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February 28, 2006
He survived Iraq - UPDATED
CHP Officer Gregory John Bailey was killed Saturday by a drunk illegal-alien driver on Interstate 15 not far from the Cajon Pass.
Members of Bailey's family, which includes wife Teresa and four young children, were gripped in grief in the aftermath of the shock that the National Guardsman, who had returned in November from a 14-month tour in Iraq, was killed on Interstate 15 by a suspected drunken driver's 1991 Honda Accord.The CHP has suffered six fatalities since just last September, an unprecedented string in its 76-year history."Shock, just a feeling of disbelief,' said Aimee Bailey, 35, of her older brother's death.
"For 14 months we prayed for his safe return (from Iraq), then to come home and get killed by a drunk driver is just mind boggling," said Bailey, who was en route to Southern California from her Charlottesville, Va. home Monday morning.
Bailey's brother-in-law, Mike Walker, said the family was struggling with the twin burdens of grief and funeral arrangements. He said they have not reconciled the sad irony of Bailey's surviving harrowing service in Iraq, where he was part of a Blackhawk Helicopter repair squadron, and abrupt death on comparatively tame Southland freeways.
"In Iraq, he was flying into war-zones to repair helicopters, under gunfire all the time," Walker said. "The hardest thing is that he was killed by a drunk driver."
That doesn't count non-fatal incidents, such as last November when CHP Officer Marlin Eugene Pressley Jr. was gunned down along Interstate 15 in Ontario by illegal alien Jaime Zavala Garcia.
Bailey's killer will be arraigned this afternoon in Victorville on vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges. Bail is requested at $1 million.
UPDATE Esqueda was arraigned Tuesday afternoon. He was appointed a public defender and a translator and pled "not guilty" to all three charges. A $1 mill bail was set and the INS put a hold on him. He'll be back in court for pre-pre on 3/7 with preliminary hearing set for 3/9.
Tuesday afternoon also saw a contingent of Officer Bailey's fellow officers from Rancho Cucamonga (including our liason) accompany his body back from the coroner's to the funeral home. Officer Bailey's viewing is Thursday and his funeral will be on Friday.
Trackbacked to Digger's Realm
Posted by Darleen at 12:52 PM | Comments (1)
February 27, 2006
The Indecent Ted Rall
Scrawler Rall has loved trashing the families of 9/11, Daniel Pearl's widow, Pat Tillman and now he goes after the passengers of Flight 93 contending the plane was really shot down by Chimpy Bush while the passengers sat like sheep in their seats. John Hawkins posts the relevant part of the 9/11 Commission Report that shows that a passenger revolt, indeed, was the cause of the hijacked plane not completing its mission:
A passenger in the background said, "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die!" Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, "Roll it!"Time for me to rerun my Ted Rall parody -- my first and only word on what I believe motivates this indecent excuse for a human being (over the jump)The passengers continued their assault and at 10.02, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!"
The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them. The airplane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest."
With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft ploughed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, DC.
Jarrah's objective was to crash his airliner into symbols of the American Republic, the Capitol or the White House. He was defeated by the alerted, unarmed passengers of United 93.
Ted Rall is John Walker Lindh with a crayon.
Technorati: Ted Rall, Flight 93
Posted by Darleen at 09:09 AM | Comments (8)
February 26, 2006
Passed on - McGavin and Knotts
This weekend marked the passing of two popular and talented character actors, Darren McGavin, 83, on Saturday and Don Knotts, 81, on Friday.
Each had long, extensive careers in both movies and television. My fave Don Knott's roles were The Incredible Mr. Limpet and the small role he had in Pleasantville. Darren McGavin brought a great deal of fun to his role as Kolchak, and he'll forever be Ralphie's "old man" of A Christmas Story.
Rest in peace, gentlemen. The entertainment industry is a poorer place for your passing and there seems a dearth of your talent in today's media.
Technorati: Darren McGavin, Don Knotts
Posted by Darleen at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)
Left Cult members may need to hold off booking the hall for the Schadenfreuda Ball
Iraq pulls back from civil war.
TOP Iraqi leaders have vowed national unity as they sought to pull their nation back from the brink of civil war.(h/t Little Miss Attila)Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, President Jalal Talabani and a host of Shiite and Sunni leaders met at Mr Jaafari's house yesterday for the first time since communal violence was ignited by the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Wednesday.
"All the leaders felt a need to accelerate the political process and proposed to sign a national pact between all the different political factions," Mr Jaafari said later."If I have any good news it is that Iraq is far away from a civil war. There is no Shiite against a Sunni or a Muslim against a non-Muslim . . . the name of Iraq is above everything."
The talks came after US President George Bush phoned seven Iraqi political leaders encouraging them to work together.
Posted by Darleen at 03:08 PM | Comments (1)
February 24, 2006
Spike Lee jumps the shark
Jeff Harrell points out a strange, new Lee movie The C.S.A., a "historical" documentary of the Confederate States of America (if the South won the Civil War). Jeff opines
I thought in order to be satire it would have to be, you know, funny in some waySpike Lee has enjoyed more business success than about 90% of fellow American citizens, and he can't help but try to insult the intelligence of everyone within hearing distance of this attempt at humor.
Of course, if this mean-spirited movie bombs, Spike will take no personal responsibility.
He's a multi-millionare still fightin' The Man.
Posted by Darleen at 12:34 PM | Comments (8)
February 23, 2006
Book Review: Cell
Stephen King is, too often, a clockwork orange, churning out uninspired writing with the regularity of a GM assembly line. I pretty much gave up reading much of him after the bloated The Stand. That book had its moments but was in desperate need of a strong-willed editor with a desk full of blue pencils. However, King's unevenness has kept me hoping and coming back from time to time to see if he's recaptured some of the originality and true creepiness of some of his earlier work. I bought Cell at the same time as Prayers for the Assassin.
And was mildly disappointed. It's not the worst of King (Dreamcatcher and the whole shit weasel business is one I'd readily nominate), but it's certainly nowhere near some of his other writings. Cell should be subtitled: The Stand-lite. It trods familiar territory in a much shorter book over a much shorter time period with a smaller cast of characters.
This time, instead of a super-flu that kills off over 90% of the human race, the triggering event is a "Pulse", delivered through cells phones that "wipes out" the brains of anyone who answers their cell phone one fateful day. It is analogous to formatting a computer's hard drive - an analogy King works over and over again throughout the story, principally through a young whiz kid (is there ever any other kind?) Jordan. With such stripping of all such programming, the "phone-crazies" at first fall on each other and on any hapless "normie" with Night of the Living Dead violence.
