U.S.: Still working...

On moving the blog.

It's turning into a nightmare.

What a bloody happy birthday to me.

U.S.: MOVING...

It's not just me; it's also the blog.

We're in the process of moving the blog to its own domain name. There'll be a number of hitches and glitches until then.

U.S.: Alive again

My network connection went down yesterday. The IT guy came out, pulled the plug on the NetGear/NetWare router, and voila! Connected to the world again.

It's amazing how cut off from the rest of the world you can feel without a 'net connection. Well, at least I got lots of packing done. Lots more remains, but I'm on track to be out of the house by the 12th.

PR: Researchers Develop Shark Repellent

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Excited by the scent of blood, a dozen sharks dart about in a frenzy as a researcher dips a pole in the sea and squirts out a clear, yellowish substance. Within seconds, the sharks jerk their snouts away and vanish.

Researchers say they finally have found a potent repellent to drive away sharks, after testing off Bimini island in the Bahamas. It's a goal that's eluded scientists for decades.

If proven effective, the repellent one day might protect divers, surfers and swimmers. But researchers say that would require much more study. First they hope it can protect sharks -- in decline worldwide due to overfishing -- by reducing the numbers caught needlessly by long-line commercial fishermen.

"You introduce this chemical, and they all leave," said lead researcher Eric Stroud, a 30-year-old chemical engineer from Oak Ridge, N.J. "It works very, very well."

"You introduce this chemical, and they all leave,"

The repellent, called A-2 because it was the second recipe tried, is derived from extracts of dead sharks that Stroud gathered at New Jersey fish markets and piers. Fishermen and scientists have long noted sharks stay away if they smell a dead shark.

"We have something that really works, but research remains," said Samuel Gruber, a University of Miami marine biologist and shark expert who is helping conduct tests at the Bimini Biological Field Station.

Tests have found the repellent effective on three species: the Caribbean reef, blacknose and lemon sharks. Studies are needed on other species such as the great white, mako and oceanic whitetip.

Gruber said the repellent seems to carry a chemical messenger that triggers a flight reaction. He said more studies are needed to pinpoint the active molecule among a dozen or so.

«read the rest»

VIA: Drudge Report

Maybe extract of Al-Qaeda will work...

U.S. Most memorable line heard at Kerry's big night

"Go balloons. Go balloons. ... I don't see any balloons....I want some goddamn balloons..... Where the f**k are the balloons?...." -- Convention Director Don Mischer via open mike

USVI: Boston is for Conventional Democrats.

The sweet symbolism just struck me.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, The Republicans, by choosing New York for their National Convention, have gained the initiative to set the tone for the campaign - with a little help from their DNC 'friends' across the aisle.

...And what an accurate crystalline tone it is.

I mean no disrespect toward the many fine Bostonians who have a clue and a spine upon which to support that bit of clue...but...The terrorists who struck New York killing 2800 people on that September 11 morning in America beat their chests for collective courage, and then lied their way onto those doomed jets - they shortly went on to capture - at Boston Logan International airport.

The Fleet Center where the Democrats attempt to whip themselves into their frenzy is only 1.57 miles away, and sure enough the soaring rhetoric of their convention has been Hijacked by extremists.

There are sinewy threads of symbiosis connecting the fortunes of America's enemies with the Democratic Party leadership, and judging from their convention and through various interviews I've heard on Hugh Hewitt's fine show, I'd say that this fact is beginning to dawn on some of the party's most faithful.

Ignorance is bliss I suppose and not a bit dishonorable if unintentional, but the repulsive shame exposed in this is that the Democrat Party's string-pullers, if not entirely self-deluded, are fully aware of how this great unwinding will play to the electorate if their media shell game can't manage to continue to supress the truth. Fortunately, the truth will out, and the timing is slipping from their grasp.

Control of the national debate's information stream is increasingly falling into the hands of the people - through alternatives to the traditional liberal media hegemony. There exist alternatives such as FOX News, free market Radio, Bloggers, and media hybrids such as Hewitt who is absolutely brilliant at letting the elite hang themselves by their own rhetorical noose. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I'm also not so dense that I can't see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears the tone of near panic that is crackling across the surface of every smiling delegate he interviews.

It has just recently become rather healthily obvious to me that I'm far from alone in seeing the months of flip-flopping, dumbing-down of issues, and manufactured malaise that the Democrat perception machine has been engaged in creating, coming home to roost in Boston's Fleet Center.

Knowlege is on the side of the Republicans.
Best of all, recent polling and personal experiences back my perception up - even through the smoke and mirrors of the established media's spin cycle whose kiberal editors I don't even need anymore.

Talk about speaking truth to power..

I recently spoke with a dear old lefty friend who had returned to the states after ten years living and working in Germany. The pleasantries of catching up and reminiscing inevitably yielded to politics wherein she recycled the familiar Euro perception that the "Democrats and Republicans are basically alike". It took no small amount of work to illuminate and inform her on the stark contrasts evident between the two American parties.
I'm sure she's seeing some of them now.

In contrast to the dissonat denial out of Boston, the Republicans are to have a New York Convention wherein the Bush administration will be able to offer a record of National courage, steadfastness in the face of crushing adversity, and through it all, an innate trust in America that transcends the gloom and hatred oozing from the self-destructive political party that has happily positioned itself with the likes of chief propagandist Moore.

Whether the Democrat party realizes this or not, and despite the media faithfully riding shotgun for them at every pass, they've just pitched their balled-up national conversation from some vague position only halfway to the mound...And they've thrown it into the dirt like so many billionaire gimps playing with playing the national pastime.

U.S.: Democrat delegate sees Al Qaeda as just another political party

John Kerry is trying to show he’s "tough on terrorism."

But with delegates like Ismael Ahmed, it’s a tough sell.

Ahmed, a Michigan delegate to this week’s Democratic National Convention, is a long-time Democratic activist and a repeat delegate.

But the Democrats aren’t touting him to the media. In fact, the only place you’ll read about Ahmed’s delegate credentials is on Al-Jazeerah’s website.

In this first Presidential nominating convention since 9/11, Ahmed’s presence at the convention and his views are more disturbing than ever.

Ahmed is the founder and executive director of ACCESS – the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Under Ahmed’s leadership, ACCESS paid for commercial driving lessons and attempts at hazardous material hauling certificates for two men convicted as part of the Detroit Al-Qaeda sleeper cell. Testimony at their trial revealed that the men planned to bomb the MGM Grand Casino and a host of other prominent US sites.

More chilling is that since ACCESS’ multi-million dollar budget is largely tax-funded, tax dollars likely paid for these men to get their "job training" organized by ACCESS.

When confronted with this, Ahmed made no apologies. On the contrary, he was defiant in defending his organization’s aid to the Qaeda sleepers, comparing their membership in the terrorist group to mere "political credential," such as Democrat or Republican.

Read the rest and see how taxpayer dollars are being used to fund terror-related groups. Even GWB is taken in by Ahmed and his ACCESS to terror.

Yup, Democrats in charge of national security is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

U.S.: HSD compiling data on Arabs in the U.S.

The Census Bureau has provided specially tabulated population statistics on Arab-Americans to the Department of Homeland Security, including detailed information on how many people of Arab backgrounds live in certain ZIP codes.

The assistance is legal, but civil liberties groups and Arab-American advocacy organizations say it is a dangerous breach of public trust and liken it to the Census Bureau's compilation of similar information about Japanese-Americans during World War II.

The tabulations were produced in August 2002 and December 2003 in response to requests from what is now the Customs and Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security. One set listed cities with more than 1,000 Arab-Americans. The second, far more detailed, provided ZIP-code-level breakdowns of Arab-American populations, sorted by country of origin. The categories provided were Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Moroccan, Palestinian, Syrian and two general categories, "Arab/Arabic" and "Other Arab."

Hermann Habermann, deputy director of the Census Bureau, said such cooperation was standard practice. "We are required to provide information to other federal agencies," he said. "This is not a cabal calculating secret tabulations."

But Mr. Habermann also expressed concern over application of the data, adding: "We do worry about how information will be used. However, we have not been given the authority to determine which organization gets which information."

Census tabulations of specialized data are legal as long as they do not identify any individual.

Christiana Halsey, a spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection, said the requests were made to help the agency identify in which airports to post signs and pamphlets in Arabic. "The information is not in any way being used for law enforcement purposes," she said. "It's being used to educate the traveler. We're simply using basic demographic information to help us communicate U.S. laws and regulations to the traveling public."

But critics of the information sharing said general demographic snapshots could be derived without such detailed information and that the ZIP-code-level data with its breakdowns of ancestral origin seemed particularly excessive because for all of the groups only English or Arabic need be used.

"The real question is to Homeland Security," said Samia El-Badry, an Arab-American member of the Census Bureau's decennial census advisory committee. "What are they hiding? Why do they need this?"

What am I missing? Why is this unreasonable?

U.S.: How to disassociate?...

Boston Pops played Tchaikovsky's Overture 1812 tonight for Kerry. One of my favorite pieces. Going to have to scrub my mind to not think of him when next I hear Eduardo Mata conducting it.

