The poor are not the "less fortunate." They are instead, the "more irresponsible." They put themselves there, and they drag their children into that status with them. They are the "less prepared," the "less diligent," and the "less able." They weren't unlucky. They did it to themselves. -- Neal Boortz
Going Out Of Town -- Next Update Tuesday The 29th: I'm leaving today at noon for a short vacation at the beach. I will return Monday afternoon and the next RWN update will be on Tuesday the 29th. Since I won't be around for a few days I thought I should give you something to read in the interim. So here are a few blogs that are worth a look...
Also, before I go, I wanted to tell our friends in Russia that we'll be thinking of you. Although I sincerely hope I'm wrong, I suspect that things are going to get very bloody before I return from my trip and I can only hope that the Russians get as many of their people out of that theater alive as humanly possible. Good luck Russia, America is rooting for you.
Google This: The number one result for Google on a search for "John Hawkins" is..
"Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
... John Hawkins | 10:38 AM | Comments (49) | TrackBack (0). Moderate Islam
Vs. ... I see this John Hawkins guy as a minor league scout kinda guy. ...
Description: Daily conservative news and views, links to current headlines, quotes, interviews, and reader-submitted...
Category: Society > Politics > Conservatism > News and Media"
Better yet, if you do a search for "Right Wing" the number one result is...
"Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
... Could it be the right on for most of what's going on here? ... I wonder if any of the left-wing newspapers across the country that follow the "old, grey lady ...
Description: Daily conservative news and views, links to current headlines, quotes, interviews, and reader-submitted...
Category: Society > Politics > Conservatism > News and Media"
Clueless Gun Control Advocates? Big Surprise There.
Clueless Gun Control Advocates? Big Surprise There: I'm not surprised that there are gun control advocates trying to take advantage of the sniper murders, that's to be expected. But I don't know how people can keep from laughing when they hear people like Tom Diaz from the Violence Policy Center talking about a "sniper subculture"...
"An underground "sniper subculture" is brewing in the United States thanks to the aggressive marketing of so-called sniper rifles by gun manufacturers and lax gun-control regulations, according to a gun-control advocacy group."
"From everything we see about the growth of books, the growth of websites, the apparent commercial success of these schools, we believe this subculture is growing."
So apparently this guy believes that there is a whole "subculture" of gun enthusiasts around the US who may go on insane killing sprees at any time? What a loon -- but wait -- it gets better. What solution has Diaz come up with to stop the "sniper subculture?" Here's a quote from the article...
"Tom Diaz, the group's senior policy analyst, warned that more incidents, similar to the shootings in the last three weeks, could happen unless federal and state lawmakers curb the sale of some long-guns and place new restrictions on shooting schools that teach individuals how to use firearms"
Sure, we'll just ban more guns and stop teaching people to shoot. That makes perfect sense. But where did this guy learn to shoot? It was the US military, not some "shooting school." So what are we going to do, stop teaching recruits how to fire a weapon? Maybe Diaz and the other gun control advocates should take a look at this statistic from the article so they can get a little perspective on this situation...
"According to a November 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, rifles of all calibers were used in 1.3 percent of the crimes committed by felons currently serving sentences in state or federal prisons. The report did not specify the caliber of weapons used by the offenders."
You know what that statistic tells me? Rifles are overwhelmingly used by law abiding citizens. So if anything, they should be LESS regulated than they are currently.
Colin, Condi, And The Left: This editorial cartoon by Dana Summers says it all about how conservative blacks are treated by their political opposites...
"I have been reading and rereading what [Belafonte] said and I am trying to find where there is something inaccurate about what he said, and I can't find it," Conyers said.
"Do I agree with the [slavery] analogy? Yes, completely," Conyers reiterated."
My Take On The Sniper: I've been holding off on commenting on the sniper situation until a little more info came in. Here are a few of the details we know so far...
- According to MSNBC, Mohammed is a long-time member of the Nation of Islam. He was even a bodyguard at a the Million Man March. He also attended a terrorist training camp in Alabama.
- This hasn't gotten much play yet, but it's going to be huge if it turns out to be true. According to Michelle Malkin, Mohammed's accomplice Lee Malvo is an ILLEGAL ALIEN from Jamaica. Worse yet, the border patrol caught him in December of 2001, identified him as an illegal alien, and the INS STILL chose to release him. That may mean more Americans died as a result of INS incompetence...
