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attack Bush and the Republicans!

Any questions…….?

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Sunday it would resume sensitive nuclear activities at once without waiting for EU compromise proposals, a move that the EU said was “unnecessary and damaging” and could derail their talks.

Iran said it was acting after the EU failed to meet a deadline set by Tehran to deliver an offer to break the impasse. from Yahoo News.

And after so may promises broken, why does anyone really believe what Iran and North Korea will say anymore?

HOUSTON (Reuters) – NASA is considering sending two astronauts on an unprecedented spacewalk to the belly of space shuttle Discovery to smooth out rough spots in the ship’s heat shield, U.S. space agency officials said on Sunday.

NASA managers are concerned that two protruding bits of material known as “gap fillers” could overheat Discovery as it plunges through Earth’s atmosphere for landing.

Heat shield damage was responsible for the loss of shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts during NASA’s last shuttle mission more than two years ago.

“My immediate knee-jerk reaction was that we could live with this,” said deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale. “On the other hand, if the (spacewalk repair) plan is relatively simple, why worry? Why would you not just go take care of it?”
from Yahoo News.

I read a number of articles on the Hiroshima bombing anniversary, and it is a good illustration of why I do not trust the MSM. Most of them did not talk about the estimated 500,000 American deaths or the 2 million Japanese deaths had we invaded. None of them talked about the millions of Chinese killed by the Japanese that lead to the cutting off of oil by America which sparked the war. And none of them discussed that that the Japanese was planning to attack San Fransico with a dirty radioactive bomb in Sept. 1945.

Most of the articles focus on the victims and survivors of Hiroshimam, and nothing else, even though the writer’s grandfather could have been one of those waiting to be on that first wave when Japan was invaded. (How would you feel about the bombings if you were slated to be on the first wave too, dear reader?) To paint such a complex story in such simple terms is a discredit to the American soldier, our nation as a whole, and journalism as a profession.

do not believe them….

so says one Muslim blaming terrorism on the US invasion of Iraq

It is rejection of U.S. and British policies in the Middle East, not Islam, that has promoted terrorism against America. And for the benefits of those who do not know, 95 percent of Middle Easterners are Muslims. Hence, it is only natural that those opposing the United States and Britain in the region would be Muslims. In India, they would have been Hindu; in Latin America or Northern Ireland, they would have been Catholic.

However, while the calamity of Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea might be rationalized by the Cold War or even a domino theory, there is nothing to rationalize the invasion of Iraq except ideological stupidity. The United States illegally invaded and decimated a country that did not threaten its security and, in the process, unleashed one of the most vile and ruthless insurgencies the region has ever seen. And as it did in Vietnam, when the going got tough, it is planning to pull out. The result will be a protracted instability and turmoil that no country in the region can escape. from LGF.

I have heard all this before, but of course the argument conveniently leaves out all the terrorism attacks before Iraq is , including 9-11. Thus. it is bull@#%t.

Also, in an amazing sign of common sense still not shown in America ITALY has banned Islamic burqas under tough terrorism laws that provide two-year jail terms and E2000 ($3200) fines for anyone caught covering their face in a public place.

The counter-terrorism effort is mirrored by Britian as it is reported that people from certain ethnic groups are more likely to be stopped and searched on London transport after the bombings, British Transport Police (BTP) said.

Well, Europe it seems has become that more safer. I wonder if it will take a nuc here before we finally wake up.

After years of partisan impasses and legislative failures, Congress in a matter of hours yesterday passed or advanced three far-reaching bills that will allocate billions of dollars and set new policies for guns, roads and energy.

The measures sent to President Bush for his signature will grant $14.5 billion in tax breaks for energy-related matters and devote $286 billion to transportation programs, including 6,000 local projects, often called “pork barrel” spending. The Senate also passed a bill to protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from various lawsuits. The House is poised to pass it this fall.