The bit from Carmina Burana wasn't so bad. Secular piece of music that pokes a finger in the eye of serious religious music and the Church. Somehow quite appropriate for Democrats. I still like it, though. The Carmina Burana, I mean.

U.S.: The Democrats have forgotten this

We have not.

H'tip to Charles at LGF.

This is where the rubber meets the road, IMO.

NRO: Why does my life depend on W. winning?

HEWITT: Because hundreds of thousands of Islamists are trying to kill you. George W. Bush isn't going to try and stop them on the cheap or pray that we get lucky. He's committed to preemption when he believes it is necessary.

John Kerry is not so committed. In his acceptance speech he said "[a]ny attack will be met with a swift and certain response." This is not the question, and by refusing explicitly to answer the question of when if ever he would act preemptively, we can only conclude that Kerry will not move preemptively against gathering threats. Like Clinton, he will judge the intelligence too vague, the country insufficiently prepared for battle, or the undeniable costs in the lives of Americans and American dollars too great.

George Bush is trying to kill the terrorists before they kill more Americans. He will not always succeed. But I think fewer Americans will die from such attacks if Bush wins reelection, far fewer in fact.

U.S.: Final word

Kerry has such contempt for GWB that he misunderestimates him. This will affect how Kerry prepares and responds to GWB during the debates. He will repeat Gore's mistake because he might believe that Bush's success there was attributable to nothing that Bush did but to Gore errors only.

How does Kerry express his contempt for GWB? In a number of ways amongst which are: 1) in his reference to GWB's faith and values. Kerry's opinion is clear. Bush does not think; he has no regard for science; instead, he allows religious sentiment to cloud rationality.

2) In his insistence, despite evidence to the contrary, that GWB is a liar who is allied to the attackers of America.

3) In his assertion that GWB is not a systematic thinker, is not a man capable of planning, but is a man who acts out of some strange sense of the divine that is devoid of rationality.

One and three, in particular, are significant because they are the basis for his misunderestimation of GWB. As long as Kerry's contempt for GWB clouds his ability to see his opponent on these two points, Kerry will be unable to defeat Bush.

One may say what one wishes, but an important feature of Bush's character is his indifference to the opinion of others. He listens to people, yes; however, other people's opinions of his intellect are not likely to sway him. I would suggest that Bush fosters that misunderestimation of his intellect.

Word to Kerry: the higher they are, the harder they fall. You've stepped into a minefield of GWB's making, confident that your contemptuous assessment of him is the right one. The only way you can make it out of there, is if GWB lets you, and he will not. Next time, if there is ever a next time, a little humility and a respect for your fellow man, whatever you think of his brain-power, will serve you in better stead.

U.S.: Democrat Con

Kerry can't even call God 'God.' He calls Him a 'higher being.' Who is that higher being?

Did Bob Dole and GWHBush use their military service in such a self-serving fashion? This intro film on his life glosses over much and is a slick, glossy lie. Where's the mat to wipe the stuff off my shoe?

He cried like a baby when his daughters were born. To whom? The dude never mentions his first wife. Never mentions how he dumped her, like so much garbage, and got an annulment, which effectively made both his daughters illegitimate. Instead, the slick glossy film moves on to Teresa.

His run for president was born out of frustration and a desire to make the country safer. Was this desire born after 1993, when Al Qaeda hit the WTC the first time? Or was this a desire he had when he went into Vietnam with a camera to take home movies of him, a Naval officer, striding through the jungle like an infantry man?

Pah. Mara Eliasson thinks the film is touching. Would that my brain would stop working long enough to be touched.

Update: Jim Rassman says he volunteered to speak up for Kerry. Why so defensive. To make the comment is to call his presence into question. Did he contact Kerry, or did Kerry contact him? Where was he when Kerry was running for other offices? Somehow, it doesn't sit right.

Update 2: Max Cleland who got his legs blown up going for beer, or coming from beer, is spoken of in terms that imply a negative contrast with the incumbent president. Hey, Cleland served his country honorably, as did Kerry, and Bush. However, the man who is not shot at serves as much as the man who is.

Update 3: Cleland is depicting Kerry's volunteering as though it were intentional from the outset rather than a consequence of realizing that being drafted was imminent. The difference between picking one's assignment and being assigned, I guess.

Update 4: Max Cleland sounds like he's reciting lines. The 'enthusiasm' of the crowd sounds forced. It could be my tv. Okay, so Cleland tells us that America will be a socialist paradise if Kerry becomes president.

Update 5: Kerry introduces himself and says he's reporting for duty. What a part that you wipe!

Update 6: Kerry is offering politics as theology and a life shaped by government as heaven. He is reiterating the lie that 'Bush lied.'

Update 7: He's lying like a rug about his efforts in relation to Vietnam. He's busy banging Bush. No wonder he didn't want the others to do the bashing. He wanted to offer the crowd red meat himself.

So far. What has Kerry to offer? I don't hear it. He's offering the politics of despair. We're in a depression folks.

Update 8: Slogans instead of a plan. He says Democrats are the optimists. Democrats as savior of America. The crowd is going wild.

Here's the rub in what he's saying -- it's September 10th all over again. A time out from history.

Update 9: Look, I've no problem with Democrats talking domestic policy. All well and good. However, their instincts and policies are socialist veering on communist. All that aside, we are at war. If we can't defend ourselves, then we will not need a domestic agenda. That's the bottom line.

Is Kerry and Theresa headed for divorce? What's this line about what the future holds?

Update 10: Now he's talking defense and saying nothing much. Just a bunch of assertions without a road map.

Well, he blew it. Kerry had his chance, and he blew it. GWB will wipe the floor with him next month.

Update 11: Kerry has blown it by ignoring everything that has been discovered about so-called allies unwillingness to help. He has ignored what the soldiers in the field are saying about the plan under which they operated and its success.

Worse yet, Kerry has had the sheer folly to say that America will wait to be attacked rather than respond aggressively to threats. The crowd has grown cold as he continues talking about defense, they cheer his lie about stop-loss; he calls it a "back door draft."

Kerry has blown it.

Update 12: Post 9/11, we cannot afford to wait to be attacked, especially when terrorists talk about nuclear and biochemical weapons. In a nutshell, Kerry is willing to put up with mass American casualties before he mounts a defense.

He's recycled all the old lines that kept him equal with GWB in the polls. This election will be a blowout. Kerry will be lucky if he wins Massachusetts.

Update 13: Here's the question for Kerry -- what is the role of the federal government? Should the feds intrude on states and city rights? That's what the issue of fire-houses is about. Defense is a federal issue; fire protection is a city issue.

Update 14: Here's what sinks Kerry, apart from defense. He cannot resist making a speech like a macomere man. He cannot resist making class warfare.

He's talking about Enron; what about Global Crossing and Terry McAuliffe who made $18M, just like that?

Right now, he's doing the usual Democrat BS. Frighten the elderly. Stress out the moms. Set people against each other. Class warfare. Rank. Stink. Partisan. Say whatever it takes.

Update 15: Not a new idea in the bunch. He's using Cheney's promise to the military as a device in his class warfare strategy.

Not good enough.

Defense is secondary. Reference to the military is in a social services context.

Update 16: Economic plan. Vague Bill Clinton retreads. He ought to tell Teresa about that outsourcing and taxing of companies thing.

Just remember, that the Bahamas is shuddering at the thought of a Kerry presidency.

The problem with American jobs is a lousy education system, unions, and a set of OSHA and medical policies that increase the cost of work horrendously.

Update 17: Oh man, no more jails!

Update 18: Name of this speech "promise 'em anything."

Question: buying American drugs from Canada, what will that do to the American drug industry? How many jobs will be lost in the pharmaceutical industry? How will that affect the stock market? How many ancillary jobs will be lost in other industries, as in factories that make containers, labels, produce plastic, etc.

He's pulled the Michael Moore thread now, and the crowd is loving it. Bush KNEW! Bush was in cahoots! That's not said, but that's the intent.

The hypocrisy of this liberal SOB, to talk about not being dependent on foreign oil when Democrats have stymied every effort at energy independence.

After he's trashed and bashed Bush, he's trying to cover his arse by asking Bush to make nice.

The disrespect for the Office of the President that has come from this candidate makes him unfit for office.

Update 19: After engaging in the worst, shabbiest, and most divisive politics of class warfare, this &$%# has the nerve to call for an end to it.

Update 20: Kerry wants us to believe that he's offering optimism by preaching pessimism.

Update 21: Now he's playing the stem cell research card and impugning GWB's religious belief. Kerry's point is that because Bush's respect for life inhibits the use of embryonic stem cells, he's a backward retard from the Dark Ages. The message is that with Kerry, nothing is off limits. Slippery slope? What slippery slope. It's cure at any costs. Hitler's Mengele will be our surgeon general and head of NIS.

U.S.: Democrat Con...

Carole King is singing "You've Got A Friend." Unfortunate choice.

Every time I hear that song (I used to like it, too), I think of the bums and hustlers who frequent the NYC subways. In the ten years between 1990 and 2000, every stumble bum and pissin' tail junkie tried to hustle funds from riders by hurriedly parrotting that song.