- Mohammed has a violent past and has had previous brushes with the law. The Smoking Gun has info up on a restraining order that Mohammed's wife took out on him.
- Mohammed and Malvo don't appear to be all the bright. They were caught because Mohammed called a tip line and told them to check Montgomery to show that he was the sniper. Well they did check Montgomery and found one of Malvo's fingerprints on a slip of paper at the scene of a shooting at liquor store. So in effect, Mohammed's own stupidity got him caught. Mohammed was also trying to get 10 million dollars transferred to a woman's credit card which doesn't exactly seem like something a master criminal would come up with.
At this point, we still don't know enough to get a clear picture of his motives...
While he is a member of the Nation of Islam, I don't know of any other NOI members who have been affiliated with terrorist groups like al-Queda. Is it possible? Sure, but it's too early to call it that way.
There's also the possibility that this guy could simply be a man who hated his own country and came up with a plot to get rich. Maybe this guy was hoping to get his 10 million dollars and then buy a plane ticket and a condo in some tropical paradise.
On the other hand, it could be that these guys are just loons who fantasized about going on a killing spree and decided to do it. It's also possible that they decided to do some freelance killing in response to a call for Jihad among Muslims.
Believe it or not, I'm leaning towards the idea that this guy may have been trying to get rich. Why else was he asking for 10 million dollars? That is just a theory however and as more information comes out we'll get a better idea of what Mohammed and Malvo's motivations were.
***Update***: The plot just thickened. We now have an interesting twist involving the Nation of Islam. RWN reader DANEgerus points out this article about the 10th victim of the sniper in the New York times...
"In the 1980's, Mr. Bridges helped start a program with an agenda similar to that of Matah, called Power, or People Organized and Working for Economic Rebirth. Mr. Wellington said the program ran into trouble after he and Mr. Bridges had a disagreement with Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, over the extent to which the two groups should be linked. Mr. Bridges distanced himself from Power, Mr. Wellington said, and helped found Matah about 10 years later."
Out of all the "random" victims the sniper picked out doesn't it seem odd that this guy was one of the people who was murdered? Is this simply pure coincidence or is there something more at work here? Either way, this certainly deserves to be investigated further.
What Is Europe Going To Do? Wag Their Finger At Us?
What Is Europe Going To Do? Wag Their Finger At Us?: I think this gives you an excellent idea of why the sanctions on Iraq after the Gulf War failed and why they have no prospect of succeeding in the future...
"European Union foreign ministers came under harsh criticism yesterday for moving a meeting 5,500 miles so that a Zimbabwe minister can take part without breaching the "smart sanctions" travel ban.
...EU foreign ministers were supposed to hold a meeting with the Southern African Development Community in Copenhagen on Nov 7 and 8. But several delegations from the 14-nation African bloc hinted that they would boycott the gathering unless the Zimbabwean government was included.
Rather than cancelling the summit - or simply going ahead regardless - the European Union agreed to move the entire meeting to Mozambique's capital, Maputo, making a mockery of the travel ban. The decision to switch the location is a slap in the face of the European Parliament, which passed a unanimous resolution last month demanding that Mr Mudenge be banned from the meeting.
...There have been repeated sightings of Zimbabwe ministers and officials in Europe even though they are on the visa blacklist. Last month, it emerged that the trade minister, Samuel Mumbengegwi, was allowed to stay for a week at a smart hotel in the Brussels shopping district."
The very nations in Europe that are calling for sanctions aren't willing to enforce them -- even when confronted by a two-bit dictator like Robert Mugabe and a few near powerless African nations. Without strong enforcement, sanctions, international law, UN Resolutions, etc, don't mean anything.
Not In Their Name? Then Do It In Mine: Have you heard of 'Not In Our Name'? They're a group of B and C level celebrities, writers, politicos, & academics who are against the war. Their numbers include Edward Asner, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden, Casey Kasem, Edward Said, Susan Sarandon, Gloria Steinem, Oliver Stone, Gore Vidal, & Kurt Vonnegut. The general idea this organization is trying to get across is that the "war on terrorism" shouldn't be waged in their names because they believe it is immoral. Well, they may not want this war associated with their names, but because I believe this is a just war, I have no such qualms. (Cont)
RWN Gets Introduced To The Mainstream Press In Britain
RWN Gets Introduced To The Mainstream Press In Britain: David Frum, an ex-speechwriter for President Bush and the man widely credited with coming up with the phrase "Axis of Evil," quoted one of my editorials in the Daily Telegraph today...