We have our own trio of "normies" to follow on their trek north, at night (when the phone-crazies sleep), their encounters with other normies, their observations of evolving phone-crazies behavior, and their ruminations on How This All Happened.
Are we bored yet?
Over the last several years, the best of King's work is in short stories (ie Hearts in Atlantis, Everything's Eventual). It seems that when confronted with writing a book-length story, Inspiration slips out the backdoor to vacation in Florida while King blurts out something "commercial" on paper in order to make the Best Seller section of Barnes & Noble.
Re-read The Shining or It for a scare that will keep you up at night. Or even Delores Claiborne for a great stream-of-consciousness character study.
Hang up on Cell.
Technorati: Book Review, Cell, Stephen King
Posted by Darleen at 12:14 PM | Comments (1)
February 22, 2006
Book review: Prayers for the Assassin
I can spend hours in a bookstore. It rivals a bakery or candy shop. Sometimes I don't get hours but just pop in and I go pretty much on whim.
Early Sunday I had all of about 20 minutes and wandered looking at the new fiction -- picking up books at random, reading a paragraph here, flyleaf there. Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin actually intrigued me with an illustration on the inside cover. Taking it home, I settled down to read...and read... until I finished it on Monday.
It is a fast-paced political thriller that reads like a movie (not surprising that several of Mr. Ferrigno's prior novels have been optioned by Hollywood). More like Crichton than Clancey. The characters are well-written -- a brooding hero, headstrong heroine and a really well done psycho-killer-assassin villain. Ferrigno also gives life to his cast of periphery characters so none seem a cipher or merely a prop to move the story along.
What sets this book apart is the setting Ferrigno drops these characters into -- the year 2042 in the Islamic Republic of America.
Don't snort because he really makes it work. Ferrigno has a deft touch with getting us to suspend disbelief about this alternative future while not getting bogged down in endless exposition on how it took place.
The short of it: American culture had been very secularized, Islam was becoming popular, a major celebrity made a sensation by publicly embracing her new faith at the Oscars stirring even more interest, then in 2015 three suitcase bombs go off...one destroying Washington, DC, one destroying New York and one irradiating Mecca. The FBI captures and gets confessions out of people who claim to be members of the Mossad and the world goes nuts.
The dust settles, China is the only world superpower. America is fragmented with the Islamic republic about 2/3 of the old USA, a separate nation, The Bible Belt, holds on to southern states and a few other twists on the landscape.
This is the setting for the story of convergent political forces and when the heroine, Sarah, a historian, who has already raised the wrath of the fundamentalist moslems with her history of the culture at the time of The Zionist Betrayl, comes across some devestating information that said Betrayl might not be what everyone accepts as historical fact.
Ferrigan writes places very well, and one part of the book is in So. Cal - and there is a strange dislocation to see the familiar wrapped in such a different cultural milieu.
Another point that goes to believability is that Sarah is a moderate/modern moslem, and the hero, Rakkim is moslem but lapsed, both are comfortable with their core faith. Just as the Jewish, Catholic and Protestant characters are with theirs. The assassin, Darwin, is sociopathic, believing in nothing but himself, and another villain, imam Ibn Azziz is consumed by his own religious fanaticism.
This book could easily have lapsed into polemic, but it is a truly intriguing and heart-pounding story where the author likes to shock and surprise with telling vignettes along the ride (wow, what San Francisco turns into!). Kind of like things that jump out at you during a Disneyland ride.
I happily recommend it.
Technorati: Book Review, Prayers for the Assassin, Robert Ferrigno
Posted by Darleen at 08:24 PM | Comments (2)
February 21, 2006
The Cotillion Ball - off with the evening gloves
Cassandra of Villainous Company is our hostess with the mostest this week bringing yet another roundup of writing she deems "Domestic Terrorism Edition" accompanied by some great graphics of the era that sends icicles of terror into the hearts of Vagina Warriors.
Most Excellent.
Also posted at the mainsite of The Cotillion.
Posted by Darleen at 06:53 AM | Comments (2)
February 19, 2006
Vulva diary – musing on holy icons, vagina ownership and questions of when all this went from amusing to insane
There is a scene near the end of Animal House where a young, adolescent male is sitting alone in his room when suddenly a nubile college coed, clad only in bra and panties, comes crashing through the roof into his bed. A stunned moment and he looks up in rapture crying “thank you, God” and flings himself on the bed as the scene cuts away.
Now, remember that, because I’ll come back to it.
Valentine’s Day came and went with little comment from me because I’m tired that this most innocent and gentle of holidays has become a bone of political contention. Some sneer at the commercialization, some ban it as a tool of Western Debauchery and Immorality, and on American college campuses some have used it for “V-Day” activities. “V”, in this case standing for “vagina”, not valentine. “V-Day” is ostensibly an anti-violence-against-woman day where demonstrations, flyers, t-shirts and anatomically correct candy are passed out, surrounding a performance of Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues.
And this is where things start going a little crazy.
First off, there is no question that the play has proved “popular”. There is no question that Ensler, the person, has done extraordinary good in both highlighting the undeniable problem of violence against women and girls and is a very successful humanitarian in raising extraordinary sums of money to combat violence around the world. From safe houses in Africa for girls threatened with moslem-belief-based genital mutilation to Middle East organizations dedicated to stopping “honor” killings, Ensler’s dedication to charity is unquestioned.
But she is a very poor playwright. And to say so is to mark one Enemy of the Vagina.
How much of a holy icon The Vagina Monologues has become is to view the point/counterpoint arguments surrounding it. Random House’s puffery on their author includes:
Eve Ensler is a force of nature, a woman alive with passion and conviction. "You don't just hook up with Eve," Glenn Close has said, "You become part of her crusade. There's a core of us who are Eve's army." "Eve Ensler can soar to Rabelesian heights or move us with quiet compassion," writes Time. "She may not save the world, but what other playwrights even think of trying."The Vagina Monologues is a crusade where Eve's Army of Vagina Warriors go out and do battle against The Patriarchy. It has taken on an evangelical patina and The Vagina Monologues is tent revivalism at its most fervent. Audiences are encouraged to chant "Cunt! Cunt! Cunt!" in order to "take back" the word.