It drove me nuts. At first, I gave. Then realization struck. This was not a one time request; this was an every day, 365 days a year hustle. This was a bunch of winos and junkies and plain ol' lazy bastards levying a tax on already over-burdened subway riders. One for which we could present no receipt to the IRS at either the city, state, or federal level.

Then, one day, a further epiphany. The people panhandling (once upon a time this was an honorable word that referred to people who bust their arses to find gold) received some form of welfare, some kind of SSI benefits, or some kind of monthly check which they lined up outside the check cashing office to convert into quickly disposable dollars. You saw them. They hustled past you with that precious check in their hands, focused like a bird-dog on the game, and they stood in a malodorous line leading into the check cashing place.

That was the last day I gave a penny to any bum either on the street or in the subways. If they wanted a meal, I would purchase it. However, there was a catch to that, too, cuz a meal was legal tender on the streets, as good as money for scoring a few rocks or a joint. The war that waged in my soul. What should I do? Should I continue to give knowing that gifts of food would soon be pumping crazily in some junky's veins, pulling him further down into degradation? It would be oozing corrosively through some wino's liver bringing him closer to the edge.

I couldn't give. So, I didn't. I spoke with them and explained why I would not give. If I were carrying a heavy load and some street hustler offered to bear it for a couple of bucks, I'd not deny a man a chance to earn an honest living. How he used the dollar he earned was his business.

One morning, I was riding the #3 train from New Lots heading in to work. There I am, sitting at the end of a seat, my head buried in the Bible cuz I was trying to memorize the Book of Galatians. I was so totally caught up in what I was doing that I didn't even see the hand that inserted itself under my nose. It took a beat or five for the intrusion to register and for me to realize that not only was someone standing expectantly in front of me, but a number of people were gazing in our direction with the same air of expectation. Raising my head, I saw the Caribbean bum who had begun to haunt the New Lots to Nevins part of the line.

The normal bum approach is to extend a hand and to withdraw it when nothing came. This Caribbean bum put me on the spot because I sat there with my little Bible open clearly concentrating on it. He sought to determine if my faith was backed up with works. Unknown to him, that morning, cockroaches could've broken their necks in my pocket. I didn't have a penny on me besides my tokens. Moreover, I did not like it that he thought he could force me into making a gesture to prove something to the audience of commuters. Nobody defines my faith for me.

So, I looked up into his eyes, looked at his hand, and bent my head over the Bible again. I'm a July-born woman with a wide streak of stubborn (talk about a war between the flesh and the Spirit!) and am usually happily indifferent to what other people think about me. In leaving his extended hand before me, the bum converted request into demand. Where I would have smiled and offered a brief apology at request, I thought that Christian liberty left me free to ignore demand.

So, I did.

That's what Carole King's song evokes; that whole era of forced generosity, the growing consciousness that straphangers were being abused financially, and the efforts of the bums, winos, and junkies to use our faith towards a perverted end.

U.S.: Muslims in America complain their "religion" is misunderstood

So, quit yer bitchin' and give people a reason to think otherwise.

DES MOINES--Michael Wagner lied about his name.

He told the trooper who stopped him for not wearing a seat belt that he couldn't find his identification.

Then, Iowa State Patrol Trooper Kenneth Haas found a gun, three bulletproof vests, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a flight simulator and a bag of flight manuals dating to 2001.

Haas testified at a federal court hearing Tuesday that he also found a 5-foot telescope hooked to camera equipment, night-vision goggles and a night-vision rifle scope when searching Wagner's sport utility vehicle on July 14 on Interstate 80 near Council Bluffs.

The materials, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Rothrock, were "all of the equipment necessary for sniper attacks."

Haas said a tape showed that when Wagner was alone with his wife in a cruiser after they were stopped, he spoke of killing the officers at the scene to get away.
...
His attorney, Angela Campbell, said the items found in Wagner's vehicle weren't illegal for average citizens to own and suggested that Wagner and his wife, Linda Maguire, were targeted because they are Muslim.

Books written in Arabic, including the Koran, along with hundreds of pages printed from the Internet on the Iraq war and terrorism, were found in Wagner's vehicle.

Wagner and his wife, who was at the court hearing, are both Muslim converts.
...
In the interview, he talked about a man in San Diego who he said wanted him to shoot at trolleys there, White said. Wagner also told the agent "he knew of activities and people involved in al-Qaida and Taliban."

U.S.: Round-up

Hammorabi claims that Alzarqawi may be Arrested!

There are unconfirmed news published in the Irakana news site that the son of a bitch Al Zarqawi has been arrested in Hadietha close to the Syrian border after they arrested one of his closest aides 2 days ago.  It also added that a blood sample has been taken to confirm the genetic ID of the named terrorist.  According to the same news Zarqawi has admitted that he received one milliard dollar from Udy Saddam before the fall of the regime and confessed about his relation with Fidaiyi Saddam.  He also confessed about the net works of his cells in Iraq. 

The news not yet confirmed so we have to follow what that site will come with or other sites.

Hmmm. Big Pharaoh in the Arab world thinks like I do.

Let us look at another forgotten area of this world, Sudan, Darfur to be precise. The central government of Sudan assisted Arab militia to literally wipe out the black Africans in Darfur. Villages were burned and leveled to the ground, women were raped, and black skeleton-like children are left to die from malaria and malnutrition in the refugee camps on the Sudan-Chad borders.  Human Rights Watch labeled the actions of those militias as “genocide”. Kofie Annan, awaken from his long siesta and finally discovered that it is OK to agree once with the US, threatened military intervention in Darfur unless the government of Sudan halt the killing machines there. And how did my Egyptian government respond? It said that a UN resolution is not needed. Oh, how interesting! So, my fellow Egyptians at the foreign ministry think that making the lives of a few thousand Palestinians inconvenient is much more disastrous and barbaric than mass slaughtering non-Arab black Sudanese in Darfur. Egyptian newspapers display the most gruesome images coming from the Palestinian areas almost on a daily basis, yet up until this very hour, I haven’t seen a single picture of a dead black skeleton even though I am sure there are thousands upon thousands of them. Why are we allowed to see pictures of Israeli bulldozers demolishing a number of Palestinian homes to prevent weapons smuggling, yet we never see a single picture of how the government-backed militias in Sudan are burning down entire villages in Darfur? Are the Palestinians more valuable than the black Darfurians? Are there important and unimportant corpses?

The answer to that is yes. Arab ones are important. Black ones are not. Not to Kofi Annan and the majority of theArab world.

Iraqi Dude has a wowser of a post. It's must reading.

U.S.: Packing pains

I went out and scored 13 banana boxes in one fell swoop, and 3 in another. That means I actually have to put stuff in them, now, especially since I've got 14 days to go before I head home to spend some time with my family, then, about a week later, off to China.

Chiquita banana boxes are really good for moving. They're very sturdy and they're usually lined with an equally sturdy sheet of brown paper. They're the Timex of packing boxes ... take a licking and keep on ticking.

Just looking at the pile of books is giving me shivers. Maybe I should have a packing party and invite a few friends over. But, then, I won't know where things are. Not a good idea.

By tonight, my bedroom should be packed up. I can only hope.

USVI: Scarcity of black Kerry staffers rankles V.I. Democrats

Possibility of jumping ship to Republicans is slight, though, as fear of another Bush term outweighs the criticism

By JEREMY W. PETERS
Wednesday, July 28th 2004

BOSTON - When Barack Obama, a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois, delivered the keynote address Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention, Virgin Islands delegates saw something they had desperately wanted to see - a black person taking center stage in the 2004 presidential election.

V.I. Democrats, along with other black Democrats nationwide, are concerned about the lack of prominent blacks in key roles in the presidential campaign. In particular, many blacks have found that as they turn on the evening news and see the faces of Sen. John Kerry's top advisers, the faces do not look like theirs.

"There's nobody in the campaign who seems to be the average person," Gov. Charles Turnbull said. "For the masses of the African-American community, it seems like they've been left out."

Desiree Hill, a Democratic delegate from St. Thomas, said many feel the party has taken the black vote for granted.

"I'm encountering a lot of black people, African Americans, who say, 'I'm not voting for Kerry.' What do we tell people when they come to us and say, 'What has he done for black people?'"

«read the rest»

What Indeed...

U.S.: Say what?!?!?!

Which key Democratic voting block believes in overwhelming numbers that John Kerry will cut taxes - and also thinks that Democrats are pro-life and have a good record on national defense and terrorism?

The answer: African Americans.

A full seventy-five percent of black voters actually expect Democrats to lower taxes, according to an exhaustive study by Republican consultant Richard Nadler, who cites stunning support for GOP policies in a poll conducted by Kellyanne Conway following the 2002 midterm elections.

The survey shows that 69 percent of African Americans believe that Democrats will also better "protect the rights of the unborn." And 62 percent of blacks say Democrats are "more likely to reduce terrorism by strengthening the national defense.”

Some things don't need further comment.