"A few weeks ago, a piece by an American internet essayist showed up in my in-basket. It is an arresting statement of a newly familiar thought: "It's like we're the guy who ended up being the designated driver for the planet. Sure, we'd love to sit back and drink ourselves into a stupor with the rest of the globe, but we're responsible for getting as many people safely home as possible.
"Every so often, while we're sitting around wishing we could kill a few beers like the rest of the planet, a sloppy drunk, drooling Europe comes over to where we're sitting. Then, they take another swig of vodka straight out of the bottle and tell us not to worry about a thing because they'll drive everyone home in their 'international law' van.
"But we know, if we drink up, that we'll just get a call at 4am asking us to bring our tow truck and the 'jaws of life' to clean up the bloody mess on dead man's curve. That's the burden of being an American."
***Update***:Bill Quick weighs in and he has harsh words for Frum.
***Update #2***: David Frum has emailed Instapundit about this one...
"Thanks for the ID on that essay. The one bad thing about the blogger phenom is that things show up in one's email unattributed - and it's hard to know even how to begin finding out who the author was. So my hat is off to John Hawkins for his eloquent words - and my apologies to him for not quoting him by name. I'll see if I can correct at least the electronic version of the Telegraph."
I appreciate the attempt to get my name added to that article. I certainly wouldn't mind having a flood of conservative Brits hitting the page from the Telegraph. Either way, thanks to David Frum for making the effort and using my quote in the article.
***Update #3***:Glenn Reynolds sent an email from David Frum that said the following...
"Correction has been made on the Telegraph's website. Would you be able to forward this to Mr. Hawkins?
Where Is The Media On The Russian Terrorist Situation?
Where Is The Media On The Russian Terrorist Situation?: We have a Russian 9/11 going on as we speak in Moscow. There are somewhere between 20-100 terrorists holding as many as 1000 Russians hostage. They've wired the building to explode and have planted mines. The terrorists are making demands that the Russians are not going to be able to meet (an end to war in Chechnya) and things could easily spiral out of control. We could wake up tomorrow to hear about a THOUSAND Russians killed in 2nd worst terrorist attack in human history.
Yet, this doesn't seem to be a lead story at any of the big news sites...
Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, & The Drudge Report are all running this as the #2 story behind the sniper. I'm hitting MSNBC, Fox, and CNN and they're all running wall to wall sniper coverage.
I MIGHT, MIGHT, think the sniper situation would deserve this sort of coverage if they had actually caught the sniper, but there's really nothing going on. The police are searching someone's yard & are looking for two "persons of interest", yippity-dippity-do. Meanwhile, more people than the sniper could kill in three years are being held hostage by terrorists. Where are the breakdowns of the options that Russian special forces have? Where are the live pics of the theater on TV? Why isn't the mainstream media covering this story like they should? Come on, we shouldn't have to read British papers to find out what's going on with one of the biggest stories since 9/11.
***Update***: According to the BBC, the hostages include, "Three Britons are reported to be among the hostages, along with seven Germans, four Americans, two Canadians, two Austrians and two Dutch citizens."
Apparently, someone has already been killed as well, "The rebels told Kavkaz-Centre they had shot a woman Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who tried to enter the theatre, ignoring their warnings."
Word on the Russian government reaction is as follows, "A senior Russian Government official, Alexei Volin, said the security forces had two priorities: to save the hostages and make no concessions to the attackers.
But the Russian authorities have reportedly told the rebels that they will guarantee them safe passage to another country if all the hostages are freed unharmed."
***Update***: The Terrorists have given Russia, "7 days to comply with their demands to end the war in Chechnya and for a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from the volatile republic."
Is Calling Condi Rice A N*gger Acceptable Because She's Conservative?
Is Calling Condi Rice A N*gger Acceptable Because She's Conservative?: There is a left-wing shock jock named Neil Rogers out of Florida who is promoting a song parody about Condi Rice called, "Kiss A N*gger Good Morning." Apparently a group affiliated with the show called "Radioholes" is denying the song is about Condi despite the fact that the promo-picture features President Bush giving Condi Rice a social peck on the cheek.