As pro-sex feminist, Betty Dodson remarks:
She has become an evangelical minister shouting and gesturing and admonishing us to demand an end to violence against women as the crowd roars in agreement. Toward the end of the evening Eve asked everyone who'd ever been raped to stand up. Only a smattering of women stood. Then she asked for those women who had been beaten to stand. Many more stood. Finally she asked all those to stand who knew any woman who'd been raped or beaten which included most of the audience. I refused to stand as an insignificant protest knowing she would never ask those of us who had never been raped or beaten and who enjoyed our sexuality to stand.The holiness of the play allows all critics to be portrayed as not offering their criticism in good faith.
Karin Agness took the tact in her column that Vagina Warriors have become what they claim to hate, reducing women to a body part. Agness' political criticism didn't sit well with young Jill at Feministe who started with a snark aimed right between Karin's legs.
Karin Agness, ... who I suspect is pissed off because her vagina never taught her how to write effectivelyOf course, fisking is a time-honored tradition of the blogsphere and no one is immune. That Jill never squarely addresses Agness' political point is her call, but it is part of a usual schtick that those that disagree with Jill do not do so on good faith grounds.
Little Miss Attila points out the reception that Jeff Goldstein got for having the termerity to ask for a discussion on an egregious case of falsely reporting a rape. Jill took an oblique swipe at Jeff and her thread commenters were even more specific in calling him a misogynist and rape-supporter.
Such are the politics of Vagina Warriors.
And it's not just political criticism, but even if one (like me) criticizes The Vagina Monologues on an artistic basis.
I haven't seen the play performed, but I have read it. The writing is tedious, sophmoric and causes one to laugh in places I don't think the author intended. One of the monologues is based on workshops that Betty Dodson used to hold, though Ensler let her 'artistic license' to fictionalize it to Dodson's shock. Here is some of Ensler's breathless, "empowering" scripture
"My vagina amazed me. I couldn’t speak when it came my turn in the workshop. I was speechless. I had awakened to what the woman who ran the workshop called 'vaginal wonder.'”When an actor of Glenn Close's stature is swooning over lines like, My vagina, my vagina, me!" you realize you are in the presence of religious fervor and faith, not reason. Save yourself 90 minutes of tedium and don't see it."The woman who ran the workshop told me my clitoris was not something I could lose. It was me, the essence of me. It was both the doorbell to my house and the house itself. I didn’t have to find it. I had to be it. Be it. Be my clitoris."
"My vagina is a shell, a tulip, and a destiny. I am arriving as I am beginning to leave. My vagina, my vagina, me."
In Jill's thread I offered an artistic criticism based solely on the play's writing. Regardless of it's "popularity", I argue, it doesn't make it "art". Deep Throat is an international success, but sensational is not synonomous with art. Regardless of the money it has raised, it doesn't make it sacrosanct and beyond criticism. But the money angle gives cover to the terminally angry about the motives of anyone that finds The Vagina Monologues less than Revealed Truth.
But even that line of reasoning is forbidden when it comes to The Vagina Monologues. In the presence Revealed Truth, all blasphemers are to be marginalized.
It remained, then, that my artistic criticism was met with ever increasing hostility until such time it was revealed that I didn't own my own vagina. I let men own it. I was "anti-female-sexuality."
It's at that time one fully realizes the depth of self-delusion and, dare I say it, self-hate of the people one is debating with.
Yes, I snarked back in one of those "fuck THIS shit" moments. Bad form as blasphemers are never allowed to react in kind.
The Vagina Monologues is a reductive play. It eschews the classic feminist goals of women as whole and equal beings with men. It has a very 70's sensibility of shock for its own sake and proving how hip, chic and free a female can be by shouting and sharing her vagina because she is her vagina.
Little Miss Attila in the link describes the myopia of a woman in a writer's workshop she attended who heard LMA's autobiographical piece describing her first sexual experience as forced on her by her boyfriend:
One of the women in the group was profoundly shocked at all this, and simply could not believe that the people who knew about it didn't do more to help me.Which brings me back to my opening paragraph. The nature of all adolescents is to be obsessed with their genitalia. Hormones surge, even the mundane can be erotic, and fantasies over when do I get to do it and what will it be like, can cause arousal even at the most inopportune time. Young males often see females as little more than walking vaginas with arms and legs attached."You know," I responded, "that was pretty small potatoes compared to all the other things that were going on when I was a teenager."
This woman had heard enough from my autobiographical pieces to know that I was homeless multiple times during that era, not to mention getting attacked with a club by a close family member. Etc.
And yet, in the tradition of extreme feminists everywhere, she regarded me as simply a walking vagina with arms and legs attached to it.
Ok. Add boobs. Vaginas topped with breasts and having arms and legs.
The Vagina Monologues encourages women and girls to believe that of themselves. The author claims she wants to demystify vaginas, but V-Day is about reducing female sexuality to one particular body part effectively tossing this female through the roof into an adolescent boy's fantasy. Yes, baby, I'm a Vagina Warrior, too! Now, let's fuck.
LMA again:
How did sexual politics come to this? When did we get this far off-course?I wish I knew. Ensler, 52, is still in the 70's fighting the 50's.
All those young adults in American colleges today deserve a hell of a lot better than cunt-workshops and vulva lollipops.
Technorati: Feminism, The Vagina Monologues, V-day
Posted by Darleen at 09:45 AM | Comments (25)
Attn the 'Yeah, but Christians are just as bad' Islamist apologist mob
Pat Robertson comes in, yet again, for heavy criticism from Christian Leaders
NORFOLK, Va. - Fellow conservative religious leaders have expressed concern and even open criticism over Pat Robertson's habit of shooting from the hip on his daily religious news-and-talk television program, "The 700 Club." [...]Good for Dockery. Robertson should be roundly, thoroughly and publicly criticized (and dis-invited) for the reprehensible remarks he utters under color of religion. Robertson is taking "God's name in vain" in the true meaning of the Commandment, more so than anyone who swears.Some observers say Robertson, who'll turn 76 next month, courts controversy as a strategy to stay recognizable and keep his followers mobilized. Others say he remains important to the evangelical movement that he helped create when he established the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960 — but he needs to stop damaging it with his words.
He canceled a speech planned for this coming Tuesday at the closing banquet of the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Dallas after NRB leaders said they were concerned that his appearance could detract from the event.
"He is in a very visible leadership position and comments such as recent ones related to Mr. Sharon and so many others are misinformed and presumptuous and border on arrogance," said David Dockery, president of Union University, a private college affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
Dockery suggested Robertson might want to consult other theologians "before making these pronouncements so quickly."