U.S.: The picture John F. Kerry doesn't want you to see

Drudge reports that NASA has been ordered to pull the pixes of Kerry looking like spermatozoa.

U.S.: Okay...

After the Democrat Con... is over, I'll get back to blogging Caribbean news predominantly.

Won't be doing much today cuz I've gotta go find boxes to pack up stuff. Man. Any packing volunteers?

U.S.: Three dollar bill!

John Kerry's family dumped millions of dollars of foreign holdings as he launched his White House bid, gobbling up Made in the USA stocks in a huge politically savvy international-to-domestic shift.

The investments, mostly in the name of Kerry's multimillionaire wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, sold stock in massive overseas players like Heineken, Sony, British Petroleum and Italian Telecom for red, white and blue companies like McDonald's, Dell and Kohls.

In all, the Kerrys dumped as much as $16 million worth of international stock and bought between $18 million and $32 million in domestic holdings between 2002 and 2003, records show.

The swaps, detailed in Kerry's financial disclosures for the presidential race, come to light as the Bay State senator tonight wraps himself in Americana to accept the Democratic Party nomination.

The senator's campaign said the investments are managed not by the Kerrys but by professional investment managers for the family trustees - of which Heinz Kerry is only one.

Marla Romash, a senior adviser to Kerry, said the financial decisions aren't political.

Is this another Kerry SUV story? When questioned, will he say, "I don't own the stocks, my family does"?

Dare he say that, especially after Teresa's self-centered performance two nights ago? Frankly, she made the dude look bought and paid for ... I won't use the 'g' word.

U.S.: King of multilateralism

For all the abuse that the Bush administration receives for its conduct of the war on terrorism, the Proliferation Security Initiative and Caspian Guard stand as examples of the other side of the war as conducted by a serious administration that knows we are all in for a long twilight struggle. Only by removing or intimidating terror-sponsoring states into renouncing terrorism, and only by stopping the spread of nuclear and other mass killing technology in its tracks, can the free world hope to win this war without incredible loss of life. Bush administration critics and the media -- often one and the same -- consistently fail to take the existence of the PSI and its start-up sister Caspian Guard into account when assessing how we are doing in the war. The existence of these organizations indicate that for all the squabbling over Iraq, most of the world's major powers do regard terrorism and weapons proliferation as serious conjoined threats, and are willing to band together to do something about it. And they are willing to be led by the unilateral cowboy from Texas who defied several of them to topple Saddam Hussein.

Read the whole story here.H'tip to Instapundit. Read the whole piece

U.S.: What, pray tell,...

is so cute about John Edwards?

I am a healthy heterosexual woman whose primary weakness is my healthy appreciation for the opposite sex. So, why oh why am I unable to see the cuteness of John Edwards?

It's not because he's white. I've drooled over white guys I've found drool-worthy. Heck, a fine looking man is a fine looking man whatever his race. I mean, I have to watch The Last Samurai with a bath towel cuz of Ken Watanabe. Tom Cruise? Who's that? He's got fat, square buns, and Watanabe acted him off the stage. I've even drooled over an Indian friend from the sub-continent, guy named Rohit. Not a muscle in sight. A long, lean, silent type. Very sweet. I'm an equal opportunity drooler.

So, why does John Edwards not get my salivary glands going? I don't see the boyishness that other women see when they look at the Breck Girl. Instead, I see a slickster with a line of patter designed to tug at the heart strings. A smart-man, as we'd say in TT. I see a lightweight who masks lack of depth with appeals to emotion. None of this is helped by my discovery that in almost six years in the Senate, Edwards hasn't done anything of substance, and he's been well nigh missing for the last year and a half. I look at his face in repose before he flashes the high wattage smile, and I don't like what I see there. The smile is a mask. The smile as mask.

C'mon, tell me, do I need to change my glasses? Do I need to clean them? What am I missing? Do tell. What?

Lemme go get a towel, turn the DVD on, and watch The Last Samurai.

Hti: The cult of Aristide

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Hundreds of supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched through the slums of Haiti's capital Wednesday to demand his return.

Even as the crowd rallied against Haiti's new U.S.-backed interim government, a group of Caribbean nations announced that it would make a decision in about two weeks on whether to recognize the new leadership.

About 2,000 people, many waving posters, marched through the narrow streets of several Port-au-Prince slums before filing past the U.S. Embassy, where they burned small coffins bearing the names of interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and other officials. One coffin simply said, "U.S.A."

A U.S.-led multinational force of 3,600 troops arrived in Haiti after a three-week rebellion that culminated in Aristide's Feb. 29 ouster. Aristide, in exile in South Africa, has accused the United States of being behind his overthrow, a claim Washington has denied.

The U.S.-led force was replaced by a Brazil-led U.N. peacekeeping mission at the end of June.

"We cannot live without Aristide," said 70-year-old demonstrator Solange Michel, who said her son was killed by soldiers during a 1991 coup that ousted Aristide for three years.

"We think he will return if we keep protesting," said Bob Fonfon, 34, a former port worker who said past protests brought Aristide back to power.

Meanwhile, leaders in the 15-member Caribbean Community met in Grenada Wednesday, saying they would announce their decision on whether to recognize Haiti's U.S.-backed government on Aug. 16.

Relations between the 15-member bloc and Haiti collapsed after rebels ousted Aristide.

They cannot live without Aristide? Give the people what they want, I say. Let them find out how many of them will wind up living under Aristide.

U.S.: Al Qaeda woman with South Africa passport arrested in TX

A South African woman picked up in Texas almost 10 days ago may turn out to be a key, high-level al-Qaida operative.

Her name is Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. She was stopped at McAllen Miller International Airport on July 19. She was headed to New York.

Eddie Flores of the U.S. Border Patrol office in McAllen, Texas, tells FederalNewsRadio.com that a review of her papers raised some concerns.

"In looking at her documents, they did not find any entry documents in her passport where she was legally admitted into the United States," says Flores.

Ahmed produced a South African passport to the agents with four pages torn out, and with no U.S. entry stamps. Ahmed reportedly later confessed to investigators that she entered the country illegally by crossing the Rio Grande River. Ahmed was carrying travel itineraries showing a July 8 flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to London. Six days later, Ahmed traveled from London to Mexico City before attempting to travel from McAllen to New York.

Government sources tell FederalNewsRadio.com that capturing this woman could be comparable to the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11. It was revealed in court Tuesday that she was on a watch list and had entered the U.S. possibly as many as 250 times.

Tuesday, the South African government issued a warning that al-Qaida militants and other terrorists traveling through Europe had obtained South African passports, and authorities believe they got them from crime syndicates operating inside the government agency that issues the documents.

U.S.: Oh, jeezan!!

Lying is a talent.

Madeleine Albright is talking to Greta van Susteren and blaming GWB's administration for North Korea's development of nukes. She's saying that the best thing to do is have bilateral talks with the NKos.

Where in hell was this woman when the Clinton administration had bilateral talks like the NKos demanded and GAVE them a light water nuclear reactor, GAVE them food, GAVE them a whole bunch of stuff in exchange for promises. Then, when the NKos had everything they wanted, they turned their backs and farted in Clinton's face and said, dude, to hell with you; we've never stopped building nukes?

Where was she? Madeleine Albright was the Secretary of State under Clinton; she was the one who, along with that sanctimonious old crock, Jimmy Carter, who never met a despot he didn't like, brokered this ridiculous deal that resulted in the NKos having nuclear arms. Now, she has the nerve to blame the Bush administration for Slick Willie's foreign policy failures?

The Bush adminstration is the one that has refused to hold bilateral lying talks with the NKos and have instead insisted that since this is an Asia problem, NKo's neighbors (China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan) must be at the table so that little lying sot Kim Jong Very Ill can pull his nutty little stunts on them, not the U.S.

Maybe the lying goes with the political party cuz if she were a Republican, the media would ream her over it. Since she's a Dem, she can bend the truth with impunity.

U.S.: Did Dem donor make them an offer they couldn't refuse?

B O S T O N, July 28, 2004 — As Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards arrived in Boston today for the Democratic National Convention, so did the California man who is their single biggest contributor.

He is Stephen Bing, a wealthy film producer who, with little fanfare, has managed to steer a total of more than $16 million of his money to Democratic candidates and the supposedly independent groups that support them.

"To most of the people who track money and politics, they're like, who the hell is Steve Bing?" said Chuck Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog organization.

Bing is perhaps best known for sparking a tabloid frenzy when he publicly expressed doubt that he was the father of actress Elizabeth Hurley's baby. (A paternity test proved he was indeed the father.) He repeatedly has refused to say why he is funneling millions of dollars to the Democrats.

Lewis thinks it is cause for concern.

"We can identify who the big donors are, but how much do we really know about any of them?" he said.

In fact, Democratic Party officials said they knew nothing about the man who law enforcement officials tell ABC News is Bing's friend and business partner — Dominic Montemarano, a New York Mafia figure currently in federal prison on racketeering charges.

Montemarano has a long criminal record and is known to organized crime investigators by his street name, Donnie Shacks.

