wound. Hipolito's wife and brother were in stable condition, Gage said.

As in, "My father and this thing called a fetus--you know, this appendage attached to my mother which eventually became me, but wasn't really me until three hours later--were shot by gang members. My father died, but I survived. And by I, I mean the fetus which would become me, but wasn't me until several hours later. And by survived, I mean, well, er, I don't know, because how can something that is not legally alive survive anything?"

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.

Donate today. When you do (and I do say when and not if) donate, please do not mention The Jawa Report.

I think I'm going to cry. Those of you unfamiliar with our struggles with Google News can start here. It's been six long months, but we're finally back in business! Thank you Google News. Now, about that make-up sex.........

Bob Denver, best known as Gilligan from Gilligan's Island, or possibly as Maynard G. Krebs for the older crowd, has died at 70 years old. We say farewell to an extraordinarily funny man.

Is it just me or does it seem that Mississippi and Alabama are fairly squared away as far as Hurricane Katrina relief efforts compared to Louisiana. It appears to me that New Orleans became a war zone the second winds died down from the deadly hurricane. Meanwhile, Alabama cleaned up and is now a significant player in relief efforts. Mississippi's Gulf Coast has been devastated. Many places I used to hang out at are all but gone. But in neither Alabama nor Mississippi did the chaos even compare to that of New Orleans and the politicians from those two states remain helpful and dedicated to the work that needs to be done. That's, sadly, not the case in Louisiana. Newspapers are calling for the leveling of FEMA, threats of hostilities amongst politicians are being projected, and everyone wants to blame everyone but themselves. The level of moral and political responsibility is apparently lower in Louisiana than it is in the two states due east. The Louisiana state motto is, "Union, justice, and confidence"; at this point I'm not sure if some of Louisiana's politicians even know this motto exists.

Why does it seem this way to me? Is it the media that’s giving me a false sense of knowledge? Is it that much worse in New Orleans compared to the devastation in Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi combined? What’s the deal here? Would someone please attempt to enlighten me.

Originally Posted at

Dozens of Taliban fighters have been killed or captured in Afghanistan in the past few days. Good news, all around.

Los Angeles Times:

.S. and Afghan forces killed 25 suspected Taliban fighters and captured dozens more in operations in two southern provinces over two days, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

On Monday, U.S. and Afghan forces killed 12 suspected militants and detained nine others in a raid in Zabol province, the U.S. military said. Soldiers were brought by helicopter into a remote area where militants were believed to be gathering before launching attacks. No casualties were reported among the Afghan and U.S. forces.

The operation in Zabol followed a raid in neighboring Kandahar province in which U.S. and Afghan forces killed 13 suspected Taliban fighters, and captured dozens more, in a remote area where a political candidate was kidnapped and executed last week, a provincial official said.

U.S. and Afghan troops dropped by parachute from American aircraft in the operation, which began Sunday, Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said by telephone from Kandahar city, the provincial capital. None of the coalition troops was injured.

The assault targeted insurgents suspected of killing Khan Mohammed, a candidate for Kandahar's provincial council in the country's Sept. 18 election who was abducted Friday, the governor added. A district commissioner and three policemen were killed along with Mohammed.

At least four other candidates have been killed in the weeks before the election for the lower house of Afghanistan's parliament and provincial councils. It is Afghanistan's first parliamentary election since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban's hard-line Islamic regime in late 2001.

Late last month a Reuters sound technician was shot and killed by a U.S. sniper. We reported that incident here, including an account from an eye witness who claimed the Reuters crew drove into the middle of a firefight and the camera was mistaken for an RPG. At the time, we argued that any one found filming immediately after an terror attack should be a fair target within the rules of engagement since terror organizations such as Ansar al-Sunnah and al Qaeda in Iraq routinely film their exploits.

On Sep. 1 the military cleared the soldiers involved, essentially saying the news crew was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though this story is at least five days old, the Associated Press decided to release a 'news' story about it today. The piece essentially rejects the U.S. military version of events, and then recounts other stories from Iraq in which journalists were accidentally killed. Thus, the picture that is painted is one of the U.S. intentionally targetting journalists.