"It puts the evangelical movement in a bad light when that happens because people make broad generalizations, rightly or wrongly, all the time," said Dockery, who also is chairman of the board for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
Technorati: Religion, Pat Robertson
Posted by Darleen at 08:40 AM | Comments (4)
February 18, 2006
Battlestar Galactica - 3 episode roundup
BSG offers three fully episodic entries as it runs toward season finale. They each stand on their own, both advancing the storyline in minute ways and advancing the characters.
Scar was the classic worldwar flying-aces movie updated. Over the course of two seasons we've watched Starbuck move from obnoxious, cocky, backtalking but top-of-her-game pilot to suddenly being on the other side of the podium with reponsibilities for other carcasses besides her own. Her growth into these new positions hasn't been even nor smooth; and in this espisode she finds herself hectored and harried by "Kat" an obnoxious, cocky -- well someone just like Kara at the beginning of the series. So there's fighting, drinking and some attempted schtupping by those that may die on the morn and their Bloody Baron Von is a Cylon called Scar.
The fight scenes were excellent and as always I'm impressed with how BSG uses the absense of sound to dramatic effect. The vipers launch down the tubes with furious noise and then it is suddenly silent as they clear the battlestar. Eerie.
The episode ends not just with the destruction of Scar - but with a Kara who realizes she has to be more than just a hot-shit pilot and the clearly demonstrates she knows the cost of her leadership as she stands, drink raised to toast, and recites all pilots killed.
Sacrifice takes us back to the civilian side of the show. As in Blackmarket we find the civilians are acting pretty much the way they did before the Cylon attack - petty, cruel and sometimes downright fanatical. This time a widow who has gone around the bend after her husband was killed in a Cylon attack. She spins conspiracy theories that the Fleet's civilian and military authorities are really in league with the Cylons and then hatches a plot with others to take hostages in order to get Sharon. This episode dealing with terrorism, revenge and madness holds a couple of surprises. BSG never has nicely tied ends and we find Kara's impulsiveness to go into the bar to recon the hostage situation herself triggers a firefight in which she accidently shoots Lee. Also Billy, President Roslin's assistant, is killed as he tries to help.
The Captain's Hand brings us back onto the Pegasus where the new Captain Garner has some extreme territorial issues with Kara trying to train pilots. Adama sends a newly promoted Lee to be Garner's XO and Garner's resentment of "flyboys" spills over onto Lee as yet another point of his suspicion of the "outsiders" from Galatica on his ship. Garner has risen to Captain out of the engineering section and seems ill at ease at commanding or trusting people. Trust is the main theme of this episode that also runs another story thread on the political battles ahead for Roslin and the background machinations by Baltar now in a tentative and unholy league with the power-hungry Tom Zarek. Roslin has to face some harsh realities with the cold hard statistics showing the extinction of the human race in 18 years and Baltar uses her own press conference to cut her off at the knees about her decision to outlaw abortion and announce his candidacy for President.
BSG has never been about a 60 minute episode with a return to status quo at the end.
Now Lee is commander of the Pegasus, Roslin's re-election is in serious jeopardy and the civilians of the Fleet seem as divided along old sectarian lines as before. Looming is the birth of Sharon's child and an election that could put a new President over Adama.
And the nuclear device that Baltar sent to the Cylon sympathizers among the fleet during a snit fit.
The game is afoot.
Technorati: Battlestar Galactica
Posted by Darleen at 03:14 PM | Comments (1)
February 17, 2006
Religion of Peace™ looking for a hitman
While idiots at KosKiddies think Christians and Islamists are the same, a peace-loving, tolerant, uses nothing but persuasion Islamist cleric is offering a $1 Million Dollar bounty on "offensive to Muhammed" cartoonists
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A Pakistani cleric on Friday announced a $1 million bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew Prophet Muhammad, as thousands joined street rallies across the country and authorities arrested scores of protesters. [...]In the northwestern city of Peshawar, where riots left two dead and scores injured on Wednesday, prayer leader Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi announced the bounty for killing a cartoonist to about 1,000 people outside the Mohabat Khan mosque, where worshippers burned a flag of Denmark and an effigy of the Danish prime minister.
He said the mosque and his religious school would give $25,000 and a car, while a local jewelers' association would give another $1 million. No representative of the association was available to confirm it had made the offer.
"This is a unanimous decision of by all imams (prayer leaders) of Islam that whoever insults the prophet deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man to his end, will get this prize," Qureshi said.
Technorati: Islamofascism
Posted by Darleen at 07:45 AM | Comments (26)
Certainly, I'm not the only one to remember Jimmy The Greek
The speed with which the electronic media can make or break a career is breathtaking. Within 24 hours of the time Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder made his absurd and offensive remarks about black athletes last Friday in a TV interview at Duke Zeibert's, a Washington restaurant, he had lost both his job as CBS's pro football prognosticator and his credibility.Whether Jimmy was racist or not was irrelevant for CBS. Jimmy had made an ignorant, offensive and race-based comment that got his ass canned in 24 hrs.Snyder's firing by CBS was swifter than the resignation of the Dodgers' Al Campanis last April for similarly stupid remarks. Snyder said in the interview that blacks have ''been bred'' to be better athletes than whites. ''This goes all the way back to the Civil War, when during the slave trading the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid,'' he said. ''That's where it all started.'' Snyder said that the black man was ''bred'' to have ''big thighs,'' which gave him a genetic advantage in athletics.
Commenting on blacks and coaching, Snyder said, apparently facetiously: ''They've got everything. If they take over coaching like everybody wants them to, there's not going to be anything left for the white people. I mean all the players are black. The only thing the whites control are the coaching jobs.''
Some of Snyder's friends stood by him. One of them, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, said that CBS was right in firing Snyder but met with him and praised his plan to write letters of apology. ''He's not a bigot,'' said NBC sportscaster and former NFL star Ahmad Rashad, who is black. SI's Paul Zimmerman, who is white, said, ''I've known him for more than 20 years, and I've never seen any of the telltale, giveaway signs of the closet racist -- the offhand good-ol'-boy remark when there's no one around, the nasty slip of the tongue.''
Will Byrant Gumbel be fired in similar fashion?
Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin.As Jeff G observes
To me, the real outrage is the suggestion that we can’t be witnessing the world’s greatest skiers, skaters, snowboarders, etc., simply because blacks haven’t taken up those sports.Granted, I'm not a huge sports fan. But something beyond mere heirarchal sports snootiness is going on here. There's just an edge of hostility to Gumbel's remarks about 'pseudo-atheletes' and the contention if the sport is dominated by whites it can't 'be real.' Certainly, Gumbel is entitled to feeling any way he wants, including being a bigot. But to air those comments, ala Jimmy? Let's see how much true "fairness" exists at HBO.
