August 19, 2005

Rusty's Blogger Military Service Survey

Regarding Rusty's military service survey of the blogosphere, a commenter objects:

Its disgusting that you legitimize this fraudulent meme of the Left, Rusty.

The meme SPQR is talking about is the often-repeated phrase "chickenhawk" tossed at war supporters who haven't served in the military, or (since G.W. Bush is a veteran, and therefore passes the test) haven't served in combat. Yes, it is a meme, but Rusty isn't legitimizing it. In fact, quite the opposite.

more...

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August 18, 2005

Completly Beyond Reason

Those who believe in the adage "when it rains, it pours" might take the tale of the plaintiffs in Kelo v. New London as a cue to buy two of every animal and a load of wood from Home Depot. The U.S. Supreme Court recently found that the city's original seizure of private property was constitutional under the principal of eminent domain, and now New London is claiming that the affected homeowners were living on city land for the duration of the lawsuit and owe back rent. It's a new definition of chutzpah: Confiscate land and charge back rent for the years the owners fought confiscation.

In some cases, their debt could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, the homeowners are being offered buyouts based on the market rate as it was in 2000.

Yes, you read that right. Not only have these people wrongfully had their homes taken by one of the stupidest Supreme Court decisions in our nation's history, but they are then told that they have to pay rent on their own property for the duration of the lawsuit. I'm certain that some (if not all) will sue, and if they lose this one, someone needs to be impeached.

H/T Patterico

Posted by: Drew at 09:33 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Sad Ending

According to Confederate Yankee, Cindy Sheehen has left Bush's ranch because her mother had a stroke. I wanted to see an end to this, but certainly not like this. I pray everything goes well for her and her mother.

Posted by: Drew at 08:33 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Chuck Hagel's Fretful Vision

My frickin' satellite TV is out, so I'm relying an a backup that has only CNN. Today, on the Wolfe Blitzer Show (or whatever it's called) Chuck Hagel was allowed, or encouraged, to pontificate in an especially headstrong manner. I'm going to have to paraphrase his remarks, because I just don't have access to the transcript yet, but essentially he responded to a question about crafting an "informed opinion" on Iraq with something like:

"Well, all I can do is rely on the same information available to the public, all of which seems to suggest that we're losing, rather than winning, in Iraq." [There were some references suggesting that electricity production is down, etc..]

Well, I beg to differ "Chuck" but you're a Senator who, presumabaly, has access to a great deal more information than we have as a private citizens. Plus you're pulling down the big bucks for your level of authority and responsibility. So just where do you get off making a statement claiming that you're just one of the crowd who sees Cindy Sheehan as credible? more...

Posted by: Demosophist at 06:29 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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How Soon They Forget

When Rusty wrote this:

The Right has no identity phrase to delegitimize left-wing bloggers' anti-war stance equivelant to chickenhawk.

I couldn't believe that he had forgotten THIS.

Surveys are cool, I like surveys, but sometimes, in the schoolyard of socio-political blogging, it's necessary to throw it right back in their face. A little technique known as "demonstrating absurdity by being absurd."

"Chickenhawk" is clever, but pales next to "Airmchair Jihadi," don't ya think?

Posted by: Vinnie at 06:28 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Do-it-yourself Festival of the Fatwas: I Heart Jihad edition

Have an interesting post? Want us to issua a fatwa against you? Simply link one of your posts to this post and send us a trackback. We will automatically issue a fatwa against you.

I will be in meetings all day tomorrow, so no blogging for me.

Posted by: Rusty at 06:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Taliban Release Hostage

The Taliban are alive, well, and in the business of taking hostages. They freed the Lebanese hostage when his company agreed to leave Afghanistan, thus pulling needed capital from an already impoverished nation. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 06:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Chinese Propaganda: "US Troops Hold Iraqi Children Hostage"

It's so surreal that it's almost funny. The reason many in the world hate us--and the reason many terrorists believe they are engaged in a noble cause-- is because they read stories like this and believe them.

People's Daily:

US troops held five children as hostages to demand handover of insurgents near a northern Iraqi town on Tuesday, police said.

"The US forces surrounded the village of Mazraa near Baiji and detained five children under 10 years old, calling on the residents by loudspeakers to hand over several other children showed on TV channels celebrating the killing of US soldiers after roadside blast last week," a police source from Baiji told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The US troops threatened to sweep the village by Wednesday morning to detain the other children and suspected insurgents, he said.