"Donnie Shacks' main activity was murder. No question about it. That was his main function for the Colombo family and for organized crime in general. He was one of the top hit men in the New York area," said Joe Coffey, a former NYPD investigator.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Bing paid Montemarano's legal fees after his most recent scrape with the law. Montemerano's lawyer said his client was an employee of Bing's.

After a recent private lunch with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Edwards, Bing also declined to answer questions about his relationship with Montemarano.

U.S.: Democrat Con....

John Edwards is speaking.

I thought he was supposed to be a great rhetorician. So far, it's been pap. SOSDD. Same old tired Democrat sizzle, no steak. Light on facts, heavy on emotion.

Update: Edwards caught in a retrospective lie. His mom worked in the post office so the family could have health care. That wasn't how it went 40-50 years ago. You paid a doctor when you went to visit.

Update 2: Here comes his two Americas speech. Who's dividing the country? His one united America is a socialist state in which the state provides for our every need. I'm from TT. Idon't want state run health care.

Update 3: Edwards is going on abouttwo school systems. One for the rich and one for the poor.Has this guy forgotten that the schools are controlled by the NEA which is in cahoots with the Democrats? If the schools suck, who's to blame? Just so.

Update 4: Get rid of tax breaks for companies outsourcing. Somebody ought to tell him Teresa won't like that.

He's talking about hard work should be valued in America. Yet, which party imposed the welfare state that undermined the work ethic, especially in black communities.

Edwards has a goodie bag chock full of cash. He's the Democrat Santa Claus. And he's playing class warfare games meaning to tax the 2% of the wealthiest tax payers. Newsflash, if those tax payers do like Edwards (incorporated himself so that though he's a mega-millionaire, he doesn't pay too much taxes) and Kerry and his wife (owning billions but paying less taxes than President Bush cuz of having all that money in some kind of tax dodge -- this in spite of the tax cut for ALL taxpayers), then there will be very little money to fund the list of goodies Edwards is proposing.

Update 5: Edwards is revving the crowd on the basis of class warfare and pandering to the socialist something-at-somebody-else's-expense sensibility of Democrats.

Frankly, I had expected better than a feel-good assortment of half-truths and tired old socialist pandering. I had expected new ideas. Nothing new. SOSDD.

Update 6: He's talking about the WoT. Brother, he's promising they'll do whatever it takes as long as it takes to make sure another attack never happens. Does that mean that Democrats will strengthen the Patriot Act, will deport illegals, will patrol the borders, will wage war if necessary? The crowd is growing wild while Edwards is saying pretty much what President Bush has been doing. I guess the problem they have with the WoT is that a Republican president is prosecuting it. What a friggin' bunch of hypocrites.

Update 7: Here is what Edwards is good at -- his talent is making the abstract concrete through emotional word pictures. Just imagine, the no-war Democrat crowd are cheering this guy's pro-war rhetoric. Incredible BS. Incredible hypocrisy.

How will Edwards fare against Cheney? Cheney will wipe the floor with him. Edwards is light on substance.

He kinda lost the crowd when he talked about increased funding for a bigger and better military. That was too much for them.

Oh, wow! The Arabs in the crowd are going to kill him. He talked about a more secure and safer Israel. What are the Arabs going to do now?!?!

Update 8: Pie in the sky chatter about convincing allies. Get real, dude.

Update 9: Ah, there's the trial lawyer creating pictures about the hardship of the military family. Says they've got friends amongst Democrats. ROFLMAO! I damn near died laughing when Edwards talked about funding the military cuz the guy he's running with has done everything he could to defund the military and the CIA.

He's given the dummy Democrat crowd a new mantra to repeat, and, like lemmings, they're parrotting it after him. 'Hope is on the way.'

BS stuff. A person has to be oblivious to facts and reality to be a Democrat.

Update 10: If you can't dazzle them details, baffle them with BS. Edwards has done the latter.

U.S.: 16 good solid reasons to vote for GWB for president of the U.S.

1) Bush would not place American troops under United Nations command. John Kerry would. In 1970, he said: "I'm an internationalist. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations."

2) President Bush has abandoned the economy crushing Kyoto Protocol, the ABM Treaty which would have prevented us from building a missile defense, and the International Criminal Court which could have put our military & government officials under threat of frivolous prosecution.

3) President Bush is a strong supporter of a Federal Marriage Amendment which is the only way to stop liberal judges from imposing gay marriage on the states against the wishes of the voters and State Legislatures.

4) "President Bush's overall Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget represents a 49% increase for elementary and secondary education since FY 2001". (Yet liberals, like Oliver Twist, cry for 'more.')

5) President Bush is a staunch supporter of the pro-life movement and signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban into effect.

6) A rudimentary nuclear missile defense system will for the first time go online later this year thanks to President Bush.

7) President Bush's five-year, $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is the most significant strike against the spread of AIDS/HIV in the history of mankind.

8) When the going got tough, George Bush got going and fought tooth and nail to give tax relief to American families. He worked hard to end the marriage penalty, increased the size of the child tax credit, gave Americans their hard earned tax dollars back in the form of rebates, and saw to it that 92 million Americans got to keep an average of $1,083 more of their own money.

Most importantly, by taking the government's hand out of the American's people's pockets, George. W. Bush gave the American economy the stimulus it needed to grow and create jobs again.

9) We've had 10 straight months of job growth and over a million jobs have been created this year so far thanks to George Bush's tax cut.

"The 17 percent productivity growth from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2004 stands head and shoulders above the growth rate for any comparable period. In fact, it is better than any eight-year period since 1976. In the first 13 quarters of the Bush Administration, the basic determinant of our standard of living increased by almost as much as during the entire 32 quarters of the Clinton Administration." (Arnold Kling at Tech Central Station)

Over the last nine months, the economy has been booming. In the 80s, the average GDP was +2.9%. In the 90s, the average GDP growth was 3.1%. Over the last three quarters, the average GDP growth of the economy has been a sizzling 5.4%.

10) In Afghanistan, we were told going in that the war would be long, difficult, and perhaps even unwinnable. A lesser man than George Bush might have gotten weak kneed at the prospect of sending our troops into a "mountainous Vietnam" and found some sort of excuse not to go. But, not only did we take the fight to our enemies in Afghanistan, we bombed Al-Qaeda's camps, decimated the Taliban, drove them out of power in less than two months, and sent our enemies running to Pakistan and remote caves on the Afghan border, where they live even today as hunted men. This is even more impressive than it sounds since our defeatist press was crying "quagmire" & "Vietnam" as we bombed our enemies into oblivion.

11) Because of President Bush's planning, strong and steady leadership, Iraq is moving towards freedom and democracy, and the country will have national elections in January.

"A new poll of Iraqis shows that 68 percent have confidence in the interim government, 73 percent approve of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, and 84 percent approve of President Ghazi Yawar. Nearly 80 percent of Iraqis expect that the new government will “make things better” for Iraq after the handover." (Larry Kudlow)

12) Thanks to President Bush, Saddam and his WMDs, wherever he has hidden them for future use and however many they are, will no longer be a threat to global stability.

In Iraq, we removed Saddam Hussein, an anti-American tyrant & sponsor of terrorism who started two wars of aggression in the region while he simultaneously raped, tortured, and butchered his own people with a zeal matched by few figures in modern history. Once the war began, the performance of our military was incomparable. Saddam's forces were defeated, scattered to the four winds in less than a month, even as the press, a week into the war, was again baying the dreaded "V word" loud and often.

So far, artillery shells containing mustard gas, sarin, & cyclosarin have been found in Iraq. Furthermore, former chief weapons inspector David Kay also pointed out that Iraq was "working to produce a (chemical) weapon using the poison ricin until the American invasion last March". Also, Kay noted in his interim report that the Iraqis planned to produce more weapons,

"Even those senior officials we have interviewed who claim no direct knowledge of any on-going prohibited activities readily acknowledge that Saddam intended to resume these programs whenever the external restrictions were removed.".

13) President Bush has been a strong leader and a relentless prosecutor of the war against Islamic terrorism. Because of his efforts, we are slowly but surely winning the war on terrorism.

Without question, Iraq was a nation that provided "safe haven" for terrorists with "global reach". Among them were terrormaster Abu Nidal, Abdul Rahman Yasin, one of the conspirators in the 1993 WTC bombing, "Khala Khadr al-Salahat, the man who reputedly made the bomb for the Libyans that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over...Scotland,"Abu Abbas, mastermind of the October 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking and murder of Leon Klinghoffer," & "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, formerly the director of an al Qaeda training base in Afghanistan" who is now believed to be leading Al-Qaeda's forces in Iraq. Quite frankly, any war on terrorism that didn't tackle that nest of vipers would have been a war in name only.

We smashed Al-Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan, killed or captured more than 2/3rd's of Al-Qaeda's leadership, have blocked Al-Qaeda from attacking inside the US for more than 2 1/2 years, and according to the 9/11 commission, Al-Qaeda's funding has started to dry up,

"Since the September 11 attacks and the defeat of the Taliban, as Qaeda's funding has decreased significantly. The arrests or deaths of several important financial facilitators have decreased the amount of money al Qaeda has raised and increased the costs and difficulty of raising and moving that money.