Posted by Darleen at 12:11 AM | Comments (1)
February 16, 2006
Cheney's got a gun ... Cindy Sheehan better run...
I love song parodies and this Aerosmith remake is a scream!
(h/t Anthroblogogy)
Posted by Darleen at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)
'It's a mere hunting accident.'
SARITA — The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department today cleared Vice President Dick Cheney in the shooting mishap that injured an Austin lawyer, calling it an accident.Not that the primi-donnas of the Washington "Press" Corps, with their noses out of joint because some "little nobody" Texas reporter 'scooped' them will stop Boo-Hooing about this.Cheney shot Harry Whittington last Saturday while they were hunting quail on the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas. Whittington is in stable condition at a Corpus Christi hospital.
The sheriff's department determined the shooting was an accident and closed the case without charges, according to a report issued today.
"The report is out. No charges will be filed against anybody -- that's it," Sheriff Ramon Salinas III said.
Chief Deputy Gilbert San Miguel said "our investigation is over. It's a mere hunting accident.'" [...]
The report released today reiterates earlier statements from the sheriff's office that the shooting was an accident.
"Mr. Whittington did speak of the incident and explained foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt and everyone was wearing the proper hunting attire of blaze orange," the report says.
Posted by Darleen at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
Yesterday -- ick
Fever, chills and nasty things not to speak of. Maybe some light blogging as recovery this day wears on.
Posted by Darleen at 07:50 AM | Comments (2)
February 14, 2006
A question for Sci-fi fans
I remember this short story I read a long time ago, about the effect of the sudden withdrawal of electricity on world culture and society. Earth was "infected" for want of a better word, with a microscopic thing called "waverlies" that lived on free electricity. No more electric motors, no telephones, no radios, no lightening.
Ring any bells with any one?
Posted by Darleen at 08:14 PM | Comments (7)
Shame on Democrats
Gallup Poll shows support for Israel by Americans is at its highest since the Gulf War. But --
77 percent of Republicans support Israel, as opposed to only 50 percent of Democrats. Americans who follow the news tend to support Israel more than those who are not as in tune with global affairs by a ration of 66 to 59 percent.Too many Dems are in thrall to the far-left anti-Israel wing of the party and are not even following world events.
For shame. On so many levels.
Posted by Darleen at 01:02 PM | Comments (2)
The Cotillion Valentine's Day Dance
I'm happy to present the ladies of the Cotillion and their love letter to you, highlights of the best writing they have done over the past week.
Little Miss Attila was an attendee at this years CPAC and writes of one of the major issues of the convention, Immigration.
The main two debates seem to be (1) between those who believe that some sort of guest worker program must be a component in whatever we set up, vs. those who feel that this would be tantamount to amnesty. And: (2) those who feel that enforcement of our existing laws should come first, before we address the issue of how to deal with those who already live in the "shadow world" of illegal immigrants.Rightwing Sparkle reviews tv program, 30 Days as a Muslim, a reality show in a series that offers the hook of disparate people living in their opposites realm for 30 days. This time about a 34 y/o Christian man who lives with a moslem family
I was kind of surprised by how much the Christian guy didn't know about the roots of Christianity and that he didn't know that Allah was the same "God" that we worship (according to their beliefs) The show was interesting and I think the Christian guy did come away with a desire to defend peaceful Muslims against those who equate the entire religion with terrorism.Jane at Armies of Liberation highlights the latest perfidy of the Yemeni Government - piggybacking on the Cartoon War
The Yemeni regime has a new label to target its reformers, opposition and civil leaders: “pro-Dutch.” (The regime employs a variety of stereotypes to label its opponents in an effort to turn public opinion against them: Zionist, Separatist, Houthi, Terrorist, Mason, American-leaning and Treasonous, to name a few.)Cassandra of Villainous Company brings you the facts about the cynical Pat Leahy (D) handwringing over Quakers, babies & puppies
now why on earth might the NSA take an interest in a peaceful Quaker anti-war group? Well, apparently this group has a long history of run-ins with the NSAZendo Deb of TFS Magnum brings sobriety to another set of those that cry in their beer - advocates of a 'gunfree' society - Stand Your Ground
Alabama is considering "Stand Your Ground" or an enhanced Castle Doctrine law similar to what was passed in Florida last year. Prosecutors are upset because this would "hinder prosecutions." They like to be able to treat self-defense as a crime.
Posted by Darleen at 05:01 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
I won? I WON!
How cool!
Posted by Darleen at 12:54 PM | Comments (1)
'Misundering Muslims'??
Or just another exercise in How to write an essay in excusing Islamist fanaticism and Blame America in Twelve Easy Steps
WHEN THE KORAN was said to have been denigrated by American guards at Guantanamo last year, Muslims reacted with rage, but most observers in the West misunderstood why.Start off with an unsupported assertion. ding
Non-Muslims tend to think that the Prophet is to Islam something like what Jesus is to Christianity (which is why non-Muslims have mistakenly called the religion ''Mohammedanism"), but it is the Koran that holds such a central place. Hence, Islamic visual celebration is calligraphy, not images. Therefore when the Koran is disrespected, the insult Muslims feel is nothing less than insult to God.Explain the obvious as if it were a revelation. ding
One need not excuse the indiscriminate violence of mobs in the streets, nor dismiss the good question of why such rage is not directed against the blasphemy of suicide-murders carried out in the name of Allah to take a lesson from what has happened.Obligatory disclaimer. ding
The Islamic world seems astoundingly united in sending a stern message to ''the West," and instead of focusing again on ''what went wrong" with Islam Europeans and Americans would do well to take that message in.Ah, the set-up of the to-be-imparted wisdom is about to begin. ding
Thinking of deep history, for example, we might recall that the very structures of politics, culture, and thought that define western civilization were expressly erected in opposition to Islam more than 1,000 years ago.Remember to delegitimize Western civilization while never exploring the subjugation of much of Europe by Islamists. ding
What we call ''the West" was born in the clash of civilizations that climaxed in the Crusades, with Muslims assigned the role of the external ''negative other" against which Christendom defined itself positively (The internal ''negative other" were the Jews). Among Europeans, and then Americans, that intellectual polarity was sublimated over the centuries, but its insult remained current among Muslims, and was powerfully resuscitated by the assault of colonialism.After establishing that Western Civilization's roots are tainted, continue to demonstate continuing moral culpability of Europeans and Americans in not prostrating themselves before the righteously aggrieved moslems. ding
The economics of oil, including the creation of an oppressive local class of Western-sponsored oligarchs, locked the grievous insult in place.Never forget to add, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE OOOIIIILLLLL!!! ding
And then the United States launched its wars. One of the major disconnects in the present conflict is the way in which European and American analysis obsesses with the apparently anarchic outbursts of violence in the ''Arab street" without taking in how brutally violent the post-9/11 ''coalition" assault has been, not only physically but psychologically.Reinforce the blamelessness of Islamist jihadist groups and theocracies by framing America's response to acts of war as unjustified. ding
Mobs throw stones through the windows of European consulate offices, and the legion of CNN watchers recoils with horror. Meanwhile, unmanned drones fly across stretches of desert to drop loads of fire on the heads of subsistence farmers in their villages; children die, but CNN is not there.Add points of moral equivalency, no matter how absurd. ding
Muslims, that is, understand the new reality far better than non-Muslims do -- the state of open cultural warfare that ''the West" imagines is a narrowly targeted war against ''terrorism." Muslims, as Muslims, experience themselves as on the receiving end of a savage -- but, alas, not unprecedented -- assault.As the leadup to the final paragraph of excusing moslem violence, always portray Westerners as hopelessly mired in denial over their own [racist] motivations while the poor, misunderstood moslems are the enlightened ones. ding
Why are we killing them?Never, ever let someone make the argument that radical Islamists and terrorists are separate from other, non-radical moslems. ding
As with multiple problems today, this one comes back to the misbegotten American war. It threatens to ignite the century, and must be stopped.Wrap it up with the main point of your essay. America is to blame -- Surrender now.