This same radio host regularly plays another song parody that makes fun of Condoleeza. Here are some of the lyrics of from this song as quoted by Newsmax...
"Condoleezza, Condoleezza, what you be doin'?
That neo-facist black-haired token schwartza dog.
"Is you there 'cause you a high-toned public Negro?
Is you their black-haired answer-mammy who be smart?
Does they like how you shine their shoes, Condoleezza?
Or the way you wash and park the whitey's cars.
"Georgie junior says he trusts you, Condoleezza.
Who said our (unintelligible) off the greedy oil woes.
But then he make you clean all the White House bathrooms.
The public sink, the toilet and let's scrub the floors."
Now Rogers, who is white and very liberal judging by the links on his page to a Ted Rall column and books by Molly Irvins & Paul Begala, certainly must not be worried about offending his audience with this sort of material.
Isn't it sad that a left-wing radio host can attack a conservative black woman with disgraceful racist slurs without anyone raising a peep except some conservative web pages? Where is the NAACP? Where is Jesse Jackson? Where is Al Sharpton? They're nowhere to be found just like they were when Harry Belafonte for all intents and purposes called Colin Powell a, "house n*gger." That's because the ugliest, most vicious, race based attacks are perfectly acceptable to many people on the left as long as they're aimed at blacks who don't tow the leftist line. That sort of behavior is reprehensible and the left should hold ITSELF to a higher standard than that.
Up To 1000 Russians Being Held Hostage By Chechen Terrorists
Up To 1000 Russians Being Held Hostage By Chechen Terrorists: Breaking news out of Russia...
"Up to 30 gunmen, apparently Chechen rebels, have taken hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theatre and are threatening to blow it up if police storm the building.
Elite Russian troops have surrounded the theatre and officials say there are about 700 people inside."
It gets worse...
"A teenager, among youngsters immediately released, said the group of 20-30 attackers had burst into the theatre, which was showing the musical "North-East", one firing a burst of bullets into the ceiling."
Some women were strapped with explosives and they said they would blow up the whole building in 10 minutes if they started to storm the building," Denis Afanasyev, told Russian television."
An earlier report I read said they released all the Muslims in the audience. I'd be very surprised at this point if there were any way to end this without massive casualties. My guess is that negotiating with these lunatics is probably futile. The best they can probably hope for it to kill these terrorists before they slaughter everyone in the theater. I wish Russia all the luck in the world on this one and I hope there's some way the US can help.
***Update***: The BBC claims that there are as many as 100 terrorists involved, up to a 1000 members of the audience being held, and that explosives have been planted in the theater.
***Update #2***: The terrorists have reportedly laid mines in the theater.
***Update #3***: As if it could get any worse -- from the Moscow Times,
"Interfax and Russian television, citing rebel web site Kavkaz.org, reported the attackers belong to a group headed by Movsar Barayev, a nephew of slain Chechen field commander Arbi Barayev. The web site could no longer be accessed in Moscow late Wednesday night.
...Barayev was quoted by kavkaz.org as saying that the gunmen arrived in Moscow "to die, not survive" and that 40 Chechen widows are participating in the attack, Interfax reported."
Soldier Of Fortune Mentions RWN: RWN reader Harvey Stewart alerted me to the fact that RWN got a mention in Soldier Of Fortune magazine. They were doing an article on the media coverage of the story they broke about the great work Canadian snipers were doing in Afghanistan. After covering the mixed reaction their article received from the Canadian press, they mentioned the reaction of RWN among others...
