The newly-minted Sith Masters do post. But they have homes too, yanno.

Bluto: Murtha says, "does this hypocrisy make me look fat?"

Mike: I know good gay, and this is NOT good gay.

Traderrob: Waiting for the jihadi version of "An Inconvenient Truth."

Posted by: Vinnie at 05:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Holy crap, I coulda been a Kennedy.

Posted by: Vinnie at 05:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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What am I saying. They're all bad guys. It's just that some of the bad guys are slightly better than the worse bad guys.

The 1400 year old jihad machine chugs on:

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic militants captured the last strategic town held by their warlord rivals Wednesday, consolidating their hold over a large swath of Somalia even as the country's parliament called for help from foreign peacekeepers.

The brave troops of the U.S. backed warlords show us how they earned our hard-earned tax dollars:

Hours after the Islamic force attacked the town of Jowhar from three directions Wednesday, the last of the warlords' remaining fighters fled east, some in pickup trucks with rooftop-mounted machine guns. Militiamen seized the airport, just outside town. Residents were fleeing and witnesses reported as many as 19 dead.

Talk about take the money and run.

So the country's ineffectual and worthless parliament is calling for international peacekeepers. Sorry chums, we've been down that road and we've seen what happens.

It may not be realpolitik, it will never be given the Official Government Seal of Approval, but it's plausible that the only thing now to keep Somalia from being the new base of operations for Osama and Co. is a nice carpet bombing.

It's either that, or wait until Somalia is used as a base to launch another 9/11.

And, since you didn't ask, but were thinking it, yes, nearly 13 years on, I'm still bitter. If you were doing word association, and said "Somalia," the first thing that would pop into my head would be "fuc* 'em."

Posted by: Vinnie at 05:01 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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A terrorism expert informed the U.S. Senate today that the threat from home grown al Qaeda terror cells is real. How is it that al Qaeda can recruit terrorists in the U.S.? The internet.

Trust me, many of you would be genuinely shocked at reading the amount support terrorists get from American Muslims on bulletin boards. Of course, they always hedge this support by first declaring that the terrorist in question is not really a terrorist.

So, when many of them say, I don't support terrorism, they really mean it. The devil, though, is in the details of exactly what constitutes a terrorist.

Muslim parents, do you know what your children are up to on the internet? Between porn and Islamic message boards, I'd be more worried about the latter.

UPI:

"We are uncovering the spread of new violent extremists networks and cells that lack formal ties or affiliation with al-Qaida or other recognized terrorists groups," said John Scott Redd, the direction of the National Counterterrorism Center in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.

"These new networks are often made up of disaffected, radicalized individuals who draw inspiration and moral support froom al-Qaida and other violent extremists. Group members are most often young, in their teens and twenties, and froom families that are second or third generation immigrants to their western communities. To the outside observer, these terrorists might well appear to be fully assimilated members of their western communities." ....

"In one case, two individuals who are U.S. Muslim converts were c caught robbing a gas station to support their attack plans in California. Possible targets included synagogues, the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, and a National Guard facility," Redd said....

"The emergence of this new brand of al-Qaida inspired, homegrown terrorism group poses real challenges to the intelligence community, and we are grappling with a whole new set of questions," Redd said. "The challenge of countering these cells is complicated by the fact that they may operate virtually, with much of their communication and planning taking place over the Internet. This network of virtual contacts increases the relative stealth with which these terrorists can organize, communicate and plan potential attacks." [emphasis mine]

Posted by: Rusty at 04:55 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Did I say Unitarians? I meant Buddhists. Remember, all religions produce an equal proportion of murderous nuts and thugs. Repeat that mantra 20 times while genuflecting in the UN's general direction.

Times:

A PARIS court sentenced 25 Muslim militants yesterday for planning attacks against the Eiffel Tower and other targets with explosives in support of rebels fighting Russian forces in Chechnya.

Yes, I'm that bored in Ft. Collins that I've resorted to blogging.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:40 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Any one in the Fort Collins area who wants to meet Rusty Shackleford for a night of debauchery* later in the week drop me a line. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 04:04 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Happy Flag Day everyone! Wave them high!