The Associated Press could save themselves a lot of time and money by just running al Jazeera stories and al Qaeda press releases verbatim.

"Cindy Sheehan could be standing outside nude, wearing only her Birkenstocks, claiming that she is going to invade Bush's house and find evidence of wrongdoing and she wouldn't be able to draw one TV camera today."
Rush Limbaugh

After reading a series of press releases from Centcom about sucesses in Iraq, I decided to do a New York Times search of the past seven days, to see if the nation's leading paper of record was helping to disseminate the good news. Here are the results:

Sept. 2: Seven terrorists killed in the al-Rashid district of Baghdad

Sept. 2: Two IED makers captured near Abu Ghraib on tips from locals.

Two NY Times stories that mention Abu Ghraib, both about abuse at the prison.

Sept. 2: 12 terrorists captured with weapons cache East of Al-Amiriyah.

Sept. 3: Ambush foiled near Ad Duluiyah, 8 terrorists captured.

Sept. 5: 11 terrorists killed in after mortar attack on U.S. base near Balad, six more captured.

Here: 24th paragraph down, no mention of terrorists captured, or of why house was bombed.

Sept. 5: 11 suspected terrorists detained in Mosul.

Two hits, neither about this story or any other U.S. success.

Remember when being neutral meant being non-partisan and not indifferent to whether or not the U.S. loses its wars? There is no such thing as a Republican or Democrat war. The nation is at war. U.S. troops are fighting. Either the MSM will help win it or help lose it. Unfortunately, it seems lthat the NY Times has chosen the latter course.

It seems that Randi Rhodes, the notorious Air America host is up to her old tricks of inciting violence. This time, instead of making kill Bush "jokes," she is telling her listeners in hurricane ravaged areas to go looting. And that when they do, they should skip discount stores like Wal-Mart and go directly to higher end stores so they can get some quality stuff.

First brought to my attention from Amawalk John at Conservative Friends, this has also been reported at WorldNet Daily and NRO's "The Corner."

Now, I realize that these are lefties we are talking about, but if her listeners have one shred of decency, they should call for her immediate firing. Her show seems to have no reedeming value and no purpose except to incite hatred and violence towards people who disagree with you. And yes, I know, the first thing I'll hear is "what about Rush?" Well, in all my time listening to Rush, I've never heard him say we should do anything illegal or incite violence against a party or an individual. Only that you were idiots. And it's not against the law to speak the truth.

New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin: If the CIA slips me something and next week you don't see me, you'll all know what happened.

Via the curiously silent Ace of Spades HQ

John from Wuzzadem has the latest hurricane related pornography (I assure you, Safe for Work). Hilarity ensues.

On a more serious note, the media are treating New Orleans like Rome's Colliseum. There is a race to see who can find the most tragic stories, and then find some one to blame. A certain bloodlust underlies their coverage. What is even sadder is that we, the American people, love this coverage.

September 05, 2005

I was pretty sure, from the way it began, that Bill Whittle's latest would make me even more depressed than I already am. But for some reason it had the opposite effect. I feel beleaguered by pink, but perhaps that's just part of the initiation into grey. One of many strangely uplifting passages:

So, on one hand, we have a very blue city – New York – confronted, out of the clear morning of a perfect fall day, with no warning – with a terror attack, and they march toward the sounds of screams and falling bodies and die by the hundreds. One the other hand, we have New Orleans law enforcement – also blue – whining about wet shoes and helping themselves to the happy period of lawlessness that followed an event that had been expected for no less than seventy-two hours.

In New York, we had a governor who got every available resource on the ground as fast as it could get there, and in Louisiana we have a governor who...cried. Governor, your job is to not cry. Your job is to be strong. We have plenty of civilians crying. You want to cry, cry in the car on the way home like everybody else did four years ago. Crying Governors, race-baiting mayors and looting police do not a Finest Hour make.

In New Orleans we have a mayor who left some 400-500 buses sitting fueled and underwater in the Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool saying that evil white conservative America was selling out his people within 24 hours of the catastrophe, from a safe and dry and adequately toileted location, while four years ago we had a Mayor who ran to the site of the disaster so quickly it is a full-blown miracle he was not killed when a building collapsed literally on top of his magnificent, combed-over head.