"Response to the story in the U.S. media was Pro-Canadian sniper (you guys can always immigrate and join the U.S. Army if those wimps from B.C. don’t want you back). On Friday, 12 July John Hawkins of the Right Wing News — now there’s a medial outlet we could learn to like — wrote, under the headline “Atta Boy, Eh?”:
A frightened al-Queda terrorist moves from tree to tree, his throat dry and body caked with nervous sweat. His breath is shallow and he has almost given up hope that he’ll make it back over the Pakistani border alive. He looks out across the hills and sees nothing that seems out of the ordinary. But somewhere out there, watching and waiting, are the dreaded … Canadian snipers … Canadian snipers are being credited with more than 20 kills in Afghanistan, including one from 2,400 metres away — almost a mile and a half. If validated, the kill would be the longest shot made by a military sniper in combat, according to the latest issue of Soldier of Fortune magazine ... Robert Brown, Soldier of Fortune editor and publisher, said, “The Canadians did a hell of a good job over there and we’ve got this from a number of sources. We felt we ought to give them, an ‘atta boy.’ “
Not only a good scenario but he also signed off with: “Hey all you Canucks out there, RWN salutes you! Way to kick ass!” The snipers and SOF’s article even made The Wall Street Journal editorial page (on 9 July, in response to the National Post article) in an article “Two Cheers for Canada,” by James Taranto (WSJ.Com Opinion Journal provided web links to both the article and to www.sofmag.com)."
Thanks for the mention SOF, it's much appreciated...
Iraq Bids On Next Olympics: Baghdad - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced that his country will bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. "You must understand that we have a longstanding tradition of honoring great athletes in my country. Take for example, weightlifting-before succumbing to injuries, an Iraqi woman, Bathsheba Fornicatarian, held the world record for extricating herself from beneath a pile of rocks that weighed in excess of 1200 pounds. Look, too, at our esteemed Foreign Minister, Tariq "the Geek" Aziz, who achieved worldwide recognition in the `Kurd Put' by hurling 77 semi-comatose tribesmen off a 10,000 foot cliff in just under 22 minutes. (Cont)
Bush Going Soft On Iraq? Not At All: I've heard a few people speculating that Bush is going soft on Iraq because of his latest comments...
"We've tried diplomacy," Mr. Bush said when asked about the issue today. "We're trying it one more time. I believe the free world, if we make up our mind to, can disarm this man peacefully."
Look folks, the devil will take up ice skating in hell before the entire "free world" decides to disarm Hussein. Getting the entire "free world" to agree about Iraq would be like herding cats through a rocking chair factory while being chased by a pack of rottweilers. There's no chance it's going to happen. More from the President...
"However, if he (Hussein) were to meet all the conditions of the United Nations, the conditions that I've described very clearly in terms that everybody can understand, that in itself will signal the regime has changed.
This one is even less likely than the first scenario Bush offered. I'd say that there is a better chance of the devil taking up skating, learning to play hockey, and then leading America to a victory in the 2004 Olympics than of Saddam meeting all of Bush's demands. It just ISN'T going to happen.
All this soft rhetoric from Bush reminds me of when he kept incessantly repeating that he didn't have a "war plan on his desk." Maybe it was in his pocket, on his nightstand, or maybe Laura was holding it for him, but it wasn't "on his desk". This sort of wording is primarily designed to give our timid "allies" in Europe a little cover with the peaceniks in their electorates while we gear up for war with Iraq. So don't let it throw you off...
The "Jewish Lobby" Controls America? I Think Not...
The "Jewish Lobby" Controls America? I Think Not...: I read an excellent article by David Frum in the Telegraph today. Early on, Frum says,
"In fact, the certainty that American policy is controlled by what one British magazine called a "kosher conspiracy" was the single most widely held opinion I heard in the course of an eight-day visit to Britain."
Frum goes on to do a good job of refuting this charge and he tosses out a few statistics worth noting...
-- "Some experts estimate that up to one third of the money given to Democratic candidates comes from Jewish donors."
-- "Few presidential candidates of modern times received less support from Jews than did Bush in November 2000 - about 19 per cent."
In fact, Jews as a group overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. So if that's the case and the "Jewish Lobby" is so incredibly powerful, how can it be that..
- The President is a Republican
- The Supreme Court leans to the right 5-4
- The Congress is controlled by Republicans 221 - 211
- The Senate is held by Democrats 50-49 but it took a Republican defector - (Jeffords) to give the Democrats control.
-The GOP leads in Governorships as well 29-19
But if Jews tend to vote for Democrats, how can it be that Israel has such strong support in the Republican party?
Simply put, Conservatives LIKE Israel. They're a Democracy surrounded by 'thugocracies' that want to wipe them off the face of the earth. Yet, they've managed not only to survive, but to thrive, which is admirable. Also, they're one of our most loyal allies. I'd put the Israelis right up there with the Brits and Aussies in that category.