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OK, so I had this idea. Being a huge believer in online video as an effective medium, I figured I'd do my part to highlight conservative / libertarian videos I could find posted on the web.

Of course, Michelle Malkin and the other talented folks at HotAir.com are doing an excellent job of producing and highlighting conservative video, but they certainly don't need any help from the likes of me. I was specifically looking for some amateur videos "off the beaten path," so to speak.

To make a long story short... more...

Posted by: Kos_Irhabi at 11:21 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Simply unbelievable.

From FrontPageMag.com:

We are at war with militant Islam, but you wouldn't know it from the Pentagon, which is busy erecting a shrine to Islam just five short years after Islamic terrorists destroyed a good chunk of its own building and killed more than 100 of its occupants. Worse, it's consulting on the project with a Wahhabi-educated cleric posing as a moderate.

Last week, military brass -- along with representatives from the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations -- dedicated the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines as a symbol of the military's "religious tolerance" and "respect" for the faith the enemy uses to attack us. Already, plans are in the works to build by 2009 a bigger mosque at the Marine base in Quantico so Muslim service members can have a "proper place" to worship, and one that "honors their religious heritage," officials say, not realizing that the mosque can also be used by the enemy to build a Fifth Column inside the Marines.

The idea for the center came from Navy Lt. Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam, a young, smooth-talking Muslim chaplain, who wanted a permanent place of worship -- and "education" -- for the growing number of soldiers who are interested in -- and converting to -- Islam.

There's more at the link.

[Update 06/15/06]

In response to my email, the author of the FrontPageMag.com article (Paul Sperry) provided clarification indicating that the title of this post is incorrect. The subject mosque is being built at Quantico, not the Pentagon.

My interpretation of Sperry's piece was mistaken and was based upon statements that a shrine to Islam (prayer center) was dedicated last week and that a "bigger mosque" is to be built at Quantico. If a "bigger" mosque is being constructed, I allowed myself to assume that a smaller mosque, dedicated last week, already existed in the Pentagon.

Apologies to the readers and thanks to Vinnie for noting the error.

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 10:11 AM | Comments (39) | Add Comment
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Aiza is 22 years old, a star of tv, movies, and commercials. More here.

Posted by: cbjohnson at 07:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Working in Japan ain't for me. Due to staff shortages and difficulty in finding replacement workers, companies are demanding compensation from resigning employees before allowing them to leave:

Short-staffed companies are requesting that employees who quit pay damages as the resurgence of Japan's economy is placing a strain on labor levels, Tokyo's Labor Consultation Center said...

One of them, a 29-year-old man who works for a computer system development company offered to resign in March. But an official of the firm told him, "We won't allow you to quit until the system development job finishes in September. If you quit now, you have to pay several million yen in compensation."...

A top official of the Rodo Kumiai Network Union Tokyo said since sometime around 2002 the problem of overwork had become serious in some companies. "Those who managed to survive those tough times now want to quit or change jobs. But their employers don't want them to leave," he said.

Now, who in their right mind would accept a job offer from a company that demands compensation from resigning employees? I'm not sure that the HR departments have thought this issue through completely. It smacks of indentured servitude or slavery.

Update: Don't get any ideas, Vinnie.

Posted by: cbjohnson at 06:05 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The National Journal has a lengthy article on Islam called, "Islam: A religion of peace?" It is interesting reading and I will provide a few excerpts.

David S. Powers, professor of near eastern studies at Cornell University, has noted that Muslim scholars of abrogation such as Ibn Salama (d. 1020) claimed the "sword verse" cited above (9.5) had abrogating power over 124 other verses, including "every other verse in the Koran which commands or implies anything less than a total offensive against the non-believers." U.S.-born historian John Wansbrough found that the sword verse "became the scriptural prop of a formulation designed to cover any and all situations which might arise between the Muslim community and its enemies." Influential Islamist authors such as 'Abd al-Salam Faraj, Maulana Maududi and Sayyid Qutb have all expressed their agreement with the classical interpretation of the commands to fight and kill.