14) The Bush Administration's support of the Patriot Act has helped to make America safer from terrorist attacks. "The USA Patriot Act brought down the artificial wall (created by Jaime Gorelick, formerly of the Clinton Justice Dept. and a 9/11 commissioner) separating law enforcement and intelligence officers and allowed them to talk to each other as they work to prevent future attacks."

15) Thanks to President Bush's diplomacy, Libya gave up its WMD program and a nuclear arms ring run by a Pakistani scientist has also been put out of business.

16) President Bush is a genuinely compassionate man. "...Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president's hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke:

This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11."

Bush stopped and turned back.

"He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man," Faulkner said. "He looked right at her and said, 'How are you doing?' He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest."

Faulkner snapped one frame with his camera.

"I could hear her say, 'I'm OK,' " he said. "That's more emotion than she has shown in 2 1/2 years. Then he said, 'I can see you have a father who loves you very much.' "

"And I said, 'I do, Mr. President, but I miss her mother every day.' It was a special moment."

Special for Lynn Faulkner because the Golden Lamb was the place he and his wife, Wendy Faulkner, celebrated their anniversary every year until she died in the south tower of the World Trade Center, where she had traveled for business.

..."The way he was holding me, with my head against his chest, it felt like he was trying to protect me," Ashley said. "I thought, 'Here is the most powerful guy in the world, and he wants to make sure I'm safe.' I definitely had a couple of tears in my eyes, which is pretty unusual for me." -- More stories like this here

Adapted from a list found at Right Wing News.

Wictory Wednesday!

As my late Wictory Wednesday contribution toward boosting Conservative morale through bewildered laughter...

I give you - Theresa Heinz Kerry's 21 minute 34 second 'Mystic Angel' Convention speech.

Doesn't she come off very much like a completely stoned Scientology-inclined, transvestite Jackie O impersonator who's just now discovered that he, sorry...she, is accepting an Oscar a Nobel Peace Prize?

I guess the Dems have the eccentric foreign multi-Millionair vote locked up...

Contribution #2 - Listen to Hugh Hewitt audio blogging the Convention.

Here ( 5am - 8am & 8pm - 11pm)

or

Here (Archived).

Regional: Jeb Bush promotes Fla. "Gateway to Caribbean" in Canada.

Let's settle down, relax, and read a little Canadian article that promises to inform us on an important conference just held in that future 51'st (...or was that 52nd?) state regarding the "Caribbean" Gateway's investment opportunities.

Governor Jeb Bush promotes 'gateway to the Caribbean'


MIKE DE SOUZA
The Gazette

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Florida Governor Jeb Bush danced around political questions as he opened a three-day trade mission to Montreal and Ottawa yesterday.

Bush promoted his state as a gateway to the Caribbean for investors as he addressed a lunchtime crowd of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.

But when pressed by reporters, he refused to speculate on his brother George W. Bush's chances of being re-elected as U.S. president later this year.

Well that was quick...From "Gateway to the Caribbean", and then BAM!

Like a beleaguered shrimp in Louisiana...The topic of helping his brother is slammed on the press-boards...

"I will do what any brother would do," Bush said.

"My first duty is to be the best governor I can be. Hopefully that helps him, but I will be a volunteer - I am a volunteer - in his campaign and (will) work hard in his re-election."

Duh!
Did they think he was going to let slip the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy's Secret World Domination Starting With Canada...Plan?

Anyway, the reporter sums it all up with Canadian Premier Jean Charest:

Charest welcomed Bush by praising his family saying he was a great admirer of his father, the former president Bush.

«Don't bother reading the whole thing»

Canadian liberal knives..Zeh steeeng so sweet...Eh?

U.S.: Hot new movie

See it here.

USVI: Definitly NOT an anti-quiz elitist.

Scarily accurate result - except for the karaoke part...

What Kind of Elitist Are You?

Your Cd Mp3 collection is almost as big as your ego, and you can most likely play an instrument or three 1½. You're a real hit at parties, but you're SO above karaoke.

What people love: You're instant entertainment. Unless you play the obo.

What people hate: Your tendency to sing louder than the radio and compare everything to a freaking song.


Brought to you by Quizilla

This kinda reminds me of a Missing Persons song...

Via: Booker Rising, Parableman, & Uncle Sam's Cabin

U.S.: Cry shame on these mediaeval barbarians!

NAIROBI (AFP) - The African Union (AU) accused Sudan's pro-government militias of burning civilians alive in Darfur and sent out a clear signal it was considering sending in a peacekeeping force to the crisis-hit region.
...
The Sudanese government, which has repeatedly pledged to disarm the Janjaweed, said Tuesday it would face down any foreign military intervention in the crisis.
...
AU monitors declared on Wednesday that government-backed Arab militiamen chained and burned alive civilians in a raid on a market in Darfur.

"The attackers looted the market and killed civilians, in some cases chaining them and burning them alive," said a report released in Nairobi by AU ceasefire observers in the region.

The report said the African Union monitors went to Suleia village, where the militia raid occurred July 3.

It said the raid was carried out by "militia elements believed to be Janjaweed."

"This was an unwarranted and unprovoked attack on the civilian population," the report said. However, it could not substantiate allegations that Sudanese government forces took part in the raid alongside the Janjaweed.

Why are black people Muslim? Why are black people Muslim when, in the view of Arab Muslims (who control Mecca and Medina), the only good Muslim is an Arab Muslim? When will these backward barbarians abandon their barbaric and blood-thirsty ways and join the human race? Good heavens! To do such an evil thing to defenceless civilians. Hitler had nothing on these barbarians; in fact, in him they find their equal.

U.S.: Guess they'd better hurry up and hang him

SADDAM Hussein has suffered a minor stroke and could die before his trial, his defence lawyers claim.

The multinational legal team is still awaiting permission to visit the deposed Iraqi ruler.

A letter demanding their doctor be given access to the former dictator was yesterday sent by Jordanian lawyer Mohammed al-Rashdan to Salem Chalebi, the head of the Iraqi prosecuting authorities.

U.S.: The forgetful Democrats

Ted Kennedy in his speech at the Democrat Convention said that America should have remained a victim so the rest of the world would like us.

The eyes of the world were on us and the hearts of the world were with us after September 11th until this administration broke that trust. We should have honored, not ignored, the pledges we made. We should have strengthened, not scorned, the alliances that won two World Wars and the Cold War.
...
How could any President have possibly squandered the enormous goodwill that flowed to America from across the world after September 11th?

Most of the world still knows what we can be what only we can be and they want us to be that nation again.

Moreover, Kennedy said that the only enemy the U.S. and the world has is George W. Bush.

In the depths of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt inspired the nation when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Today, we say the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush.

Here's a reality check to Ted and his Merry Band of Forgetful Democrat Girlie-Men:

Mary Jo Kopechne had nothing to say.

Vzla: Shut your mouth and give people a chance to like you, man!

With less than a month to go to Venezuela's critical recall referendum, an unwitting former Venezuelan president cavalierly damaged the opposition effort through his thuggish comments. Venezuela's opposition must take pains to ensure the country's political dinosaurs don't mar a hard-won opportunity to democratically oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez come Aug. 15.

It is hard to imagine a better gift to Mr. Chavez than the statements Carlos Andres Perez gave to Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional. Mr. Chavez "must die like a dog, because he deserves it," said Mr. Perez, who was impeached on corruption charges during his second term. Mr. Perez also said, "I am working to remove Chavez [from power]. Violence will allow us to remove him. That's the only way we have."

The former president, who lobbed the bloody barbs from his comfortable perch in Miami, said, "We can't just get rid of Chavez and immediately have a democracy... we will need a transition period of two to three years to lay the foundations for a state where the rule of law prevails."

When asked about the desire of Venezuelans to move forward on democratic reform, Mr. Perez hinted he sees a role for himself in this hypothetical, despotic future. "I am not the past, I am the future." But Mr. Perez is definitely part of Venezuela's past and personifies the kleptocracy and incompetence that originally gave rise to Mr. Chavez.

U.S.: Bush saves millions of Muslim lives and Arab Americans say ABB

BOSTON — Arab-American delegates, attending the Democratic National Convention in their greatest numbers in years, say many in their community will vote for Sen. John Kerry because they are disillusioned with the current administration.

The Arab-American vote went overwhelmingly to George W. Bush in 2000, but unhappiness with the president's post-September 11 policies is turning those voters to Mr. Kerry, the delegates say.
...
"He has alienated so many of us," said Newman Abuissa, an Arab-American delegate from Iowa who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 but became so upset at the administration that he began actively campaigning for the Massachusetts Democrat and eventually ended up here at the convention.

Let's look at Bush's policies post-9/11 which pertain to Arabs: a refusal to ask the world's permission to defend America; a "forward strategy of freedom in the greater Middle East"; a refusal to force Israel to make peace if Arafat and his Arabs don't want it; and, pre-emptive strikes to defend America; peace through strength and force, if the latter's necessary. Bush's domestic policies with which Arabs may find fault are as follows: random screening passengers without regard to their ethnicity, sex, and age; examination of Islamic charities' funding, arrest, and prosecution of many for terrorist ties; invitation to questioning of thousands of Arab males.