Combined with the Central American Free Trade Agreement that Congress approved Thursday, the measures constitute significant victories for Bush and GOP congressional leaders, who have been frustrated by Democrats in some areas such as Social Security. As senators cast vote after vote in order to start their August recess, Bush applauded Congress, saying the energy bill “will help secure our energy future and reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy.”

Several bloggers are talking about this one. Actually I am stunned the Post did not try to spin it. Dave also has his take on it at the HedgeHog. It is sad though this is the week where Bush’s poll numbers have really dipped, even with some major victories scored. This is probably due to constant negative reporting of Iraq and the MSM downplaying any significant republican achievement. (Which again is why this article surprises me.) Now imagine if the Dems controlled the Senate or the White House. The results would be more gridllock. Today’s results in the Congress really highlight the importance of the legistlative as well as the executive victories for the Republican party.

Now we got to move on to the judicial.

here are some excerpts from LGF on how the call for reform is met by the faithful in the Islamic world.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — The voice of the new imam at one of the largest mosques on the East Coast rang loud from the pulpit during Friday services: “The call to reform Islam is an alien call.”

People who do not understand Islam are the ones seeking to change it, said Shaker Elsayed, the new spiritual leader at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington. “Ignorance comes from outside circles who know nothing about us.”

Though his role as the mosque’s religious leader is a new one, Elsayed is well known as a civic activist in a large Muslim community that has been subject to sharp scrutiny ever since the Sept. 11 attacks. His face is a familiar one at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, where he has lent support to area Muslims he sees as victims of a federal witch hunt — from those prosecuted for immigration violations to soliciting treason.

Now lets move overseas. Perhaps things are better there.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s top Islamic council issued a religious edict on Friday forbidding any liberal interpretation of Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

“Religious liberalism is haram (forbidden),” said a fatwa, or doctrine, issued by the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and seen by Reuters.

“This is a reminder for Muslims to follow the religion in a correct way and not to try to deviate from the principles,” Ma’aruf Amin, chief the MUI’s Fatwa Commission, told Reuters.

Another fatwa banned inter-religious marriages in Indonesia where 85 percent of its 220 million follow Islam.

but the prize goes to these bozos who never heard of Al-Queada. Sounds like the Democratic leadership, who of late seems to have forgotten that there is a war on.

The most senior Islamic cleric in Birmingham claimed yesterday that Muslims were being unjustly blamed in the war on terrorism and that the eight suspects in the two bombing attacks on London “could have been innocent passengers”.

Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of the city’s central mosque, called Tony Blair a “liar” and “unreliable witness” and questioned whether CCTV footage issued of the suspected bombers was of the perpetrators. He said that Muslims “all over the world have never heard of an organisation called al-Qa’eda”.

from LGF Why do I focus on this so much? Because we are not just in a war with Al-Queada, we are in a war with fundimentalist Islam. Some of the war is a cold war, some of it is hot.

His name is Vladimir Arutyunyan; he was captured by Georgian police after a shootout in which he killed a policeman and was himself wounded. On May 10, when President Bush was giving a speech in Tbilisi, he threw a hand grenade at the stage. It landed within 25 yards or so, but failed to go off. After Arutyunyan was arrested, police found more hand grenades and unspecified chemicals in his apartment.

What I find rather weird about this is the almost total lack of coverage of his assassination attempt and subsequent capture in the American press. As best I can tell from a Google Search, the Washington Times is the only American newspaper that has even noted Arutyunyan’s arrest. How is it possible that American journalists have so little interest in an attempt to assassinate our President?

The only parallel I can think of is the ho-hum attitude that journalists showed toward Saddam Hussein’s attempt to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush–which was, in my view, more than ample reason to oust Saddam from power. Coverage of the disclosure of that attempt was so sparse that I would guess many Americans have no idea that Saddam tried to murder the former President.

Maybe the current political climate is making me paranoid, but I cannot imagine that our news services would be equally indifferent to an attempt to assassinate a Democratic President.

