October 03, 2005

Sweden Reduces Terrorism Sentences

An appeals court in Sweden has cut the sentence of two Ansar al-Islam terrorists. Apparently Seven years is too harsh in Sweden for financing murder in Iraq. Meanwhile, an offshoot of Ansar al-Islam is practicing for jihad in Sweden where it claims to have found 'safe-haven'.

Swedish Radio International:

The two have been found guilty of collecting and transferring more than 148,000 US dollars to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads al-QaidaÂ’s operations in Iraq, the Ansar al-Islam group, and other suspected terrorists in Iraq. They were linked to the December 2003 suicide bombing in Arbil, which took 4 lives.

They were sentenced by a lower court to 6 and 7 years imprisonment respectively, but the Stockholm Appeals Court changed the sentences to 4 and a half and 5 years, with permanent bans from entering Sweden after they are released.

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Remembering the Forgotten American Hostages: Dean Sadek

dean_sadek1.jpgOver the weekend, al Qaeda made a bogus claim that it was holding two Marines hostage in Iraq, and later that the two had been executed. While such fictional claims are nothing new from al Qaeda, it serves as a reminder that several American civilians reamain in captivity.

We've been getting a number of hits about Dean Sadek today (thanks to Tim at Opinion Bug for the tip). Hopefully there is some impending good news that has not yet hit the MSM yet.

Mohammad Radeen Sadeq (better known by his Americanized name 'Dean Sadek') was working at the Baghdad airport as a civillian contractor when he was abducted from his home. It's not clear the exact date he was abducted, but al Jazeera showed a videotape released by the terrorist 1920 Brigades organization showing Sadek on Nov. 11th.

Dean Sadek was born in Lebanon but was a naturalized U.S. citizen who lived in the Charlotte, N.C. area. Dean Sadek's ex-sister-in-law left this comment saying Dean:

is a kind, giving individual who loves his two sons dearly. I'm hoping by he being of Lebanese descent that it would be in his favor. ...Why is he there? He is there to help the good people... If he loses his life he would be one more of the heroes to win freedom for others. I am totally devasted everyday not knowing what will happen to him besides his immediate family and children. My prayers are with him and the others daily fighting for freedom of others.
Our prayers are with Dean Sadek and his family too.

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RINO Sightings, Little Piggies and Other Strange Happenings.

New RINO sightings is up itÂ’s unearthly strange.

No more little piggie stress relievers. Gees give me a break. I hereby vow to eat left over pork chops at lunch every day for the duration of Ramadan.

Hat Tip: Big thanks to Mike at Mr. Muffler for getting Howie back on the road again for cheap.


In other strange and paranormal news Howie gets a beyond the Grave visit and interview with Ben Franklin. Actually IÂ’ve been worried about buying propane and propane related accessories this year. Mainly the fuel, I mean IÂ’m sitting on bone dry empty and winter is coming on. I entered the FS(thatÂ’s farm service city slicker) drawing for 100 bucks worth of free propane. Turns out I won. I mean I freaking won is that weird or not. Even stranger than that, Mr. FranklinÂ’s ghost delivered the C note to my door. Below is a record of our exchange.

Updated: Ok no comment? Well let's try this. Scott Baio was on Arrested Development tonight as Lawyer Bob Loblaw. His lawfirm speicalizing in cool stuff like Fraud, Tax Evasion, money laundering. Hope you saw, it was good stuff.

Nipsey Russell has died Hat Tip: The Filthy One

Typhoone Longwang has struck China and 59 soldiers are missing. Aside from the name of the storm, not funny.


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Happy Bloggoversary

To Dave Gullyborg at Resistance is Futile! Once you're past the first year, it's all down hill man......

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Connecticut Joins The Fray

Connecticut sets itself square into the middle of one of the stickiest battles our country has ever faced by granting Civil Unions to homosexual couples.

The whole time that this has been a fight, I have felt that it is wrong, but wasn't sture why. Now I think I've figured it out, at least for me. Procreation. Heterosexual relationships are the only relationships that offer the ability to procreate and continue the survival of the human species. That's not to say that every human couple is able to procreate, but there is at least an underlying reason for the attraction. Other forms of sexual perversion don't even have this to fall back on.

Now, with that being said, if a state wishes to recognize two people, regardless of gender and cohabitating as a couple for all legal purposes such as medical treatment, living wills, etc. Then so be it. But you better be careful when you word the statute because you could be leaving the door open for your state to provide a civil union between he and his sixteen wives. Or a man and his dog. Think it won't happen? It's already happening in some of the same-sex marriage states. A woman is sueing the state to get a marriage license issued between her and her dog. All I'm saying is that if you want to grant special priviliges to one sexual deviation while leaving others out, you had better be prepared for the firestorm that will percipitate.

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The Bolivarian Bloc

The Bush administration has, overall, done a fine job of foreign policy. Controlling proliferation, destabilizing and toppling terror sponsors, sowing the seeds of democracy.

But when it comes time to write the retrospectives, one glaring error will mar his legacy: Bush has ignored Latin America. For our first Spanish-speaking president it's a strange omission, though he's certainly had justifiable demands that took his attention elsewhere.