Furthermore, you have to consider how 9/11 plays into things. While the Israelis mourned for America on 9/11, the Palestinians had a celebration in the street. Even more to the point, the Israelis are with us in the 'war on terrorism' until the end while the Palestinians are part of the problem.
Last but not least, while I don't agree with everything the Israelis are doing, I generally think they're morally in the right. As a matter of fact, Israel's leaders have been FAR more patient than I would have been in the same situation. Long ago I would have declared negotiations to be a failure, then I would have ordered the Palestinians transferred into Lebanon and/or Jordan, and I would have annexed the 'Disputed Territories." That may be cruel, but it beats having your people murdered weekly by Palestinian terrorists who won't be satisfied with anything less than your nation's total destruction.
Shared goals, values, and the belief that the Israelis are "right", not some "kosher conspiracy", explains why Israel has so much support in the US.
***Update***: Fark linked this one today. At last count, there were 260+ comments.
In Defense Of Little Green Footballs: The idiotarians over at MSNBC's Weblog Central have actually smeared Little Green Footballs of all places as a hate site. At first, they simply put LGF up on their, "Best of Blog" list which was fine. LGF IS one of the best blogs on the internet. When I polled 22 bloggers for RWN's Best Of The Blogosphere article, LGF finished 6th out of the entire blogosphere. Moreover, I actually liked Charles Johnson's work so much that I've interviewed him.
But apparently the spotlight LGF shines on the terrorist sympathizers and Islamo-Fascists out there is a little too bright for some people who wrote in to complain that LGF was a, "hate site". After reading a few complaint emails about the comments section and the "editorial slant" of LGF, the easily duped moron who runs the MSNBC's Weblog Central didn't have enough class to simply remove LGF since he now obviously doesn't think it's worthy of inclusion. Instead he chose to leave people with the impression that LGF might be a racism spewing hate site instead. Here are the descriptions of LGF currently up at MSNBC...
"Little Green Footballs: A popular but controversial Warblog focusing on militant Islam and terrorism. Is this news or hate?"
" ***Updated 10/20 This site is the focus of considerable controversy for its focus (and particularly the focus of the constituents in its comments section) on Islamic culture and dogma as the source of Islamic terror. As a popular, active, and well presented site, it is worth checking out, but some may find its content hateful or even racist."
Who's going to find LGF's content , "hateful or even racist" other than Islamo-fascists, terorrist sympathizers, & left-wingers who resent everyone who has a different opinion than they do? For MSNBC to try to paint LGF as some sort of questionable racist page run by a hatemonger is grossly irresponsible and inexcusable. As far as I'm concerned, MSNBC owes Charles Johnson and LGF a public apology. If they can't even publicly admit that they were wrong to smear LGF like this, then to hell with them as far as I'm concerned.
***Update***: Little Green Footballs reader brianstien posted this email that he received from Will Femia at MSNBC...
"Brian, thanks for your letter. I am not replying to all of these LGF mails (there are hundreds) but since you are the first civil mail I've read in the last hundred or so, I'm giving myself a break and taking time to reply.
I don't actually have a staff, it's just me. I am quite busy, but that's my own fault, so I can't complain.
What's baffling me the most is why so many people don't even want the issue raised. I didn't take LGF off the list. I didn't bow to the "PC lefties." People are berating me for "being on the fence" but I thought my decision was clear?
The only assertion I made was that there were objections to putting LGF on the list, and I did back that up with facts. There really are objections, I didn't make that up.
Anyway, hopefully by tomorrow I'll have gone through all these mails and still retained my sanity (you may have been spared the mean spiritedness, but I certainly have not) and I'll be able to do a follow up post."
LGF reader Model4 explains the issue that seems to "baffle" Mr. Femia...
"Senator Trent Lott: Possible wife-beater?
Al Gore: Is there a problem with alcoholism?
Harrison Ford: Could he be into kiddie-porn?
LGF: "Is this news or hate?"
You can't be an editor for a national news organization, even one as weak on standards as MSNBC, without knowing better. You can't put out unsubstantiated third-party attacks and just leave the poor victim with the burden of proof without putting your reputation on the line."
Exactly. I'll be looking forward to seeing that follow-up post...