(Cross-posted by Demosophist to Demosophia and Anticipatory Retaliation)

I've tried to stay out of the post-Katrina recriminations. I'm certain there's more than enough blame to go around. But I got in a discussion over at Ace's that points out a fundamental flaw in the "slow federal response" argument coming from the left.

Ace includes an excerpt from this article in Sunday's (yesterday's) WaPo. There is a bit of opacity about a key date here:

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state’s emergency operations center said Saturday. The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. “Quite frankly, if they’d been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals,” said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

Which Friday do they refer to in the bolded section? There are two scenarios possible here, and each with different implications:

Friday, August 26: The Feds, understanding the approaching enormity of the Hurricane, offer before landfall to federalize the response. And for political reasons, the governor says no. If this is the case, then the governor is clearly a fool and a blackguard. The offer was on the table to federalize the response and she refused it, then she blames the slow federal response she had forbidden them to launch.

OR

Friday, Sept. 2nd: Five days after landfall, Bush puts the order before Blanco and she refuses to sign it. This is a much slower response on the part of the feds than I find acceptable--though it is miniscule in comparison to the compunding imbecilities at the state and especially the local level--and it is far from the first move the feds have made. (UPDATE Nagin's new CNN interview, excerpted below the jump, also suggests this is the date.)

But then read the WaPo piece again. As Ace commenter Charlie Colorado pointed out to me: After whining for nearly a week about the lack of an adequate federal response, when a comprehensive one is offered, Governor Blanco refuses it. Not because of any reason having to do with the orderly evacuation and restoration of order in Louisiana, but because Bush might make her look bad. Meanwhile Mayor Nagin and the MSM are knocking the feds and Bush around like a pinata.

Is China a natural ally in the war on terror? Yes. An Islamist insurgency is raging in China. China, though, has generally suppressed any news of this insurgency. Official statistics put the death toll at 160 over the past 10 years in at least 260 seperate incidents, but the count is probably higher than that. Much higher.

Last month we brought you word of a suicide bomber blowing up a bus in China (images and story here). While that act of terrorism was probably unrelated to the jihad being waged against Beijing, it did spur me to look into the matter. Days after the bombing, an old video was posted at a forum I frequent made by terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda who operate in China's East Turkistan (known as Xinjiang in Chinese) region. The video was apparently produced in Afghanistan, which borders East Turkistan, and was a call to arms against the Communist regime. The video was almost identical to a number of al Qaeda videos made around the same time.

This website, run by the 'East Turkistan Information Center', is a good source of information, but may have ties to the East Turkistan Liberation Organization. It is noteworthy that East Turkistan may have been the original Islamic state. The Islamic Republic of East Turkistan was establlished in 1933 and survived only three years. But this Islamic Republic was established 45 years before a similar state was established in Iran.

Today, China ran a rare story about it's internal problems with radical Islamists. Xinhua:

The "East Turkistan" terrorist forces remain to be the great terrorist threat to China at presentand in future, a Chinese anti-terrorist official said here Monday.

"In the last decade, the terrorist threats that China confronted with were mainly terrorist activities of 'East Turkistan' terrorist forces inside and outside Chinese territory, international terrorist groups and terrorists," said Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security.

"The terrorist activities carried out by the three terrorist forces have not only jeopardized China, but also posed a threat toregional security and stability," Zhao said.

On March 27, 2003, the East Turkistan Liberation Organization hijacked a passenger bus of a Xinjiang company, killed all the 21 passengers and the driver and set the bus on fire with the bodies inside it.

The three terrorist forces openly summon the extremists inside China to carry out terrorist activities aiming at kindergartens, schools and government, or attack Chinese armed forces and government agencies, with means of explosives and poison.

The forces, he said, have also become part of the international terrorist forces. "They have close ties and even align with terrorist groups including the Taliban, the Uzbekistan Islamic Liberation Movement and Al Qaeda."

According to Zhao, many members of the "East Turkistan" forces have received military training in terrorist bases in central and south Asia and directly have taken part in terrorist activities sponsored by owners of the bases.

Above: A flyer urging violent jihad being circulated in South Central Los Angeles obtained by KFI radio. I'm sure by jihad, the flyer only means internal struggle.