Indeed, one of the greatest challenges facing peace advocates in Muslim nations is that the Islamist voices that seem to have the greatest appeal to youth are those that portray the Koranic commands to kill as clear and unequivocal. Some of these Islamists have already carefully processed Western criticisms and have deliberately reasserted the classical understandings. For instance, Egypt's Sayyid Qutb, a guiding force of the Muslim Brotherhood (from which al-Qaeda sprang), wrote that the tendency to interpret the Koran as if it enjoins only defensive war is an error of Muslims minds "defeated by the pressure of unfavourable conditions and the treacherous propaganda of the orientalists."

But this need not be the only way of interpreting these texts. One alternative -- quite common in some faith communities -- might be to decide that these were commands for a very particular set of circumstances, but that they no longer apply to modern believers in this time. Another option, advanced recently by the Turkish scholar Israfil Balci, is to reject the classical interpretations of these commands as a product of the political tensions of the period.

In other words, Muslims seeking to find a peaceful message in the Koran must fight not only the plain meaning of the Koran's text and the current fashion for militancy, but also the arrow of Muslim history.

Interpreting the words of Muslim scripture so that they pose no threat to peaceful coexistence with non-believers thus seems a large challenge. In view of the high stakes in the world today, however, it is certainly a challenge worth taking up. Otherwise, Canadian proponents of multiculturalism will have a harder time arguing that traditional Islam is just another peaceful element in Canada's multicultural quilt.

Exactly. Koranic literalism* is the problem; it is unclear whether reinterpretation is possible if the new meaning contradicts the actual words in the Koran.

Read it all and do some thinking. Crossposted here.

*"Belief in the Qur'an's direct, uncorrupted divine origin is considered fundamental to Islam by most Muslims. This of course entails believing that the Qur'an has neither errors nor inconsistencies.

Posted by: cbjohnson at 05:21 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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If I had to list my top 2 writers, they would be Tim Blair and Mark Steyn. Mark has a new column/book review in Macleans entitled, "You can't believe your lyin' eyes." It is hilarious and makes some good points.

I believe the old definition of a nanosecond was the gap between a New York traffic light changing to green and the first honk of a driver behind you. Today, the definition of a nanosecond is the gap between a Western terrorist incident and the press release of a Muslim lobby group warning of an impending outbreak of Islamophobia. After the London tube bombings, Angus Jung sent the Aussie pundit Tim Blair a note-perfect parody of the typical newspaper headline:

"British Muslims fear repercussions over tomorrow's train bombing."

An adjective here and there, and that would serve just as well for much of the coverage by the Toronto Star and the CBC, where a stone through a mosque window is a bigger threat to the social fabric than a bombing thrice the size of the Oklahoma City explosion. "Minority-rights doctrine," writes Melanie Phillips in her new book Londonistan, "has produced a moral inversion, in which those doing wrong are excused if they belong to a 'victim' group, while those at the receiving end of their behaviour are blamed simply because they belong to the 'oppressive' majority."

He forgets claims of torture of the arrested terrorists, which arrive at the same time as fears of Islamophobia. Torture, in the Canadian case, translates as "being kept in jail."

Well, if Hizzoner wants to make himself a laughingstock, what's the harm? Only this -- that the more rubbish spouted by officials in the wake of these events, the more the averagely well-informed person will resent the dissembling.

And here Mark hits the nail on the head. The blogosphere, as one example, rants about the "broad strata of society" who are inevitably pious Muslims. Is this intellectual dishonesty on the part of the police and government? Yes, of course.

Is it good policy? I believe it is. As the Guardian pointed out, we are winning the War on Terror because the mass of Muslims are sitting the thing out. We don't want to make this a Muslim vs. the West issue; we want it to be a "tiny minority of religious extremists" vs. the West and keep everyday Muslims on the sidelines. Bin Laden and his ilk want all Muslims to rise and fight, we want them comfortable on their couch, watching the World Cup.

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Alleged mastermind of the Bali bombing, Abu Bakar Bashir, has been released from prison.

But don't worry, he's learned his lesson and paid his debt to society:

"I will maintain my struggle to uphold sharia (Islamic law), he added, before getting into a black van.