Ding Ding Ding
James Carroll needs a Twelve Step of his own.
Posted by Darleen at 11:53 AM | Comments (7)
February 12, 2006
While I regret not attending CPAC
I am glad I missed Coulter's schtick. You'll not find me referencing her, quoting her, buying her books or crossing the room to hand her a can of Ensure.
... seriously, standing up in front of a microphone and calling people "ragheads" isn't helping anybody. Ever.Eloquent, but I kinda like Miss Attila's approach,You wanna say that stuff, do it in private. And don't let anybody hear you. And don't let anybody quote you. Ever.
Sincerely,
Reasonable people everywhere
"Ann Coulter can get fucked."I was glad when National Review fired her. Can we now stop inviting her to events for the grown-ups?
UPDATE Michelle Malkin
I have no ill will towards peaceful people who happen to cover their heads for their faith.My problem, as I've made clear on this blog, is with radical Islamists at home and abroad who threaten our existence. I don't care what they wear on their heads. I care what's in their heads and what's strapped around their chests and and what's hidden in the soles of their shoes and what's being cooked up in their labs and nuclear reactors. I have a lot of blunt names for these jihadists who have killed our sailors and soldiers, butchered and beheaded innocent civilians from around the world, flown planes into buildings and incinerated babies, children, and pregnant women in the name of religion.
"Ragheads" is not the word that immediately comes to my mind. Evildoers. Bloody murderers. Bastards. Yes. "Ragheads?" No.
[...]
Ann's comment gives cover to smug liberals in denial about their own pervasive bigotry
Posted by Darleen at 04:23 PM | Comments (8)
Eastcoasters may want to skip this entry
Just got back from an enjoyable, totally girl, time with daughter Heather in honor of her 23rd birthday. Pedicures, manicures and some shoe shopping. We now have some cute, strappy pumps to show off the french manicures on our toes, seeing that the week's weather of blue skies, soft breeze and temps in the 80's continues.
Yesterday I was in the park with Nick and Sean until it got too hot for even them. We walked back to the house for PBJ sandwiches, apples and chocolate milk.
Last night Eric and I went out to dinner, sitting in an enclosed patio, sipping margaritas and enjoying the mild evening and each other.
Life can be good.
Posted by Darleen at 02:50 PM | Comments (1)
February 11, 2006
'Clash of Civilizations' - short clarification
Vis a vis the "Cartoon wars"
It's really about the clash of civilization v uncivilized.
The latter includes the apologists who say the uncivilized have a point.
Posted by Darleen at 09:17 AM | Comments (12)
February 10, 2006
Throwaway lines that show the love of the Tolerant Left™
Getting to the last of Jeff Goldstein's analysis of the attempt by some to compare the NSA intelligence gathering program with the Federal response to Katrina, Jeff links to one of his critics. The "critic" sneers at Goldstein as a "failed academic" because he no longer has a teaching job.
Was Goldstein fired? Let go for tippling in class? Groping the coeds? Did he appear in the University President's office drunk wearing nothing but pair of boxers printed with "Kiss it right HERE, Big Boy" on 'em?
Naw. Upon the birth of their son, Jeff and his wife made the decision Satchel needed a parent at home. And Jeff is that parent.
When the Left talks about how they are there when it comes to supporting Choice, one finds that it depends on what that choice is.
And being either a stay-at-home mom or dad is Just.Not.Done. How gauche, how trite, how middle-class, how traditional.
The Left doesn't really know what to make of children for children's own sake, so their attitude towards full-time parents runs from incredulity to hostility.
I recall the slings and arrows I have endured during flareups in the Mommy Wars, so this offhand remark caught my attention. A SAHP is not a failed anything. They are realists that understand that children are not pets and parenting is work.
Posted by Darleen at 06:18 AM | Comments (18)
February 09, 2006
Look on the bright side of the Democrat argument
Mike has ----
Posted by Darleen at 12:01 AM | Comments (3)
February 08, 2006
Taliban terrorist offering bounty on cartoonists
The Islamist evil over cartoons continues
The Taliban will give 100kg of gold as a reward to anyone who kills the person responsible for the contentious Danish cartoons, Afghan Islamic Press reports.Remember this as CNN, LATimes, NYTimes and other American MSM mumble and shuffle with excuses why they won't publish the cartoons."Any one who will kill the person responsible for blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in Denmark would be rewarded 100 kilogram of gold by the Taliban," Mullah Dadullah, chief military commander of the Taliban, said.
Dadullah also said the Taliban would give 5kg of gold as a reward to anyone who killed any military personnel from Denmark, Norway and Germany in Afghanistan.
They are cowards.