Recently, a group of jihadis connect to a South Central Los Angeles mosque were indicted on conspiracy to commit terrorism. That mosque, though, was Saudi funded and was clearly Salafist in orientation, not the radically racist Nation of Islam.

WND:

The Nation of Islam in Los Angeles is calling on the Crips and Bloods street gangs to stop fighting each other – and to unite in a jihad against the LAPD.

That's the essence of a flyer obtained by KFI News and circulated in South Los Angeles, calling on members of two violent street gangs to start a "holy war" against the police department.

The telephone number listed for the Nation of Islam's Los Angeles mosque near 87th and Vermont has been disconnected, but a check of a reverse directory reveals the phone number on the flyer is connected to the mosque at the same address, according to KFI.

The Nation of Islam's L.A. leader, Minister Tony Muhammad, has claimed he was the victim of an unprovoked attack by LAPD officers at the scene of a vigil for a murdered gang member.

The LAPD last week released an audio tape of some garbled radio transmissions in which they say Muhammad can be heard challenging officers.

The photograph on the flyer appears to have been taken at a news conference held just after Muhammad was released from jail. Muhammad and the Nation of Islam have not returned calls for comment.

While this is not good news, it is important to realize that the U.S. had been pounding the town off and on for over a week. The town has been the center of fighting between a pro-government Sunni tribe and a tribe that has aligned itself with al Qaeda. No government forces are in the city. With no one apparently in control, al Qaeda has instituted harsh sharia law and is murdering citizens and closing down any business that sells anything that smack of Western culture.

Washington Post:

Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, tribal leaders and other residents in the city and surrounding villages said.

A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation."...

Armed insurgent fighters loyal to the Jordanian-born Zarqawi openly traveled Qaim's streets. The fighters included both Iraqis and foreigners, including Afghans The foreign-led fighters hung rooftops with Zarqawi's al-Qaeda banner of black backgrounds with a yellow sun.

Shops selling CDs, a movie theater and a women's beauty parlor were newly burned, apparently targeted by Zarqawi's group under its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Hammasa Kohistani has become the first Muslim to crowned Miss England. Pics below. She's quite a dish. Thanks to Flea's prurient interests for finding this one.

A good sign? Yes. This is the build up to the Miss Universe pageant which is known as quite a racy event. In even better news: four of the finalists were Muslim.

But what about the swimsuit competition? Expect a mixed reaction ranging from delight by more progressive Muslims to horror and a fatwa by more conservative groups.

Washington Times:

An 18-year-old Uzbekistan native has become the first Muslim to wear the Miss England tiara.
Hammasa Kohistani, 18, was selected at Liverpool's Olympia Theatre from a group of 40 beauties to represent England in the Miss World championships, Sky News reported Sunday....

Kohistani said she was happy to be making history as Britain's first Muslim beauty queen and added, "hopefully, I won't be the last."

So a Muslim woman has an affair with a Christian man and how does the family react? Murder their own daughter and then round up a couple of hundred thugs to march to the neighboring Christian town and then start burning down houses. I have a great idea, let's give these people their own country and army!

What most Muslims do not know themselves, so immersed in a false history which portrays a past Islamic Utopia broken only by Western Imperialism and Zionism, is that pograms against Christians and Jews were not uncommon events during the past thousand years of Muslim domination in the region.

JPost:

Efforts were under way on Sunday to calm the situation in this Christian village east of Ramallah after an attack by hundreds of Muslim men from nearby villages left many houses and vehicles torched.

The incident began on Saturday night and lasted until early Sunday, when Palestinian Authority security forces interfered to disperse the attackers. Residents said several houses were looted and many families were forced to flee to Ramallah and other Christian villages, although no one was injured.

The attack on the village of 1,500 was triggered by the murder of a Muslim woman from the nearby village of Deir Jarir earlier this week. The 30-year-old woman, according to PA security sources, was apparently murdered by members of her family for having had a romance with a Christian man from Taiba.

"When her family discovered that she had been involved in a forbidden relationship with a Christian, they apparently forced her to drink poison," said one source. "Then they buried her without reporting her death to the relevant authorities." ...