The US military, however, said they had no information about the incident.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm not an antissemite, but.....

Wait a second, you mean Goldstein is a J-O-O? Wow, that one came way out of left field......

UPDATE: This post is in the spirit of our e-mail a terrorist conceptual series. Follow the link and e-mail an antisemetic asshole.

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Islamic Army in Iraq Shoots Down 'Spy Plane'

It's funny, when you realize that they actually make the claim with a straight face and then see the picture of the 'American spy plane'.

You will recall they had made the same claim here.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:32 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Al Qaeda Implicated in Bangladesh Bombings

Remember, Bangladesh used to be known as East Pakistan. Whenever the ROP complains about the ultimate blame resting on Israel proclaiming itself a state, remind them that Pakistan and Bangladesh are nations today because--in spite of Gandhi's pleas--millions of Muslims insisted that they could not live within a multi-religious Indian state.

Gateway Pundit has the al Qaeda angle covered here.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Star Wars Geeks We'd Like to Date

For some reason, whenever some one finds a piece of Star Wars related porn they send it to me. Am I complaining? Hell no! Thanks to Rob Porter of Say Anything and Wizbang for sending me this. He found a gallery of Star Wars geeks who are also babes at Flickr here and here. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but check out this babe below. Good catch Rob, live long and prosper. Oh, wait, wrong sci-fi geek lingo........ more...

Posted by: Rusty at 03:23 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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The Soylent Green Gaza Pullout Connection

soulent_green_hestons.jpg

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Terri Hatcher Uses Sex Toys, Needs Gigilo

Terri Hatcher reveals that she uses sex toys and has contemplated hiring a giglo. Let me introduce myself:Rusty Shackleford, male prostitute.

Via Interested Participant who says what we're all thinking, this from Daily Record:

The star, who has just turned 40, confessed she is often too busy to date and has to rely on sex toys.

And in a frank interview, she said she has given serious thought to paying a gigolo.

Teri said: "You know, I once thought of what it would be like to hire a male hooker."

Am I the only one who's prurient interests are piqued by a sentence that contains Terri Hatcher and sex toys in it? If I am, you probably don't want to read on and view the photos. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 02:28 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Jihad Comes Back to Bosnia

Followers of this will not be surprised, but evidence continues to mount that Bosnia is becoming the focus point for global jihadis in training. But, wait, I thought Bosnia........??

AINA:

Terrorists who previously targeted the U.S. are now in Bosnia, where they have access to a "one-stop shop" of jihad training camps, weapons and illegal Islamic 'charities' -- all at the doorstep of Europe, terrorism experts said.

"[Convicted terrorist] Karim Said Atmani recently returned to Bosnia after being released early from French prison for 'good behavior,'" terrorism expert and author Evan Kohlmann said.

Atmani, a Moroccan, was linked to the "millennium bomb plot" and convicted by a French court of colluding with Osama bin Laden. He has been linked to the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), an organization responsible for airplane hijackings and subway bombings in France...

Also finding haven in Bosnia is Abu el Maali, who like Atmani, was a foreign national who fought in the Bosnia war. El Maali was later accused by French authorities of attempting to smuggle explosives in 1998 to an Egyptian terrorist group plotting to destroy U.S. military installations in Germany. He was also accused of leading terrorist cells in Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"This activity is very significant," said Kohlmann. "Senior members of the former Muslim Brigade and their top commanders are still there, and they're still active."....

Cybercast News Service has also obtained a video that terrorism analysts say depicts an active jihad training camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a region previously described by analysts as an ideal gateway for terror missions into Europe.

The video, which is over four minutes in length, shows outdoor maneuvers, explosives training and training inside what appears to be a school gym. Exercises in hostage-taking are also shown....

The presence of active jihadist camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina was also confirmed by attorney and counter-terrorism expert Darko Trifunovic, who previously served as a diplomat in the foreign service of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Kohlmann said that the main camps used during the war have been closed, and a different tactic for jihad training has emerged: disguising them as youth camps. "These days, usually the kind of jihad camp you'll see in Bosnia and other countries are so-called 'youth camps.'" They are usually led by a former member of the mujahadeen, someone with military experience, and perhaps a fundamentalist cleric, said Kohlmann....

Al Qaeda cells were set up in Bosnia in the early 1990s by Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, and bin Laden was said to visit the area twice in the mid-1990s," Brown added. "Iran was very involved in supporting the Islamist separatist movement in Bosnia, and Hezbollah was doing training there in the 1990s."