Posted by Darleen at 06:05 PM | Comments (5)
Lessons unlearned from the Wellstone funeral political rally - UPDATED
Jhimmi Carter makes further huge withdrawals from his moral bank account with using Coretta Scott King's corpse to score political points
The funeral took on political overtones as former President Carter said of the Kings: "It was difficult for them then personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretaps." Later, he said that Hurricane Katrina showed that all are not yet equal in America.I'll give Lowery the benefit of senility and its tendency to make people not only live in the past but to warp present reality to that past, but Jhimmi is disgusting.And both Bush and his father winced as they sat behind the pulpit and heard the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., take several jabs at foreign and domestic policies.
"We know there were no weapons of mass destruction over there, but Coretta knew and we knew there are weapons of misdirection right down here," Lowery said, complaining that were far too many in the U.S. are living in poverty and without health care insurance.
"For war, billions more, but no more for the poor," Lowery continued, a take-off of a lyric from the song "A Time to Love" which drew a roaring standing ovation.
Bush's father tried to defuse any political tension by joking that Lowery used to challenge him when he was president, too.
"I kept score in the Oval Office desk — Lowery 21, Bush 3," former President George H.W. Bush said. "It wasn't a fair fight."
UPDATE While some, like the Drew in my comments, squawks about "goosestepping" Republicans, the funeral political point scoring continues as a topic of discussion of the Left cult's personal is political here:
Jeff Goldstein
Stop the ACLU
The Anchoress
Posted by Darleen at 06:38 AM | Comments (13)
Well well well, moslems with a clue
A little late, but how will this play with the radicals?
"Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," said senior cleric Mohammed Usman, a member of the Ulama Council — Afghanistan's top Islamic organization. "We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam."Other members of the council went on radio and television Wednesday to appeal for calm.
Posted by Darleen at 06:25 AM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2006
Islamist rage murders Catholic priest
As the radical moslems continue to burn, smash and riot because they believe some innocuous Danish cartoons made them look bad (the irony is staggering), the moslem murderer of an Italian priest in Turkey has been caught.
ANSA) - Rome, February 7 - A Turkish youth reportedly linked to organised crime has confessed to killing Italian priest Andrea Santoro two days ago, according to judicial sources in the northern town of Trabzon .When will members of the Left stop apologizing for Islamism?The 16-year-old student was arrested early on Tuesday morning after a huge manhunt. When police found him at the home of relatives in Trabzon, he was carrying the pistol used to kill the priest .
Father Santoro, 58, was shot dead in his church in the Black Sea town while he was praying after mass on Sunday. His killer reportedly shouted "Allah is Great" before fleeing.
[...]
After confessing to the murder, Akdi said that he had been enraged by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in the European press, NTV reported.
h/t to RightGirl posting at The Cotillion
Posted by Darleen at 12:51 PM | Comments (3)
February 06, 2006
Keerist!! McCain does something
..that might get me to actually backoff my grudge against him for anti-first-amendment and incumbent protection campaign reform.
February 6, 2006It goes on from there, but Holy Mary Mother of God, that's gonna leave a mark!The Honorable Barack Obama
United States Senate
SH-713
Washington, DC 20510Dear Senator Obama:
I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership’s preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter to me dated February 2, 2006, which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions. I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again.*
Yowzer.
Posted by Darleen at 07:48 PM | Comments (10)
Moslem rioting is the fault of Christians
Just part of The Patriarchal Conspiracy
Christians don’t think they should be protected from mockery, criticism or dissent? Tell that the American Family Association or the Parents Television Resource Council, organizations dedicated to stifling entertainment products that disagree with their worldview. Christians don’t use violence to enforce their beliefs on others? Well, not to hammer at my come-lately non-stop obsession, but government power is enforced with violence, and so a ban on abortion will be using violence to enforce their arbitrary religious beliefs. And that’s not even counting the clinic bombers. And of course, essays like this are aimed at stirring up Christian hatred towards Muslims with the end goal in mind of bolstering support for continuing war on Muslim countries, which, last I checked, was a violent act.Is there nothing Mandy doesn't view through the prism clenched jealously in her westernandrophobic vagina?Therein lies the rub. For conservative Christians who view using the law as a way to impose their religious beliefs on the nation, this trumped-up War on Terra that is closer and closer to becoming an outright War on Islam in their rhetoric has generated a big, fat logical inconsistency in their War on Secular Humanism.
Posted by Darleen at 12:38 AM | Comments (5)
February 05, 2006
Moslem cartoon rioting - the background
One issue that puzzles many Danes is the timing of this outburst. The cartoons were published in September: Why have the protests erupted from Muslims worldwide only now? The person who knows the answer to this question is Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a man that the Washington Post has recently profiled as “one of Denmark's most prominent imams.”HereLast November, Abu Laban, a 60-year-old Palestinian who had served as translator and assistant to top Gamaa Islamiya leader Talaal Fouad Qassimy during the mid-1990s and has been connected by Danish intelligence to other Islamists operating in the country, put together a delegation that traveled to the Middle East to discuss the issue of the cartoons with senior officials and prominent Islamic scholars. The delegation met with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, and Sunni Islam’s most influential scholar, Yusuf al Qaradawi. "We want to internationalize this issue so that the Danish government will realize that the cartoons were insulting, not only to Muslims in Denmark, but also to Muslims worldwide," said Abu Laban.
With all the attention that politicians and the media have devoted to the controversy generated by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, it's important to understand this controversy in its proper context. Jyllands-Posten decided to publish these cartoons because it wanted to test what editor-in-chief Carsten Juste described as "an article of self-censorship which rules large parts of the Western world."Along with the self-censorship from many Western news organizations and entertainment (any major Hollywood movies with moslem bad guys?), we also endure the "yes, the violence is wrong BUT" from the same people who would never excuse a rapist just because the victim wore her skirt too short.In other words, Juste contended that there is a real fear of being seen as criticizing Islam in large parts of the Western world, and that this fear has bred self-censorship. Juste is right on both counts.
Amazing.
Posted by Darleen at 06:35 PM | Comments (4)
'Oslo was a mistake'
so sayeth Hamas Leader Musa Abu Marzuk
Senior Hamas member Musa Abu Marzuk described the Palestinian Authority's recognition of Israel as "an error, which can be rectified," speaking to reporters in Cairo Sunday.Anyone STILL operating under the delusion that "Palestinians" are NOT all about the annihilation of Israel?
(h/t LGF)
Posted by Darleen at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
I question the timing - UPDATE
Looks like Little Green Footballs is down.
UPDATE 3:13 PM PST Looks like LGF is back up.
Posted by Darleen at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)
Report from the patio
Brisk, warm wind and 83 degrees.
Beats shoveling snow.
Posted by Darleen at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)
Juan Cole - Dhimmitude personified!