"More than 500 Muslim men, chanting Allahu akbar [God is great], attacked us at night," said a Taiba resident. "They poured kerosene on many buildings and set them on fire. Many of the attackers broke into houses and stole furniture, jewelry and electrical appliances."

With the exception of large numbers of PA policemen, the streets of Taiba were completely deserted on Sunday as the residents remained indoors. Many torched cars littered the streets. At least 16 houses had been gutted by fire and the assailants also destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary.

"It was like a war, they arrived in groups, and many of them were holding clubs," said another resident.

"Some people saw them carrying weapons. They first attacked houses belonging to the Khoury family [looking for the man who had the affair with the women, not realizing he had already fled the village.] Then they went to their relatives. They entered the houses and destroyed everything there. Then they tried to enter the local beer factory, but were repelled by PA security agents. The fire engine arrived five hours later."

Col. Tayseer Mansour, commander of the PA police in the Ramallah area, said his men arrived late because of the need to coordinate their movements with the IDF. "The delay resulted in the torching of a number of houses and cars in the village," he said.

Related let's give these guys a state news: Huge explosion rocks Gaza strip. May I suggest to Bill Quick that a more likely explanation is that Hamas bombers are generally retards?

Professor Chaos, Bill Dauterieve, and myself once thought about an acedemic symposium on South Park. We we're going to call our panel Life in a Quiet Little Podunck White Trash Redneck Mountain Town: The Rise of Libertarianism and Right-Wing Thought in Fictional Media. Of course, we quickly nixed the idea. Not academic enough.

But an academic conference on Bruce Springsteen? Now that's academic!

I've made it back in one piece from the American Political Science Association's annual meeting. The highlight of this year's journey was finally meeting Steve the Llama Butcher who, to my great delight, never let out a single orgle. (Although I did hear the cry of 'yips' at the conslusion of his panel).

Mad Dog Vinnie and the other Jawa bloggers got together and told me that if I ever do any more lame APSA posts that they'll hunt me down, shoot me, grind up my remains, make sausages, and then send them to Wonkette in a Hilshire Farms gift basket. He was being seriously.

I promise, on the grave of my dead father Inego Montoya, to never blog a political science convention again. Unless there are strippers. That would make a good post!

Jay at Stop the ACLU has the news on the shrewd political move. Roberts was expected to breeze through the nomination, and now he should also have an easy time being approved as Chief Justice. That is, unless Senate Democrats decide to throw a big stink into the situation.

They wouldn't do that though, would they?

Go wish Dave at Garfield Ridge (original home of the "Nats Diary"--accept no substitutes!) a happy one year in business.

Dave's a great guy. Good analysis, weird links. And check out that Nats Diary!

Coffee-it's what's for dinner:

Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.

[snip]
In February, a team of Japanese researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that people who drank coffee daily, or nearly every day, had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank it. The protective effect occurred in people who drank one to two cups a day and increased at three to four cups.

Last year, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that drinking coffee cut the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes.

Men who drank more than six 8-ounce cups of caffeinated coffee per day lowered their risk of type 2 diabetes by about half, and women reduced their risk by nearly 30 percent, compared with people who did not drink coffee, according to the study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

And it tastes bettter than broccoli.

Hat tip: my mom.

September 04, 2005

Yesterday I attended a panel at the APSA convention, chaired by Robert A. Pape, with the grandiose title: Suicide Bombing, Counter Terrorism and Mobilizing a New Generation of Bombers. From the title one might be forgiven for thinking the authors were sponsored by Al Qaeda or Hamas, but of course they meant to be ironic. And what, you might ask, does irony really contribute to such a serious topic? Nothing, I should think. But it probably makes the researchers feel better about their rather thin analysis. As one might expect (and with a couple of exceptions) it was a Bush-bashing party.

President Hamid Karzai has signed a decree on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, allowing for the donation of $130,000 in disaster relief aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

It's small when compared to the amount of U.S. foreign aid received by Afghanistan, but it's the thought that counts.

(Kabul, Afghanistan) Tourists Jun Fukusho, 44, and Shinobu Hasegawa, 30, both junior high school teachers from Hiroshima, disappeared on August 8 in southern Afghanistan. Their bodies, confirmed by dental records, were found Thursday in a ditch outside Kandahar. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, both "had been shot in the head point-blank."