CORRECTION: Seth Lipsky, editor of the New York Sun, writes:

Per that post by john, I believe the Sun has printed at least three stories about the arrest of that would be assassin in Georgia. I think arutyunian is the way the ap is spelling it.
Seth is right; a Google search on the above spelling shows that the AP’s story has run in a number of papers. The basic point, though, is still right: this story has gotten amazingly little interest or coverage, with the exception of a few outlets like the Sun.
Powerline

And why do you think the MSM doesn’t care if anyone tried to assasinate President Bush?

>

Powerline posted a good column where Andrew Whitehead of Anti-CAIR points out the double standard between the Muslims and the Christians in todays MSM.

“If the Boy Scouts of America had 1,000 Scout troops, and 10 of them practiced suicide bombings, then the BSA would be considered a terrorist organization. If the BSA refused to kick out those 10 troops, that would make the case even stronger. If people defending terror repeatedly turned to the Boy Scout handbook and found language that justified and defended murder — and the scoutmasters responded by saying ‘Could be’ — the Boy Scouts would have been driven out of America long ago.

“Today, Islam has whole sects and huge mosques that preach terror. Its theology is openly used to give the murderers their motives. Millions of its members give these killers comfort. The question isn’t how dare I call Islam a terrorist organization, but rather why more people do not.”

And if there were 10,ooo Eric Rudolphs would society be as understanding with Christianity. The people who follow Islam need to make a choice. Those who do not support terrorism and human rights abuses must end their silence and do much more then they are doing now to fight this evil.

Another excellent column from Victor Davis Hanson:

We must now step up our efforts. At home we should no more tolerate the expression of Islamic fascism on the shores of the West than Churchill would have allowed Hitler Youth to teach Aryan global racial superiority in London while it was under the Blitz.
When the extremists are repatriated to the Middle East, and understand they are never again welcome in Europe and America, millions of others will know the reason why — and decide by their own attitudes to the killers in their midst whether they themselves wish ever again to visit, work, or be educated in the West.

If the terrorists are not isolated and ostracized at home, then any Western government would have to be suicidal to admit any more young males from the Islamic Middle East. Indeed, if the Iranian public or the Saudis, or Egyptian citizenry do not begin creating a climate hostile to radical Islam, then they de facto can only become the enemies of the United States in a war that they can only lose.

To fathom our success abroad, read what the Islamic websites — or Mohammed Atta’s own father — now say about the evil Americans and George Bush, who, they lament, have set Muslim against Muslim in Lebanon, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine. The foreign contagion of democracy and reform, despite the best efforts of both the mullah and the strongman, now infects the Arab Street and it seems to be driving bin Laden and Bashar Assad alike crazy.

Iraqi guardsmen are fighting al Qaedists as Afghans die in firefights with Taliban remnants. Note well that at the loci of American democratizing presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, there are few local Iraqis and Afghans — as there are few Turkish or Indian Muslims — who are eager for global jihad against the West. The killers instead flock from elsewhere to those new nations to stop the experiment before it spreads. Give dictatorial Pakistan or Egypt billions, and we get ever more terrorists; give the Iraqis and Afghans their freedom and their citizens are unlikely to show up in London and Madrid blowing up civilians, but rather busy at home killing jihadists.

from LGF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush plans to bypass the U.S. Senate and install John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, officials said.

Bush can go around the Senate and give Bolton a “recess appointment” when the Senate begins its August recess this weekend. Bolton would be able to serve until January 2007, when a new Congress is sworn in.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was Bush’s intent to make a recess appointment. An announcement could come as early as Monday.

Senate Democrats have stalled the nomination of Bolton, a favorite of conservatives, over accusations he tried to manipulate intelligence and intimidated intelligence analysts to support his hawkish views while the top U.S. diplomat for arms control.

Asked about the possibility of a recess appointment for Bolton, White House spokesman Scott McClellan argued that the job needed to be filled soon.