JAYsus H. Christ. Buildings are being burned, threats to exterminate Europe are bandied about, and we are treated to this Informed Comment(sic)?
Several readers have asked what I think about the protests among Muslims against the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper.IT'S ALL WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS FAULT!!Of course people are upset when their sacred figures are attacked! But the hurt is magnified many times when the party doing the injuring is first-world, and the injured have a long history of being ruled, oppressed and marginalized.
Moreover, most Muslims live in societies with strong traditions of state censorship, so they often assume that if something appears in the press, the government allowed it to do so and is therefore culpable.Unbelievable. Yes, he's an "academic" but this is just too unreal for words.Westerners cannot feel the pain of Muslims in this instance.
UPDATE other 'reaction' from the Left covered by:
Michelle Malkin
Jeff Goldstein
Posted by Darleen at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
The face of 'Religion of Peace'
Saturday was my island of calm as I spent the day with Nick and Sean doing nothing more serious than building forts and playing on the floor with them. This morning I see the news filled with the growing and clear demonstration of the concept that Islamists are not the tiny minority of Islam as some keep trying to foist on Westerners in the name of tolerant multi-culturalism. Going through the myriad of pictures of the violence, from the sacking of the Danish consulate in Beirut to "Palestinian" school children on the streets consumed with hatred of the infidel, I've culled a few here for your consideration. (pics from AP and Reuters)
Yes, like shutting down the newspapers that published the cartoons and handing over all the editors and cartoonists to be beheaded.
What? Western Christians are to join with Islamists to destroy the Jews (then be destroyed by Islamists when they won't convert?)
This is in front of the burning Danish Consulate in Beirut. Looks real civilized, doesn't he?
Crowd scene infront of the Danish Consulate. This is what a caricature of Muhammed brings from the Religion of Peace
Like the election of Hamas, there is some good to come from getting this much clarity. It is not just provocative Danes in Islamist sights, it is each and every one of us who refuses to submit to Islam. It cannot be ignored that some of these riots included tented females. Females who are, ironically, not allowed to drive, socialize with men, wear makeup but are allowed to fight the infidel without the male owner's permission. Females as nothing more than Islamist cannon fodder.
What more can I add that this particularly mindbending sentiment carried by a "Palestinian" grade schooler?
Posted by Darleen at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2006
Muhammed Cartoon - Blogburst answer to death cultists
Via Michelle Malkin comes the call for a blogburst to show what American MSM won't -- the actual "offensive" cartoons that have Islamists calling for DEATH to DANES -- and French and Spanish and any non-dhimmitized person who dares to offend them.
Amazing how like gangbangers these Islamists are acting! Dis 'em and they won't pop a cap in your head, they'll just separate your head from your shoulders.
Be sure to visit here for all of the cartoons.
Posted by Darleen at 12:50 PM | Comments (36)
Nit to pick about standing in line at the market
... I'm tired seeing headlines in the tabloids about baby/pregnancy "bumps."
The cutesieness of the term is so, well, like an overdose of Care Bears.
Posted by Darleen at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2006
French 'news'paper appeases moslems - UPDATED
The editor of a French newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has been sacked.Now, contrast threats of DEATH from groups who carry them out with regularity with how some American Christians respond when mainstream media mocks them
Jacques Lefranc was dismissed by the owner of France Soir, as his paper became embroiled in a developing row between Muslims and the European press.Some Muslim countries have withdrawn their ambassadors to Denmark and boycotted Danish products after a paper there first printed the cartoons.
Norway has closed its West Bank mission to the public in response to threats.
[...]
Two militant groups earlier threatened to target Danes, French and Norwegians in the Palestinian territories.Palestinian gunmen briefly surrounded the offices of the European Union in Gaza on Thursday and demanded an apology over the cartoons.
A conservative advocacy group accuses NBC of "hitting back" at the Christian community in an upcoming episode of "Will and Grace."Bullets and beheadings v letterwriting and phone calls.The April 13 episode will mock the crucifixion of Christ, the American Family Association said.
[...]
"Call your local NBC affiliate and ask them not to air the April 13 episode of "Will and Grace," AFA said in a message to supporters.
Hmmmm. Let's remember that next time someone pulls the moral equivalency argument in an attempt to equivocate about Islamist terrorism.
UPDATE if you have a blog, please participate in Michelle Malkin's Blogburst
Posted by Darleen at 07:07 AM | Comments (3)
February 01, 2006
Intermezzo
While in Cambria we strolled the East Village ... a little wine tasting (and buying) at Fermentations, a small but lovely piece of glass artwork by Tim Lazer, and I broke down and bought two skeins of the most beautiful yarn at Ball & Skein. I haven't knit or crocheted in a few years, but I couldn't resist the glorious colors (Ironstone Yarns "Starlights"). Scarves for me and my girls!
Posted by Darleen at 10:13 PM | Comments (1)
Watching the Left do a full Monty
Worthy of Uncle Teddy,Greenwald finds all manner of goosestepping fascists under the bed conspiring to stifle the temperate, well-mannered and sainted Mommy Sheehan
This is nothing more than a naked attempt to stifle dissent ... we apparently now have a country where the only ideas allowed to be expressed in our Nation's Capitol while the President is speaking are ones which glorify the Government and its Leader and where dissenting views are prohibited and will subject someone to arrest. Message cleansing of that sort belongs at a political rally in North Korea, not in Washington, DC.Even though, after wading down through more laughable BDS, Greenwald grudgingly acknowledges that another woman, wife of a Republican Congressman, was ejected for wearing a slogan-bearing t-shirt. Of course, it wasn't due to a neutral enforcement of House rules in the visitor's gallery, oh no
It also appears that they removed Congressman Young's wife only because they were aware that if they failed to, they would be accused of unequal treatmentYES! Another Bu$HitlerZionistXianNeoCon Conspiracy!!
Markos also engages in some Sheehan cunnilingus.
Let's not mention that in 1997 during a Clinton State of the Union Speech a person was ejected for wearing a slogan-bearing t-shirt.
Again we see people who believe that anything not officially illegal is fully acceptable. Indeed, Mommy, Greenwald and 'Screw'em' sneer at such concepts as decorum, propriety and good manners. It's a wonder they are housebroken.
Assuming, of course.
Posted by Darleen at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
The day after Alito's confirmation
and swearing in as a member of SCOTUS and what do I find when I go to work?
Imagine that.
Though, Jeff Goldstein does point out what a busy morning Sam is having. Seems building the fascist theocracy might take a couple of days.
Posted by Darleen at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)