While acknowledging that their deaths were brutal, senseless, and criminal, I have to seriously question the wisdom of touring Afghanistan while the country is at war.

I added the Jawa Report to The Truth Laid Bear's list of blogs that give to support hurricane relief. With Rusty away, I semi-arbitrarily picked the Baptists as a recommended charity. I expect they'll keep sober. In fact the Baptists won't even have sex standing up--because someone might think they're dancing. But whatever reputable charity you contribute to, log your contribution here and tell 'em the Jawa Report sent you. (This is cool because, if nothing else, it tells people about the generosity of bloggers and blog readers.)

I'm afraid for some reason my own meager contribution didn't get counted--or actually that it got counted but didn't get noted in the Jawa file. So you be sure and make up for me.

PS And if you live in California, as I do, you're going to be sitting in the dust of your earthquake-flattened house some day soon, croaking with thirst while wildfires rage all around and a meth-crazed brigade of Latin Kings bikers carries away your womenfolk, and you'll be thankful you've set a precedent of charitable giving in time of disaster. (You'll also be thankful you invested in a surplus M14 and a thousand rounds of ammo, but give to the charity first.)

I thought this WaPo review of the Constant Gardener was interesting. No way I'll see the movie; after falling asleep in The Russia Houseand groaning through The Tailor of Panama, I've given up on film adaptations of John LeCarre novels. They're awful. But it's interesting because the review starts with a long meditation on radicalism--specifically the distinctly uncomfortable, unsympathetic, borderline-mentally-ill personalities that are drawn to radical politics, and the way they show up in film:

This is actually a fairly common portrait in the movies. Think of the many other radicals the flicks have portrayed as loose cannons with messy lives, full of small treacheries against people while yapping moral triumphalism in favor of some mythical animal called The People.

Hollywood, the reviewer points out, doesn't make radicals particularly likeable. Even the supposedly heroic ones like Karen Silkwood come off as twitchy and priggish. And even friendly directors like Julie Taymor in Frida still make the title character seem like "a twisted sister off on a self-dramatization crusade, who used a bus accident as a tool for constant manipulation of those around her, turning many things into one-act plays starring her own self. Some would come away from that film thinking: She's not a part of the solution; maybe she is the problem."

The reason this reviewer likes The Constant Gardener so much is that it offers a different portrayal--a "countertheory"-- of a zealous radical:

...[F]ar from being a screwball angry at a vanished or indifferent parent taking her for granted, she has rational politics. They're cause-based, not anger-based. She's examined the policy, she's understood the science, she's read the documents, she sees the implications...[The film] holds that the radical is not a crazy hater who needs to tear down out of narcissism, to avenge her own slights. She takes no pleasure in destruction; it's that she takes no pleasure in injustice, and if she sees injustice everywhere, it's because injustice is everywhere.

Fine, the reviewer likes these noble, rational radical types. But that doesn't really comport with reality. I've known quite a few of these people in my short time on earth, and they're not pleasant. A desperate dedication to political change is unhealthy and often a cause or a symptom--I don't know which-- of a deeply disordered life. There's a reason Hollywood's attempted hagiographies of them can't make them seem likeable: they're not. The closer the films get to the truth, the less sympathetic their subjects appear. I won't be seeing The Motorcycle Diaries, but there's a reason they focus on young Che Guevara finding himself on a coming-of-age tour--because in later life, once politics consumed him, he was a doctrinaire, homicidal jerk who enjoyed shooting people who disagreed with him.

It's not just me and Hollywood that noticed this tendency of radicals--pick up a copy of Paul Johnson's Intellectuals. It's a historical account of the lives of people like Marx, Lenin, Brecht, Freud, even touching on Chomsky, and the way they actually lived. It's quite an eye-opener.

In one of the few pockets of fighting, insurgents fired seven rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. tanks from adjacent buildings in the western neighborhood of Qadisiyah. A U.S. jet destroyed much of the block with a 500-pound satellite-guided bomb, commanders said.