“We need our permanent representative in place at the United Nations at this critical time. There is an effort under way to move forward on comprehensive reform,” he said.
from yahoo News

There has been a flurry of activity in Congress heading into the August recess. The Senate just passed the energy bill by a wide 74-26 margin. And right now, the Senate is in the process of beating back Democratic amendments to the bill to ban junk lawsuits against gun manufacturers. The main bill should also pass later today barring a last minute poison pill amendment. This is in addition to the Bush’s victory in the passage of CAFTA earlier in the week and his probable recess appointment of John Bolton once the recess begins later today. Democrats can complain and whine and point to poll numbers all they want, but the truth of the matter is Bush is getting a lot done while the Democrats are spending all their time going after Karl Rove. Elections matter…

One thing that I do wonder about is the minimal number of judicial nominees that have been confirmed so far this year. On the Senate roll call list, there were only 8 judges confirmed with an additional two nominees being confirmed by voice vote. There are still 45 vacancies that need to be filled and the President, sa far, has only nominated 13 nominees to fill these vacancies….

written by Dave Wissing at the HedgeHog

Again, I find it interesting how little credit a Republican, whether on the national level or on the state level, will get from the MSM. The dems have spent the entire period following the London bombings talking about Karl Rove. Has anyone else heard another Social Security reform plan from any Democrat? (I have only heard of one.) Their entire public policy has been to attack the Republicans. How anyone takes them seriously with our defence is beyond me.

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Shuttle Discovery’s right wing may have been struck by a small piece of foam that flew off its external fuel tank during launch, but no damage has been detected and the ship appears in good shape for an Aug. 7 landing, NASA managers said on Thursday.

Discovery’s seven astronauts boarded the International Space Station high above the Earth on Thursday, the first shuttle crew to visit since the 2003 Columbia disaster and now because of new safety concerns, possibly the last for some time.

Preventing the insulating foam from shedding off the fuel tank has been the primary focus of NASA’s $1 billion safety upgrade program following the Columbia accident, which was caused by a chunk of foam that hit the ship’s left wing shortly after liftoff.
from yahoo News

I had a long and annoying discussion with a fellow employee who thought manned space flight is a waste of money. By weight of comparision, let us ponder China, who at the 14th century, had the biggest fleet in the world, including 9 mast 400 ft long giant junk. However, the new emperor thought a irrigation project was more worthwild and money should be spend on the people as opposes to exploring. Centuries later, after the defeat of the Boxer rebellion, China was dominated by European nations such as Britian that became an empire by their aggressive exploration and colonialization. Only now has China became a world power again, and incidently, has a manned space program. Exploration breeds strength. Besides, due to impacts by meteorites and comets, we either leave the earth or become extinct as a species.

The shortsighted people will get you every time.

Do you plan to come out and revise your motto, “light for all” since you clearly make no effort to represent the 43% of Marylanders that vote Republican. For that matter, will you come out and admit your bias and either no longer use the word journalists in association with the Sun or perhaps try to live up to the term?

just wondering.

Has anyone heard of the Asian Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate? Probably not, because if they did it mike make it like Bush is actually accomplishing something for the environment, and that would be bad…anyway. here is the link. Clichk here

I read with some interest comments attributed to you in news reports detailing your Monday meeting with the President’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G. Roberts, Jr.
While we may disagree on various domestic and international issues, we have also found common ground over the years on numerous matters of importance to all Americans. As Catholics, we certainly share a common experience, including the awful legacy of anti-Catholic bigotry that permeated American politics well into the 20th Century.

“Irish Need Not Apply” signs were common in the storefront windows of Chicago’s neighborhoods until a few years ago, a bias driven largely by the Catholic faith shared by most Irish-Americans. I want to believe that you do not wish to turn back the clock to that ugly period of our history, and that’s why these comments attributed to you concern me.

No one of our faith — or that of any other denomination or religion — should be excluded from public office for his or her religious values. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution unequivocally prohibits such a litmus test: “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States.”