The next president will have to face down a creeping anti-Americanism that is advancing through the Latin world, led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in collusion with Castro from Cuba. His minions have already successfully brought down two governments in Bolivia and he is establishing a television network to consolidate his influence across the continent. Brazil's Lula has mellowed a bit but he's still redder than a parboiled lobster. The Communists are winning.

Today the Washington Post brings word that Chavez is undermining the democratic government of Nicaragua as well. And Chavez' gimp there is a blast from the past--America's old friend, the man whom Reagan nearly blew his whole presidency trying to bring down, the big Sandinista, Daniel Ortega. Of course, depending on the next president, that might be just fine and dandy:

Kerry Harkin Ortega.jpg

Bush governs in interesting times, and his first responsibility remains the war on Terror. But he needs an affirmative policy for Latin America that begins the rollback of Chavez. We can't let this problem metastasize anymore. What will it profit us if we clean out the madrassas and terror dens of the middle east only to face a hostile continent unified against us to the south?

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October 02, 2005

Tour Boat Sinks in Lake George, 19 Die

(Lake George, New York) Dozens of senior citizens were onboard a 40-foot Shoreline Cruises tour boat when it flipped over on Lake George, about 50 miles north of Albany. The weather was clear, with the temperature in the 70s. Eyewitnesses say the glass-enclosed boat sank.

From PostStar.com:

Nineteen people were killed in a tour boat accident on Lake George today, according to Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland.

The Ethan Allen, a small cruise boat on the lake, was carrying 47 passengers this afternoon when the accident happened about 3 p.m. today.

According to Cleveland, the wake from the Mohican, a boat owned by Lake George Steamboat Company, swamped and flipped the glass-enclosed Ethan Allen.

The Glens Falls hospital declared a Code Yellow disaster alert to handle the injured. As of 5pm EDT, all passengers had been accounted for.


[Update 2030EDT]

Twenty-one people are now listed as having died when the Ethan Allen sank in approximately 70 feet of water. The only crew member onboard, Captain Richard Paris, survived. The estimated number of passengers was increased to 49 and it's reported that none pulled from the water were wearing life vests. Also, since those onboard were senior citizens, a number were in wheelchairs or required walkers.

The incident occurred about 200 yards from shore. An unconfirmed report states that it capsized after it hit the wake of a larger cruise boat. In my opinion, before this tragedy is history, some serious liability will be assigned for negligence or malfeasance.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

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October 01, 2005

By Special Request

Leave a comment and show your support for this young lady's family.

Nothing about her sacrifice on our behalf overshadows those others who have given their lives for freedom, but a friend asked, and I answered. We honor them all here.

"But I suppose it's often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually - their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on - and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end."

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Terror in Bali Kills At Least 23

(Jakarta, Indonesia) Near-simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through popular tourist areas of Kuta and Jimbaran Beach on the Indonesian island of Bali on Saturday killing at least 23 persons and wounding at least 35 foreign tourists. Details remain sketchy.

Two explosions hit beachside area seafood restaurants at dinner time and minutes later an explosion struck a popular shopping area, Matahan Square.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono strongly condemned the bombings in a televised address: "These are clearly terrorist attacks because the targets were random and public places."
Linked to al-Qaeda, the Jemaah Islamiyah Islamic terrorist group has been blamed.


[Update 1500 EDT]

Xinhua now reports that at 30 people are dead. In another report, the blasts are being blamed on the fuel oil price hikes of an average of 126 percent instituted Saturday. Professor Budiatna of the University of Indonesia observed that opposition groups no longer demonstrate because the government ignores them.

"They pressured (the government) by resorting to terrors. Their message is to lower the fuel oil price or else the terror acts will continue," the observer added.
In my opinion, it's hard to peg motive to terrorist acts as Budiatna suggests. Their goal is to kill and create chaos. Terrorists don't need any special reason.


[Update 1545 EDT]

The BBC reports that over 100 are wounded.

From Aljazeera.com:

A government spokesman, Dino Djalal, said up to six bombs exploded at different locations.

Local media said police discovered a number of unexploded devices.

As yet, no group has claimed responsibility. However, the near-simultaneous attacks with multiple explosive devices indicates serious planning was involved.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

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Why Bill Bennet's Statement Is Neither Racist Nor Lovely

Bill Bennet has apparently ruffled a lot of feathers recently by making the point that aborting all the black pregnancies in the land would reduce the crime rate. And the PC brigades are out in force attempting to cash in a little anti-conservative treasure. None of this is very encouraging, because everyone is thinking in terms of a broad fallacy. No one is bothering to make sense. Bennet obviously thought he was making a clear empirical point, using it to bolster a case that there are lots of things one could do to reduce the crime rate that would be more objectionable than simply putting up with crime. This was, in fact, one of the more subtle points of Seymour Martin Lipset's classic: American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. Lipset's point being that it's our unwillingness to give automatic deference to authority that partly explains higher historical crime rates in the US, at least until Europe began to pass us in the robbery, burglary and home invasion category. And that if we changed that basic relationship to authority, the whole tapestry of our civilization could come unravelled... Compared to that, a high crime rate is a small price to pay.
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