***Update 2***: My favorite columnist ,Mark Steyn weighs into the frey on LGF's side...
***Update 3***: Will Femia at MSNBC apparently believes "any publicity is good publicity" because he posted a mealymouthed non-apology on MSNBC today and decided to draw things out for another day by asking people to write to him. You'd think the "500"+ responses that he says he has already received would have been enough to clue him in.
This Foul Race Needs To Be Put To Sleep: I have no idea how popular the Vanguard News Network is but it wouldn't surprise me if they were popular with the skinhead/nazi/and white sheet set. From their slogan (No Jews. Just Right.) to their seemingly endless calls for genocide, these guys could have come straight out of the Third Reich (which they would probably consider a compliment). If you're looking for demented racist rhetoric that sounds like it comes directly from some skinhead with a swastika tattooed on his forehead -- this is the page for you. All the posts in this episode of A.C.P.O.T.I. (anyone can post on the internet) came directly from the front page and the archives of this repugnant page....
Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Appeasement Prize!: Jimmy Carter became the first person to win the Nobel Prize for Appeasement, a new category of Nobel Prize awarded for extraordinary achievements in the field of giving in to dictators.
"For his works in Cuba, North Korea, The People's Republic of China, and Iraq, Jimmy Carter has earned the accolades of those who understand that there is nothing at all worth fighting for, and that fighting against evil dictators makes you just as bad as them" said committee chair Helen Thomas. "President Carter simply swept the category when it was revealed this week that North Korea is now a nuclear power and has been rushing a crash program since 1994 when Carter intervened to avoid a conflict with the US. It was his greatest achievement since his intervention to allow Cuba to go unpunished for developing their bio-warfare capability. He deserves immense credit for his efforts in 1990 to allow Saddam Hussein to keep Kuwait, though they were unsuccessful. We have high hopes that he can solve the new Iraq problem in a similar way and perhaps bring a resolution to the dispute between Al Quaeda and the US."
If you liked this satire by Tad Hayworth check out more of his work at Broken Newz.
I Need A Little Advice: Although I've always been a big supporter of gun rights, I have never owned a handgun. Well that is about to change. I've finally decided to go ahead and pick up a gun. But to be honest with you, I don't know enough about handguns to make an informed purchase. I've asked a few friends what to get and a couple of them suggested buying a 9mm. On the other hand, I noticed that .38s are really cheap. Should I just buy one of those? I also had an ex-roommate who owned a glock and who told me that they were really exceptional handguns. I'd be open to purchasing any brand of handgun though.
Keep in mind that I'm probably not going to spend more than $500 and that I currently don't know a lot about handguns. So can some of you gun enthusiasts out there give me some advice?
Moderate Islam Vs. Terrorism: It's nice to see a prominent Muslim organization come out strongly against terrorism without having a "but" attached to it. By having a "but" attached to it, I mean where they say something like "terrorism is bad, BUT Israel is terrible, Americans are crusaders, yada, yada, yada." On the other hand, Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama doesn't sound like they're just giving lip service when they're condemning terrorism...
"Indonesia's moderate Muslim organisations demanded today that authorities crack down against religious extremists, who they said represent a fringe minority among the country's 170 million Muslims.
Former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he believed that Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of a group suspected in last week's Bali bombing, should have been arrested long ago.
"I believe that Bashir is a terrorist," Wahid said in a radio interview.
Wahid, who was replaced as head of state by Megawati Sukarnoputri last year, has been sharply critical of her administration's cautious approach toward radicals.
Wahid's organization, Nahdlatul Ulama - whose 40 million members make it the world's largest Muslim grouping - and the 30-million member Muhammadiyah both urged the government to act more decisively against small groups of militants such as Jemaah Islamiyah, which is suspected in the October 12 nightclub bombing in Bali that killed at least 180 people and injured around 300.
Their leaderships say that groups like Jemaah Islamiah or Laskar Jihad - a recently disbanded paramilitary gang blamed for waging a religious war against the Christian minority in the Maluku islands - are a tiny minority in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.
Megawati has already signed an emergency decree that allows terrorist suspects to be detained for up to six months without charge, but religious moderates have called on her administration to implement even tougher anti-terrorist legislation.
"We badly need such regulations to prevent terrorist attacks," said Hazim Muzadi, Nahdlatul Ulama's chairman. "All countries have similar laws."