Phew, it seems our allies in the War on Terror showed him the error of his ways. It must have been easy to rehabilitate a gentle miscreant like this:

The 67-year-old cleric, who has called al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a true Islamic warrior, denied any wrongdoing. He insists Jemaah Islamiah does not exist, and Indonesian courts have dismissed charges that he led the network.

Of course Jemaah Islamiah doesn't exist, and neither does taqqiya.

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: Allah's Apostle said, "Who is willing to kill Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, "O Allah's Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?" The Prophet said, "Yes," Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab). "The Prophet said, "You may say it." —Bukhari 5.59.369

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: The Prophet said, "War is deceit." —Bukhari 4.52.69

Above quotes courtesy of Patrick az-Kafir

Previous Bashir posts:

Bali Bombing Mastermind Sentenced to 4.5 days in Jail per Victim

US 'Disappointed' with Bashir Sentence of 4.5 Days per Victim

Bali Bombing Mastermind's Sentence Reduced from 4.5 Days in Jail Per Victim to 3.8 Days in Jail Per Victim

Posted by: Vinnie at 10:18 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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...I present a Spanish-language blog entry on a Japan-oriented site about an American TV show. Crazy Japan writes about Japan's infatuation with Knight Rider.

more...

Posted by: cbjohnson at 10:04 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1) In Hot Springs, Arkansas, a 38-year-old sheriff's deputy, Dawn Rene Roberson (pic), lost her job for going topless at a campground.

From Local6.com:

According to incident reports, a marine patrol deputy and a park ranger told a topless Roberson to cover up in separate encounters Sunday.

Later, authorities received a complaint that a woman without a top was in view of children.

One report said a grandmother complained that the topless woman became "loud and disorderly" after she told the woman to cover up. Another camper told authorities the woman became belligerent when confronted.

2) In Austin, Texas, the local school board wants to fire 29-year-old Austin High School art teacher, Tamara Hoover (pic), for publishing her topless picture on the Internet. The Austin School Board voted yesterday to commence the termination process for Hoover.

From Tamara Hoover's web page on MySpace.com:

ARTIST AND ART Teacher (termination pending) at a high school in Austin, Texas. Looking for help with funding the gathering of evidence to defend myself against the Austin Independant School District. (both civil and criminal). They are firing me for pictures of me being on a website (celesta) and claiming the website is pornographic. [sic all]

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 05:47 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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1 I'm giving you a warning citation for posting the first pic. You escaped a citation with court costs and fine because you posted the second.

Posted by: Vinnie, Editor In Chief Pro Tempore at June 13, 2006 05:52 PM (/qy9A)

2 Oh my god, NO!, women showing their breasts --evil. You'd almost think this country was run by queers.

Posted by: davec at June 13, 2006 06:01 PM (CcXvt)

3 Needed a "fugly--proceed at your own risk" warning before that first pic... BTW, posted my URL and got this: Your comment could not be submitted due to questionable content: blogcity.com What's even funnier is that when I tried to copy and paste the error message (after removing my URL) it still won't let me post so I've removed the dash between blog and city in the error message to see if that works...

Posted by: MKL at June 13, 2006 06:42 PM (OEgmd)

4 This old gal should have been fired for going out without her paper bag on. That's what I think. Her breasts may or may not have been an improvement, I can't say. But this gal couldn't sneak up on a glass of water.

Posted by: jesusland joe at June 13, 2006 07:49 PM (rUyw4)

5 #1 Ewwwwww. #2 Hot-t-t-t-t-t-t What DOES Mr Hoover think?

Posted by: Ernie Oporto at June 13, 2006 07:50 PM (WvUov)

6 Pixy Misa uses some overly aggressive regex matching on the posting script, it seems to catch a lot of urls, but it's either that, or scroll through thousands of spambots/moonbats, so I guess it isn't so bad.

Posted by: davec at June 13, 2006 07:50 PM (CcXvt)

7 Pixy Misa can do no wrong as far as I am concerned. And her overly aggresive regex matching on the posting script, well, what can I say? I love her.