It sounds like we really roto-rootered an insurgent hive in Iraq, and that's some much-needed good news. Apparently Tall Afar was a mini-Fallujah 40 miles off the Syrian border that had gone unchecked for over a year.

I thought it was a pretty bad joke--but just as he predicted, someone else who isn't joking said the same thing.

September 03, 2005

Dead at 80

The American Political Science Association has invited the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and Director of the notoriously antisemetic Middle East Institute at Columbia University to give tonight's keynote address.

Rashid Khalidi will speak on 'Resurrecting Empire', also the title of his latest 'academic' book. The thesis of the book boils down to the Iraq War being about a Neocon right-wing conspiracy to protect the interests of Israel. Khalidi, like many I'm-not-antisemetic-I'm-just-pointing-out-the-fact-that-there-are-a-lot-of-Jews-in-the-Bush-administration-who-are-really-pulling-the-strings-of-power political scientists also puts oil interests at the center of this conspiracy. Of course, the Jewish Neo-Con conspiracy isn't really a conspiracy because, you know, conspiracies are secret and every one knows that the Jews control Washington's foreign policy.

Everyone in the Administration has some connection to oil, and even Condi Rice is somehow being personally enriched by the War.

I would like to think that the American Political Science Association has sunk to a new low inviting this conspiratorial moonbat to give a keynote address. Unfortunately, the practice is common place in the academy. The neo-conspiracy theories of the Left, couched in academic language, will probably be well received by the audience. Any one who questions the appropriateness of including Khalidi in the program will be branded an advocate of censorship and a Brownshirt trying to quash academic freedom.

The address will be tonight at 8:30 in Salon 1 at the Washington, D.C. Marriott-Woodman Park (near the Zoo). I'll be the guy sitting in the first row, wearing the anti-Bushitlerhaliburton mind probe tin foil hat.

More on Rashid Khalidi can be found at the Little Green Footballs archives

I won't elaborate, but I'm now completely convinced that we're in a war with "the liberals" (meaning, the Social Democrats) just as much as we're in a war with "irreconcibable Islam." I'm also beginning to think that, at least as an organizing principle, we ought to start pushing to change the "working Capital" of the US from DC to Omaha, Nebraska. And it's not that I hate Omaha all that much, but it's a lot closer to the "middle" of the country than any place else I can think of, in just about every way I can imagine.

And the parking lots are epic.

Keep DC as a symbolic totem.

If you thought there was something eerily familiar about Kanye West's ranting in front of an embarrassed Michael Myers, well, so did Tony B at More than Loans. Yes, it was an SNL skit once upon a time, with Heather Locklear in the Kanye West role, and Myers standing there looking flabbergasted.

Tony links to one of several versions of this video going around. This one, hosted at riehlworldview.com, is the best because you see Chris Tucker looking equally astonished before stumbling into his script.

September 02, 2005

Remember 41's "Thousand Points of Light?"

By the time the mess of Katrina is cleaned up, bloggers will have their own galaxy.

Here's one who is literally hands on in his approach.

Here's a grateful Iraqi. One of the rare voices from Islam who doesn't think a hurricane is getting what we deserve.

What am I doing? Well, I'm link-peddling other's worthy efforts on high traffic blogs, and I'm working on this.

Get in on Phin's auctioning off of a custom blog design. Scratch that, get in on Phin's auction of TWO blog designs.

As an added bonus, Pixy Misa is throwing in your very own colony in MuNuvia.

All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross, or a charity of the winning bidders' choice.

What the hell are you staring at this for, git goin'!!!!!!!

Woo-Hoo!

Good news! Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue today announced that, effective at midnight tonight and running until the end of September, no state gasoline taxes will be collected. Perdue expects stations to drop their prices up to 15 cents per gallon within hours. Those stations that don't pass on the savings to consumers will be singled out for investigations by the Department of Revenue and Office of Consumer Affairs.

I suppose it's not necessary to mention that Gov. Perdue is running for re-election next year and he timed his announcement to run live on Georgia TV news broadcasts. It's also probably not necessary to mention that the suspension in tax collection is more a political play than an economic benefit.

Hey, but it's better than nothing.

All APSA related posts can now be found at The Jawa Report's APSA archives