Which of these policies do Arabs find so offensive that they reject Bush? Most likely it is his policy position on Israel, Islamic charities, and questioning of young Arab males. In other words, barring Israel, the same policies that have produced actionable information in the WoT. So, what is one supposed to conclude Arabs are saying about America's right to defend herself from attack without and within? Translation: Bush should not have retaliated against the Arab Muslim killers of thousands of Americans. It's okay for them to kill us; the converse is not true, though.

In another part of the story, there is this tidbit:

Many Arab-Americans see themselves as unfairly singled out by the Bush administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also disagree with the Iraq war and feel Mr. Bush has not been evenhanded in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ferial Masry, a delegate who is originally from Saudi Arabia and is also running for the California state assembly, said she has seen that shift in the Arab-American community.

"Anybody but Bush," is the theme she hears, said the high-school government teacher who strongly opposed the war in Iraq.

There we go. Never mind the hundreds of thousands discovered in mass graves in Iraq; never mind the hope for a new future that Iraqis feel; never mind the booming Iraqi economy; never mind Iraqis being able to decide freely, for the first time, who will govern them, all that matters is that Arab Muslims see the Iraq war as a war against Islam.

It takes a great deal of nerve and gall for Arabs to say that they "see themselves as unfairly singled out by the Bush administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon." Who attacked us on 9/11? It wasn't anybody else but Arab Muslims. Meantime, their brethren in Brooklyn and elsewhere cheered. Therefore, who is the federal government supposed to investigate, especially in light of ongoing terrorist attacks by Arab and other Muslims? Their answer? Not us. Maybe they want the Feds to be looking at the Jews.

I won't comment on the irony of Ferial Masry, a Saudi woman, who can neither show her face, drive, nor vote in her own country, being able to run for office in California. It boggles the mind.

Then there is this excerpt:

And Mr. Salhab, who heads the Florida Arab American Leadership Council, said that while Mr. Kerry "has yet to articulate clear positions" on issues that hit hard in the Arab-American community, there is a "strong anti-Bush sentiment."

Mr. Salhab and three other Arab-Americans from Florida became Democratic delegates after a massive grass-roots effort that bused many Arab-Americans to district caucus sites.

Mr. Abuissa — who emigrated from Syria, became a U.S. citizen 12 years ago and works for the Iowa State Transportation Department — said former Democratic presidential candidates Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Vermont governor Howard Dean closely match his own strong antiwar views.

But he said the Kerry-Edwards team is "a strong ticket," and Mr. Kerry "is the man for us."

What are the issues that hit hard in the Arab community in this country, apart from Israel and the U.S. right to defend itself against all attackers, whatever their ideological stance? The war policy of Kucinich and Dean would leave America vulnerable to the further depredations of terrorists. Is this what Messrs. Salhab and Abuissa want? If they do, then their concern is not for the U.S. but for some Islamic agenda that would be furthered by American weakness.

Finally,

[Claudia Baba's] father donated to Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign but probably won't support him this time because he feels Mr. Bush hasn't supported Palestinians in the Middle East.

Ms. Baba — who was asked by the Arab American Institute to attend the convention after the Kerry campaign specifically requested an Arab-American woman from Texas — initially favored Mr. Dean, but, like Mr. Abuissa, became convinced that Mr. Kerry was the man who could win.

Mr. Zogby said Arab-Americans think like all Americans when it comes to concern for the economy, health care and education, but simply have a stronger emphasis than others on foreign policy and civil rights issues.

In what other ways do these Arabs in America want the U.S. to support "Palestinians," apart from helping them to destroy Israel, I mean? Nobody can say. The U.S. has plowed billions into the corrupt "Palestinian" Authority, from which Yasser Arafat has drained funds to enrich himself and his wife, Suha, in Paris. Moreover, while Suha Arafat lives the good life in Paris, ordinary Arabs in Gaza, Judea and Samaria are living hellish lives because of the 'intifada' he brought upon them instead of abiding by the Oslo accords and because he chose, at Camp David, to walk away from 95% of that for which his people had asked. What has Arafat offered besides terror, blood, and death? What have his policies, in conjunction with Islam, bred in those lands but a culture of death and a ghoulish adoration of body parts? What more can the U.S. do, in the face of Arafat's insistent refusal to make peace? Arabs would like the U.S. to force Israel to annihilate itself or be annihilated so the entire Mid East region can be one Arab Muslim zone of despotism, corruption, and backwardness. When "Palestinians" have demonstrated that they love their children more than they hate Israel and desire to kill Jews, then they will make peace. Until such time, every American administration should follow the course of the Bush one, defund them, ignore their terror-thug leader Arafat, and wait for the people to come to their senses.

On another note, why the hell should the U.S. support the "Palestinians" who rejoiced and danced in the streets after 3,000 Americans died on 9/11? Yet, the U.S. does. Why support a people whose expressed desire is the destruction of the U.S. -- once they've accomplished their goal vis-a-vis Israel? Out of some sense of human compassion, the U.S. continues to ... even though Americans bringing scholarship to Arab children in Gaza are blown up by the Arabs.

Zogby is right that Arabs have a stronger emphasis on foreign policy and civil rights issues. How else are they to help their Islamist brethren destroy the U.S. if the government's foreign policy remains a strong one and its domestic security insists on looking closely at those within who seek to destroy her?

In the final analysis, one cannot help but conclude that America's self-interest is of no interest to Arabs in the U.S. As long as their allegiances lie without this country, as long as they hold to ideologies that are hellbent on doing this country harm, they remain a threat to America. What this story demonstrates is their willingness to utilize the openness of the American democratic system to further an agenda that is inimical to the U.S.

U.S.: Can anybody say 'knee-jerk'?

After our chat with Cummings, we headed out into the predominantly African American neighborhood to talk with folks about their impressions of the upcoming presidential election during this big week in Boston.

We chatted with about a dozen people informally and on camera. While that does not make for a scientific study, some of the opinions offered in our interviews were revealing and underscore some of the larger points of this campaign.

A few things grabbed our attention: The extremely high level of interest across the board in this election, unanimity that Iraq was the number one issue, pure, abject anger at President Bush and ambivalence for homeboy John Kerry.

Roxbury has long been the center of black life in Boston, and it's no surprise that all of the people we talked to here today said they planned on voting for Kerry. What was perhaps surprising is that none of them said they had ever seen Kerry campaigning in their neighborhoods or heard of him doing so, and that they had no special affinity for him.

This seemed to reflect the criticism from African American leaders that Kerry has done little to appeal to black, urban voters. The fact that black voters in his own state seem ho-hum about him in any other year might be a cause of alarm. But this is not a normal year, and the issue isn't so much whether blacks will vote for the Democrat, but whether they will come out in significant numbers at all.

"Kerry is the man," barber Louis Richardson, 42, told us, after launching into a long, angry tirade against Bush. Later in the conversation, however, he complained that Kerry's personality was "weak" compared to Bush's, and chided the candidate for never coming to Roxbury.

How is the black vote ever to mean anything when it's guaranteed to go to a candidate who has done nothing to earn it?

When will black people take the time to discover the facts of the issues and vote with their heads rather than their emotions and fears?

When will blacks come off the plantation? How much do they have to be ignored and dismissed before they start thinking? But, then, I forget; that is the whole point of the union-run education system. Create a few generations of ill-educated semi-literates who don't know how to think.

U.S.: Bomb carrying tail wags the dog

"Don't tell us we can't hate the Jews and call them sons of apes, pigs, and monkeys!" This is the Arab message to the U.N.

NEW YORK - Arab states at the United Nations are trying to foil a proposal to raise a vote condemning anti-Semitism in the General Assembly this September.

At a closed meeting held recently in New York, UN ambassadors from Arab and EU countries met and the Arabs made clear that they do not accept the initiative for the UN General Assembly to condemn anti-Semitism.

The blunt language used by the Arabs describing their opposition, and their plans to use diplomatic means to prevent the resolution from reaching a vote, shocked the Europeans, said a UN source.

According to UN sources, the Arab delegates were also critical of a UN seminar on anti-Semitism held last month. A senior Western diplomat said that among the Arabs who spoke with the Europeans was PLO observer Nasser al Kidwe, and he was particularly outspoken in his objections to a UN General Assembly resolution on anti-Semitism.

The source said Kidwe attacked the content of UN Secretary general Koffi Anan's speech to the seminar last month, particularly Annan's pride in the cancelation of the 1975 Zionism equals racism resolution. "The Europeans were depressed when they left the meeting," said the source.

U.S.: Have fun with Kerry in his colonoscopy man suit

Go here.

U.S.: Terrorists suckered the cowardly Spanish

"One of the most sobering pieces of information to come out of the investigation of the March 11th bombings [in Madrid] is that the planning for the attacks may have begun nearly a year before 9/11. ... It appears that some kind of attack would have happened even if Spain had not joined the Coalition -- or if the invasion of Iraq had never occurred." --- Lawrence Wright, "The Terror Web," in the 8/2/04 New Yorker.