Posted by: jesusland joe at June 13, 2006 08:06 PM (rUyw4)

8 Forget both the bitches. Not worth the time for further comment.

Posted by: greyrooster at June 13, 2006 08:14 PM (ZVFO9)

9 Pixy is a he. So's ya know. He took a name from a character in some Japanese Anime show.

Posted by: Vinnie, Editor In Chief Pro Tempore at June 13, 2006 09:09 PM (/qy9A)

10 Are you shitting me, Vinnie?

Posted by: jesusland joe at June 13, 2006 09:17 PM (rUyw4)

11 JJ, thats bad gay! lol

Posted by: CanForce 101 at June 13, 2006 11:43 PM (BRXB/)

12 she's done. After viewing the albums @ flickr in question I doubt she will have a defense. caution, pics are PG18 America, PG15 everywhere else. *NOT WORK SAFE* http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/11703193/ http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/12923936/ http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/12924446/ http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/12925306/ http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/16018142/ it's compounded by the fact the album contains numerous girl on girl lovin: http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/page84/ (one poster claimed it was her girlfriend) being gay + naked pics = pink slip for sure.

Posted by: davec at June 14, 2006 01:18 AM (CcXvt)

13 "Miss Hoover, my worm crawled into my mouth and then I ate it."

Posted by: Venom at June 14, 2006 09:10 AM (dbxVM)

14 CanForce, Bad hell, it's worse gay!

Posted by: jesusland joe at June 14, 2006 09:21 AM (rUyw4)

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I like Michelle Malkin. I like her writing, I like her speaking and, of course, I like the fact that she is, without any doubt ... hot.

I've begun to like Good Lieutenant (even though there's no evidence of hotness) but I have to wade into the 'hyperventilating anti-US reporting' post made earlier today and which has been running on Michelle Malkin's site for some time.

You are shooting at the wrong target.

The Times is not an Anti-American paper. It supported (and continues to support) the war in Afghanistan. It supported (and continues to support) the war in Iraq. It supported (and continues to support) the war on terror. It criticises, but it criticises tactics not strategy and we all do that.

Somebody (probably a hungover picture editor) made a mistake. S**t happens. When the mistake was pointed out to them, they apologised.

They didn't apologise in 36 point Times New Roman on the front page. It would be commercial suicide and the Times isn't some lefty cooperative that thinks that losing money is morally invigorating.

Demanding that they do makes us sound, well, a bit left wing. Its the left that continually hyperventilates, its the left that thinks that everyone who disagrees with them is an idiot, its the left that believes that there's a vast conspiracy plotting to undermine them. LetÂ’s continue to allow them to monopolise that particular set of qualities. It's what they're good at. It's why they keep on losing.

There are Anti-American newspapers here in the UK (perhaps a post about the media scene here might be useful in the near future?) but The Times is not one of them. In the meantime, if you want to criticise a UK media source, might I suggest that a suitable target would be virtually anything written or broadcast by Al-BBC?

Posted by: Sheward at 04:45 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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Cross-posted @ Mein Blogovault.

I couldn’t resist – I delved into the Kos dungeons to seek out a juicy reaction to Fiske, and I came up with a doozy. And we’re off! - - -

Because its so obvious that Rove, Bush and Cheney are all guilty of obstruction of justice

Well, thatÂ’s new. Fitz said its done. Before that I thought it was perjury. And before that, conservatism. And before that, effectiveness.

that it boggles the mind how people lose sight of the forest for the trees.

YouÂ’re still washing dishes with Merry and Pippin back in the shire, dear friend.

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Most media outlets have been telling us that Zarqawi was fingered through good detective work in and around Baghdad. Stratfor has a different take. It claims that Zarqawi's head was something of a "peace offering" from the Sunni establishment to the Shia elites: more...

Posted by: Kos_Irhabi at 02:53 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Today's post at Newsbusters made me think of a few other instances of editorializing via photography.

1. Reuters, 3-10-06.

3. Reuters, Today (6-13-06).

3. CNN, 11-23-05.

4. Guardian, 11-11-00

Posted by: Good Lieutenant at 12:40 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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