Maureen Dowd On Bush, "WAHHHHHH!" Maureen Dowd's latest column is almost devoid of anything other than pure venom and hatred for George Bush. There's no real point, no message, nothing she's trying to get across other than, "I loathe George Bush." Let me post the beginning of Dowd's editorial so you can see what I mean...
"WASHINGTON - The Boy Emperor picked up the morning paper and, stunned, dropped his Juicy Juice box with the little straw attached.
"Oh, man," he wailed. "North Korea's got nukes. Sheriff Musharraf was helping them. Al Qaeda's blowing stuff up again. The Pentagon's speculating that the sniper might really be Qaeda decoy teams trying to distract the law while they plan a bio-blitzkrieg or a dirty bomb attack on the capital. Tenet's broken out in hives about the next 9/11. Powell spends all his time kissing up to the Frenchies. Saddam's ranting about a river of American blood. Jebbie's in a world of hurt. The economy's cratering. At least Karl says our war strategy will open up a can of Election Day whoop on Congressional Democrats.
"This is not the way my new doctrine was supposed to work. We are supposed to decide who we pre-empt and when we pre-empt them. The speechwriters called it an Axis of Evil, but it was really just a Spoke of Evil. Condi and Rummy said once we finished off Saddam, nobody would mess with America again. But everything's gotten fuzzier than fuzzy math. Some people are actually talking about my doctrine leading to World War III!!! Karl says that would be bad."
Dowd's caustic rant, temper tantrum, hysterical fit, or whatever you want to call Dowd's screed goes on throughout the entire piece. Keep in mind that the person writing this bizarre piece is one of the left's most respected columnists, a woman who has been rewarded with a regular column at the New York Times. I wonder if the same people on the left who think that Coulter is "mean" will come down on Dowd as well? Even though Coulter is vicious, she at least has ideas that she's trying to promote or get across in her articles. This piece by Dowd has no more substance to it than a child kicking and screaming on the floor of a department store threatening to hold her breath, "until she turns blue" unless her mother buys her a Barbie. Is vitriol alone enough to make a column worth writing & publishing on the left? Apparently so...
Nobody Here But Us Minor League Scouts For Crackpots
Nobody Here But Us Minor League Scouts For Crackpots: The anti-semites who like to haunt the Pravda forums finally noticed that we featured them in a couple (here, here) of A.C.P.O.T.I. episodes and some of their comments were entertaining...
bigdave ads a little random paranoia...
bigdave:"A few years back someone in a Scandinavian country set up a website which would allow users to surf the web anonymously using his site as a portal. Several more similar sites appeared very soon afterward. Later someone said that most of the new sites were not simple copycats but were CIA plants. They simply wanted to get a handle on who wanted privacy so that they could attempt to find a reason why they wanted it. Eventually a court action forced the closure of the first site and I have no idea what happened to the others. If you are using one, beware, it is probably a CIA front."
Atossa thinks I'm a "Jew web watcher"...
Atossa:"I saw this website months ago... it wasn't worth the effort of posting about... I wonder why Pravda's forum has not been mentioned on the more official jew web watchers like the Soviet jew or ADL websites?!"
The KingOfWhiteTrash thinks I'm a scout, "beating the bush leagues" for anti-semitism...
KingOfWhiteTrash:"I've been around baseball for most of my life and I gotta tell ya, this guy looks like a scout that's hitched his wagon to some bum lefty kid that couldn't throw strikes in the clutch if you held a gun to his head. I see this John Hawkins guy as a minor league scout kinda guy.
He fancies himself a scout for the "major leagues of antisemitism", and just wants his prospect (Pravda in this case) to get the recognition he thinks the prospect deserves, so that the "sharp eyed" scout (Mr Hawkins, in this case) might reap some recognition for his years of beating the bush leagues in search of talent for the big leagues..."
At least one guy gets it =)
GiBi:One could speculate in the fact that some "interesting" Pravda "dialogue" ended un in a "crackpot" section. Could it be the right on for most of what's going on here?
GiBi my man, you are a beacon of reason in a sea of idiocy. I'm proud to have served in the Mossad with you for the last five years -- whoops! Where's the delete button on this thing?!?!
The Best Quotes From, 'The Simpsons': Ok -- so there's nothing Conservative about putting up my favorite quotes from 'the Simpsons'. But I thought it would be fun so read and enjoy...