Training also takes place inside youth centers and school gyms, according to Trifunovic....

Fortunately, all the experts seem to be in agreement that Bosnian Muslims are far more likely to be secular in orientation than Muslims of other countries. Unfortunately, it only takes a small number of well trained people to commit major acts of terrorism. Hat tip: Evan Kohlmann.

Posted by: Rusty at 01:38 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Sitemeter Down?

Is it just me, or is Sitemeter not working for any one? UPDATE: I blame Bushitlerchimpeymchaliburton. And Bill Gates.

UPDATE II: Perhaps I spoke too soon. I blame the ghost of Rachel Corrie.

Posted by: Rusty at 01:18 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Al Qaeda Loves the Porno and Drugs

Jane, from Armies of Liberation, brings news that an international smuggling ring with possible ties to al Qaeda has been thwarted along the Saudi-Yemeni border. What were they smuggling? Oh, the usual al Qaeda stuff: guns, ammo, dynamite, PORN, and DRUGS. ML:

According to Gulf News, the material seized included thousands of dynamite sticks and booby-trapped wires, live ammunition, as well as drugs, large amounts of cash in Yemenite currency and CDs of pornographic films.
My suspicion is that it was gay porn and ecstasy. It's just funnier to think of it that way!

UPDATE: Just to clarify, I mean bad gay porno. You know, the kind with guys.

Posted by: Rusty at 01:15 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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The "Vacation" of Harry S.

A regular commenter on The Jawa Report, Oyster, observes in response to an ersatz post on Cindy Sheehan:

What I find very irritating about this too is how the press keeps calling his stay at the ranch a "vacation" (or a "monthlong" vacation to make it sound like he's just fishing and taking naps for a whole month). They're trying to equate it with how we take vacations. How we go to some destination and are free of work and responsibility for a period of time. He is simply working from the ranch rather than the White House.

Most people know about Ike's golfing "vacations" and JFK's trips to Hyannisport to play touch football, but not many know that the concept and details of the Cold War strategy of "containment" were worked out by the Truman Administration during a long "vacation" in Key West. Truman and his advisors spend 175 days there during the course of his Presidency. Eisenhower established the Department of Defense while "vacationing" there, and Kennedy visited during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The location has been so seminal to the history of that half-century-long conflict with Empirialist Marxism that it has come to be known as the Little White House. But that was a different era.

(Cross-posted by Demosophist to Demosophia)

Posted by: Demosophist at 12:17 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Sounding Brass and Tinkling Cymbals

Phase II of the three-way war has begun in earnest. As Wretchard observes, the media are currently engaged in a discussion about how to dramatically portray the Iraq War with a sense of realism without signalling their hidden agenda. But, of course, they call that deliberation something else:

"It seems to me that if we make an overt political statement in 'Over There' about the war ... then immediately the debate becomes not only about policy, but it becomes about our politics, Chris' and mine, as opposed to a discussion or a provocation about the human consequences of war," Bochco said. "The moment we become overtly political, half the audience dismisses us and doesn't pay attention to us because they disagree with our politics. And the other half discuss us ... in the context of our political leanings. And that's just not what my goal is with this show."

So, they make a covert political statement instead, and couch it as artistic professionalism. This is a game that the "news" branch of media have been playing since the first APC rolled across the Kuwait border, couching the news as objective and balanced while determining the conclusion as surely as any Pravda article. And the heavy hand of propaganda has now made its way into the overtly "fictional" branch of media, who have apparently decided that the reportrayal of Iraq as a dessicated Vietnam will just have to do.

But, of course, the problem is that now, when they strike this bell, what emerges is much less like a ringing peal than a shallow tinkle, and the reverberations barely violate the boundaries of their echo chamber. For the first time the strategically opaque dramaturge of the entertainment industry is met by the naively transparent counterbalance of authoritative witnesses from the field, posting their contemporaneous experiences of the war in real time. The discourse is losing its constraints, and the memes no longer live forever.

(Cross-posted by Demosophist to Demosophia and Anticipatory Retaliation)

Posted by: Demosophist at 11:29 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Blogroll Update

I will be attacking my behemouth of a blogroll in the next few days. A lot of dead links need to be removed and overlooked links to be added. If I have somehow overlooked linking you in the past, now would be the time to remind me in this post's comment section.

Posted by: Rusty at 11:19 AM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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