“Practicing Catholics need not apply” cannot become a rallying cry of modern day religious bigots who would seek to drive from the public square all federal office candidates of faith. I hope that your question to Judge Roberts, if accurately reported, does not constitute an opening salvo in a process in which the candidate’s faith will constitute sufficient justification for denying him a speedy confirmation.

from Powerline

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top U.S. Muslim scholars issued a “fatwa,” or religious edict, against terrorism on Thursday and called on Muslims to help authorities fight the scourge of militant violence.

The fatwa was part of efforts by U.S. Muslims to counter perceived links between Islam and terrorism and avert any negative backlash after this month’s bombings by suspected Islamic extremists in London and Egypt.

“Having our religious scholars side by side with our community leaders leaves no room for anybody to suggest that Islam and Muslims condone or support any forms or acts of terrorism,” said Esam Omeish, president of the Muslim American Society, one of the groups which announced the fatwa.
from Yahoo News again >

This, obviously, is a good thing. It forces many of the Muslims to choose a side and further weakens the terrorists hands.

On a side note, I was discussing all this with a friend of mine and he thought Bush and I was simplistic with our use of the concept of good and evil. I disagree and think all this moral relativism bull is part of the crap that got us into so many problems in the first place. (Actually, I do slightly generalize issues when I talk on the blog for space issues. For example, I think most of the young people in Iran are actually pro-American. However, that fact is meaninglessness since they have no political power and their government is most definitely our enemy.) The main point is when we are unable to regognize evil or even define it, how would we ever confront it.

Update: LGF reports one of the scholars during an anti-Israel rally outside the White House on Oct. 28, 2000, openly threatened the United States with violence if it continued its support of Israel. “America has to learn … if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come.” said Muzammil Siddiqi,” Please, all Americans. Do you remember that? … If you continue doing injustice, and tolerate injustice, the wrath of God will come.” By “injustice,” he meant U.S. support for Israel.

ABC News published exclusive photos of unexploded bombs from the London 7/7 attacks yesterday, even though British police asked them to withhold the report:

British Request Fails to Stop ABC Report on Bomb Investigation.

The British police asked ABC News on Tuesday to withhold a report showing images of what were said to be unexploded bombs found in a car used by the July 7 bombers and of the inside of a subway train mangled in the attacks, a network official said yesterday.

The interior of the train between London’s King’s Cross and Russell Square Underground stations, in which 27 people were killed on July 7, was included in an ABC News report that showed previously unseen images.

But on its “World News Tonight” program on Tuesday, ABC went ahead with the report, which said the attacks might have been part of a wider plot, said the official, Jon Banner, executive producer of “World News Tonight.” He said the account was cut from the program when it was broadcast later in Britain by the BBC.

The Metropolitan Police sent an e-mail message yesterday that asked news organizations “in the strongest possible terms” not to replay the images “because they may prejudice both the ongoing investigation and any future prosecutions.” The police called the images “unauthorized.”

Nevertheless, British broadcasters – including Sky News and the BBC – showed the pictures during the day, and they were distributed by Reuters.

Later yesterday, a police spokeswoman, who spoke in return for anonymity under standard police procedures, said of some news organizations: “Obviously they made their own decision. We asked them to be responsible and they were not.” She added, “We still don’t want the pictures to be published for operational reasons.”
from LGF

Thanks MSM, for a few more ratings you might have compromised the case.

Todays modern media, the terrorists enablers

The Muslim mind is on fire

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The Irish Republican Army’s pledge to end its armed struggle breathed new life into efforts to restore self-rule in Northern Ireland, but decades of sectarian mistrust mean the words must now be backed by action.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern planned to meet a delegation from the moderate nationalist SDLP to discuss what happens following the IRA’s potentially historic pledge.

Mindful of previous broken IRA promises, politicians say the outlawed group must now back words with action. But the onus is not all on them: Britain and Ireland committed to fulfil already-agreed promises delayed by the IRA’s failure to disarm.

“There are difficult issues to be addressed. These include policing, the end to loyalist paramilitary activity and the restoration of the political institutions,” Ahern said.

But proving the IRA’s deed is as good as its word remains the major challenge and restoring a local government that has been on ice for the past three years will take time.
from Yahoo News