H'tip to the Corner.

U.S.: Why...

Is the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee working to make Boston open to terrorist attack?

BOSTON - Two civil rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from randomly inspecting passengers’ bags, saying it’s an unconstitutional violation of personal privacy....

UPDATE at 7/27/04 3:19:34 pm:

LGF reader Jimmy the Clam points out that the Associated Press oddly failed to print the full name of the group that’s working with the National Lawyers Guild to make Boston vulnerable to attack: the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Do Arab Muslims residents of the U.S. really care about the welfare of these United States, or are they just interested "protecting Islam"? If they cared about he U.S., how can they join with NLG in filing a suit that could potentially lead to terrorists being able to bomb attendees at the Democrat convention?

If this is what they desire for Democrats who are soft on terror, what have they planned for Republicans?

U.S.: Running wild with Cox & Forkum

H'tip to Cox & Forkum.

U.S.: Why are dark-skinned people Muslim?

On July 15, Human Rights Watch issued a report on the condition of Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.... The report described "the pervasive abuses foreign workers endure...the abysmal and exploitative labor conditions many workers face, and the utter failure of the justice system to provide redress." The real question is this -- why did the Islamic world not uncover these human rights abuses, so close to the holy city of Mecca?

Based on interviews taken in Bangladesh, India and the Philippines, HRW found abysmal and exploitative labor practices, wanton rape of women workers, and beheading of guest workers accused of crimes without proper legal process. Anyone who has visited Saudi Arabia knows the racism with which ordinary Saudis treats the brown and black-skinned masses that come for Hajj. Like hundreds of Bangladeshis every year, my parents endured these indignities during their recent pilgrimage. When he returned from Mecca, my father told me, "To them, we will always be miskeen (beggar). Doesn't matter what we do, or where we come from. They see our skin and don't need to see more." If this is how pilgrims are treated, imagine how much worse is the plight of the "Guest Worker." Yet, we Muslims remain silent on these abuses -- after all the Saudis are the keepers of Islam's holiest site, so they cannot possibly be racist!

Read DhimmiWatch's piece on Slaves in Saudi Arabia. Here's the link to the original article.

For those trolls who wish to point a finger at Christianity, go read the Book of Philemon. Remember this, too, it was Christians who led the anti-slavery drive, and some of those involved had once been slavers themselves. Moreover, it is Christian nations which have taken the lead in combatting discrimination. More specifically, the U.S. itself has come a long way from its shameful past of slavery.

What is Islam's answer to Philemon, especially since brutal slavery is rampant in the Muslim world?

What would the self-delusional Malcom X have to say about Mecca and Saudi Arabia if he were alive today?

U.S.: Wondering...

Kerry says he'll fight a better war on terror (see Drudge for this bit of insanity). That is a proposal. It is not an objective. Neither is it a process, a plan.

Thus, Kerry makes a statement which is unsupported by any evidence. In other words, he does not present us with an argument for defeating terror. All he has is an assertion. He will fight a better war.

Lacking any information about his argument, his goals, the plan for achieving the goal or the strategy he will employ to bring his goal to fruition, why should anybody vote for Kerry based on vague and baseless assertions?

U.S.: More random thoughts

Figured I'd blog some while eating ice cream for my throat. The exercise will prevent me from spreading like a chestnut tree.

The little fire plug Howard Dean says "we should be proud to call ourselves Democrat." To be sure, to be sure. One of these days, Democrats will be proud to call themselves liberal instead of this progressive crap.

Imagine that, Ted Kennedy learned a prayer!!! Hot damn! The temperature is freezing in hell. Democrats are invoking God and a whole lot of things tonight. The irony is that these are the same people who want to remove all mention of God from the public square and who would turn marriage, the institution God Himself established, up on its head. Somebody should remind Teddy of de Tocqueville's quote about God and America.

Teresa Kerry's speech was crap wonderful!

I tell you, this being a Democrat thing is going to take some work. After a lifetime of thinking, I'm going to have to get in touch with my feelings.

Here goes, Teresa Kerry's speech was ... wonderful. I felt moved when she poked fun at herself. She touched something in me. She ... I give up. I can't do this.

I'm going back to being a mean wascally thinking Republican. This feeling thing is too hard!

U.S.: Made up my mind once again

After two nights of BS solid Democrat rhetoric, I've decided to switch my party affiliation from Republican to Democrat.

What? Why? you ask. It's simple. I'm a sentimental broad at heart, and all this talk of unity is getting to me. I'm seeing John F'Fin Forbes Kerry like I've never seen him before. He's wise and weak strong. He served four and a half whole months in Vietnam. He's a patriot. He'll lift us up so we rejoin the cheese-eating surrender monkeys French, and the brat-eating beer-swilling pacifists Germans. He served in Vietnam, oh, I said that already. He'll give us clean air and clean water. We'll join the ICC and ratify that BS environmental treaty Kyoto. His wife thinks she's a better man than he is that he's wonderful. He fought in Vietnam.

All of this BS Democrat spin wonderful rhetoric has bowled me over. Me voici! Behold me! A Democrat.

Why am I so ecstatic about that? There was all this BS lovely rhetoric about unity that made me laugh my fool head off brought tears to my eyes. I tell you, I laughed wept like a drain! One thing I'm sure about is that given Kerry's really weak strong ideas on defense, God forbid if he's elected president, we'll all be united in death for life cuz the terrorists will kill our arse dialogue with us.

All thanks to John F'fin Forbes Kerry.

U.S.: Ron Reagan

Only thing to say about this guy -- cold ash from a great fire. Compliments to Chinua Achebe.

I could repeat Schwarzenegger's comment, girlie man, but I won't.

One last thing I will say, he sounds like a used car salesman. The action in stem cell research is not with the embryonic stem cells, but with the adult ones. That's where truly helpful discoveries are being made.

He's got a whore's logic. Where he is arguing we go is where Nazi Germany went. When we decide that one class of humans, because of their absence of discernible human features, is worthy of being sacrificed for the sake of a possible cure for fierce diseases, how long before we decide that another class, the handicapped, should no longer live? Move aside, Dr. Mengele, here comes Ron Reagan and his band of scientists who are ready and willing to decide who is human and who should live.

A whore's logic for a political whore who spit on everything his father ever believed.

U.S.: Obama

Democrat spin on health care, military and war in Iraq, education, and race. That's where Obama is weak. Somebody ought to turn this dude. The Republicans in Illinois have been remiss in their duty.

The thing is, Obama is contradictory, on the one hand, he understands that government has limited role to play in our lives. On the other hand, he wants government intrusion. Then he doesn't want it cuz he's speaking out against the Patriot Act.

He spins the Democrat mantra about a divided America. What else is new.

Interestingly, as I said, Obama, in his vision of America, in his discourse on faith (he made some Biblical reference to the Book of Hebrews) and hope, unless he's a cynic, is very much of the same fabric as President Bush.

Kerry cannot begin to match Obama rhetorically, and I can't think of a Democrat who can. This guy could be president one day. He's good. He's sharp. He's an exciting speaker. He can get a crowd going.

My take, Obama is not fully grown politically. He's got promises to keep, and miles to go before he sleeps.

U.S.: Keynote speaker, Barack Obama

Why is Obama a Democrat? Put aside the flawed rhetoric he's spouting once he gets to Kerry, the guy's ideas are solidly Republican.

This is a guy who is going to go far, but not as a Democrat.

U.S.: Election story

Once upon a time, three little swimmers raced out of the starting block and made it into what they thought was a safe haven. They all knew that a great future awaited them, one that each longed to realize. None of them had any thought beyond the day they would leave their new place and go to another place where fantastic things would happen.

In the meantime, in their new place, there was everything their cold previous home lacked. It was warm and cosy. There was food and rest, and there was also a constant and soothing drumbeat that helped them to sleep at night and provided a rhythm for their play by day.

The three swimmers had a grand old time in their own private pool. They loved it! They stretched and grew, and grew, and grew. They yawned, scratched their faces, tried to walk in the warm water of their pool, played tag with each other, and generally had a grand old time.

Then, one day, a strange thing happened. The three swimmers had no idea what caused it, but an old meanie came along. He stuck a huge hose with chemicals into the pool, and reduced the number of swimmers by two. All that remained was one lone swimmer who did not know if he wanted to stay or go. He did not know what to think about his situation. What should he do? Should he enjoy sole possession of the pool, or should he just sit on the sidelines watching the water? Should he have protected the other three swimmers from the meanie with the chemical hose, or should he just be glad that he was spared?

The lone remaining swimmer did not know what to do. He was paralyzed into inaction just thinking about it. So, the swimmer decided that when he left the pool to go to his new permanent home, he would form a committee to discuss his course of action, then he would think some more about what to do. Imagine the swimmer's surprise when he got to what he thought was his new home and discovered it was already inhabited, and the one who dwelt there had no intention of moving! Gone were all the dreams he had for this new home. Once again, he was alone with no idea what he would do.